The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-20 00:00:00

of relief the balance in the treasurer's hands was reduced to

£25 9s. Id

The report expressed the grateful acknowledg.

ments of the society to the soup establishment for their larie
gratuitous supply of tickets during the last winter. Those
tickets had been found of the greatest value. The commit-

tee, taliing into consideration the rapidly increasing number
of applicants for relief, and the very limited funds at their
disposal, feel the necessity of adopting some material changes
in that department, and they recommend the subject to the
careful consideration of the subscribers at large. They were
of opinion that if the society were more generally made the
channel for conveying relief, much imposition, which could
only be detected by such personal investigation as the society
employs, would be prevented. There has been an increase
in the deposits, during the last year, to the amount of £3Ol
14s. 10d. The amount of deposits returned during the past
year was £13,176 Os:Bd., with a premium of £334 17s. sd.
The committee had the satisfaction of recording an increase
of nineteen in the number of visiters. It was hoped that this
important department would receive a still greater accession
of assistance.

Mr. T. RATHBONE read an abstract of the accounts.
The Rev. Rector BROOKS moved that the report, &c. be
adopted, printed, and circulated, and he hoped its dissemi-
nation would have the desired effect of improving the condi-
tion of the institution. He knew, from experience, much of
the generous and benevolent inhabitants of the town, and he
should be doing them great injustice if he did not say, on all
occasions of pressure upon the poor, the rich hastened to re-
lieve it. They had heard from the report that when the pres-
sure did come last winter, a large sum was poured in upon
them to enable them to meet it. He would be sorry, how-
ever, to see this society degenerate into one of mere tempo-
rary relief, for that was a matter that was already attended to
in other quarters. This was a provident society ; it was not
one to dispense the bounty of others at
.a moment of pres-
sure, but to teach the poor to be provident to themselves.
That department seemed to be going on in a properous way,
and so far as the permanent relief was concerned, for those
who were accidentally in distress, through want of employ-
ment or any other cause, they ought always to have funds
ready. It must be evident to all that, with such a popula-
tion and such a mass of wealth, £lOOO a year was a very small
income. He wished, therefore, that those persons, who
were present and heard that their balance was reduced to
£36 in the treasurer's band, with which they had to conti-
nue operations till September next, would use their utmost
exertions amongst their friends to induce them to become
subscribers and visitors to the institution. There was no 'so-
ciety through which they could do a greater amount of good.
They would see this if they looked at the principle—which
was to teach people to be
provident. They could show in-
stances innumerable in their books of individuals who had
money in the savings bank, whose habits of saving had com-
menced, been encouraged, and carried forward by
i that soci-
ety. He hoped the truths would be sufficient to induce the
public to come forward. The society was not adequately
supported. £lOOO a year was not enough. Looking at the
wealth of Liverpool it was nothing. It was a very paltry sum
indeed. He hoped by the exertions of the individuals present,
in urging their friends to assist, that it would be very greatly
increased.
Dr._ FRECKLETON seconded the resolution, which was

passed.
Sir EDWARD C UST said he felt that it was somewhat pre-
sumptuous in him, the youngest subscriber on the list, to
stand forward to suggest some improvement in the practice
and system of their society. He found that the first rule of
the society set forth its objects to be the encouragement of
industry and frugality, the suppression of mendicity and im-
posture. and the occasional relief of sickness and unavoidable
misfortune. In this rule were two principles : one a consi-
deration of their own poor, the other for strangers. Such
was no doubt the general selfishness, even of generosity, that
the benevolent were inclined to afford assistance to their own
poor even before they gave it to the stranger. A moment's
consideration would show that the resident poor were the
subjects of legal provision ; that they were probably sur-
rounded by relatives, friends, or individuals who knew them
and their wants, while the stranger was far from home, had
no legal claim for relief, and if the helping hand were not ex-
tended to him he must perish. There was no question, how-
ever, that in order to assist strangers there was one great
difficulty to contend with—that of ascertaining that the ob-
ject of charity was one who deserved it. The disproportion
amongst those claimants for relief who did not deserve would
be well known to those who had opportunities of observing,
though it would not strike another. He held in his hand a
report of the society for suppressing mendicity in London,
and it appeared thereby that, in the course of 18 years, no
less than 20,646 individuals, who were worthless, had been
taken up in the streets as vagrants by the officers of the so-
ciety, and a large proportion of these were so glaringly so
that they were convicted. It was certainly hard to have even
a doubt that we might be turning our back on some one who
was destitute, while there was not one of us but would feel
gratified and pleased at the idea that we had been made in-
struments in the hand of Providence in relieving the distress
of a fellow-creature. Sir Edward read from the report an
account of a poor female, a native of America, who, in a state
of destitution, sought the aid of the society, and he asked
what would have become of her if she had not had such a
society to fly to. On the other band, he read of a woman

who was taken from the streets in an apparent state of desti-
tution, importuning at the door of a carriage, on whom was
found no less than £25. The resolution which he had to pro-
pose was, that tickets should be given by all members of the
society to individuals soliciting relief instead of money. If
all the benevolent could agree to this system they would be
enabled to effect what was so desirable—to suppress mendi-
city, to relieve the distressed in the proportion to their ne-
cessities, and to give support only to the deserving. This,
however, he was aware was impossible. Much, however,

might be done, and he hoped the members of the society
would give the subject serious consideration. One other
systemhe would recommend—it was that to all applicants
the test of labour should be applied, as it had been found
most effectual in detecting imposture.
The Rev. Rector BROOKS seconded the resolution, and

would not allow the opportunity to pass without thanking Sir
Edward Cuat for his kindness in giving the society the really
of his experience. Xt was well flown that one of the pri-
mary objects of this society was the suppression of menda-
city, but the truth was they bad not the means. He hoped
the public would not allow this reproach to remain. It was
admitted that it was most desirable to get rid of mendicity,
and here was the means of doing it with a diminution of the
sum of human misery, if the public would but support it.
He made it a rule at his own house not to relieve till he made
the proper inquiries, as to the reality of the alleged distress.
He was pained to say that nine out of every ten were cases of
imposture. If all others did so, what a mass of money
would be saved, and to how excellent a use could it be ap-
plied. If a man wanted food, God forbid that any one
should have so cold a heart as not to give it to him whatever
might be his undeservings. If he hungered and was in want,
no matter what his misdeeds. God forbid that any one
should forbear to administer to his wants. If the man were
really in want, give him bread whatever his character might
be. The rain of heaven falls alike on the just and on the un-
just, and it was not for man to hold his hand when his fel-
low-man was in want. Put bread into his mouth, relieve
his necessities, and you will have a better chance of amend-
ing him after. The object, however, was to discover the re-
ality of the distress. Most of the money given away in in-
discriminate charity was wasted, for most of the individuals
who solicited it were impostors.
The resolution was put and carried.
Mr. JAMES MULLENEUX, seconded by a gentleman whose
name we did not learn, moved the next resolution, which was
put and carried.
The Rev. Rector CAMPBEL!. proposed thanks to the visi-
ters, and passed warm encomiums on the
individuals filling
those offices, particularly the ladies, who compose the ma-
jority of them. To them.
he said, the society mainly owed
its influence, and he hoped to see their numbers increased.
Mr. RICHARD RATIIBONE seconded the resolution, and
backed the Rev.
Rector's commendation of the ladies, who
had wrought great good ny r influence amongst the wives
of poor labourers.
bone adverted to the subject of
premiums, and said he had long been of opinion that they
ought to be done away
with. If. they could induce the peo-
ple to lay aside the premiums, the society would save £3OO
a-year, and he need not allude to the amount of good that
could be done with such a sum.
Mrs. LANs made many judicious and forcible remarks
on this subject. She did not conceive the discontinuance of
the premiums as at all a hazardous experiment, if it were ju-
diciously effected. The proper mode would be to give three
or six months' notice of the intention, and she felt confident
once fair y established, there would not
that the principle
ultimately be one depositor the less. The evil was at present
that some received the premiums and some did not, so that
without a general rule to affect all equally the visiters could
not do away with the
system, which she had always been of
opinion was a very bad one, and a great waste of money.
The Rev. Mr. API'LEToN moved a resolution, in accord-
ance with Mrs. Langton 's wishes, to the effect that the com-
mittee should be instructed to take the subject into con-
sideration.
The thanks of the assembly having been voted to the
_ Mayor, the meeting separated.