On Selecting The Best Charity.

Dumb Charities are under similar circumstances . They receive £ 19 , 591 . Those for children Avill not be at all required Avhen the London School Board has completed its arrangements for educating the blind ancl deaf and dumb . Nearly all of these charities dealing Avith the afflicted classes cling to the voting system after its proved abuses , and add untold misery ancl degradation to these helpless outcasts . " " Latet anguis in horba " is the old proverb ; ancl so all this plethora of Avords and facts is but the prelude to an attack on " open voting" accompanied by Avhat we regret

, to have to call a directly unfounded and unproveab ' lc statement . We utterly deny that any such charge can fairly be raised against " open voting , " the object of all this extraordinary animus against our system being to prop up another—namely , " secret voting , " " committee selection , " the inevitable sources of jobbery and favouritism of every kind . V . " Of the nine Charities for Incurablesreceiving £ 40307 a yeara small part is

, , , g iven in the excellent way of pensions , but with the drawback of the voting system , and the rest is administered in institutions in which all classes are obliged to mix together , and town and country cases alike have to compete for votes in an expensive contest in Avhich 90 per cent , are rejected . This whole class of charities for blind , deaf , incurables , and imbeciles , had amongst them last year £ 157 , 294 . Some of them deal exclusively

Avith the indigent classes , for whom , as AA e shall see , the Poor LaAv has made provision , and there is a consequent large diversion of charity funds to Poor LaAv purposes . " The voting system again is the cause of all the evil ! HOAV very absurd ! VI . " Ever since 1834 Guardians have been empoAvered by Parliament to pay for the education of all poor Blind and Deaf and Dumb Children , and . since 1862 to pay their full cost at any institution , and Avithout their bicoming paupers , and since 1867 they

have had the power to pay the full cost of any adult at any institution . There are similar powers given as to all poor , lame , deformed , ancl idiotic children , throughout England , whilst for London , under the Metropolitan Poor Act , 1867 , asylums may be provided for all these classes , as Avell as " sick , infirm , and other class or classes of the poor . " And Guardians are to provide " dispensaries , places where the medical officers may see the sick poor for adviceand also proper medicines and appliances for the

, surgical treatment of the sick poor . " In addition to this , under the School Acts every child , including blind ancl deaf and dumb , is to be educated , and Industrial and District Schools are provided , and Guardians have the largest powers of "boarding out " poor children . The Metropolitan Board has also training ships for destitute children . " This paragraph puts us in mind of Mr . Welter ' s abhorrence , of " One of the advice gratis sort . "

VII . " In considering the necessity for the bulk of the Charities , all this legislation should be constantly present to our minds , ancl all the more so because its existence is utterly ignored by them ; ancl though quite unable to do more than a fraction of the work required , their existence suffices to prevent the establishment of Government institutions , ancl to relieve Guardians and others of their duties . " Then it is a " Paternal Government" Ave are to set up—a centralised Bureaucracy !

What next 1 VIII . " The class of General and Special Hospitals spends £ 543 , 000 a year . Their management is open to great objection , especially as regards their out-patients departments . Most of them admit without inquiry , ancl some on governors' letters used at random , and patients are admitted to their close , croAvded waiting-rooms in such numbers , that proper attention cannot be given to their cases . There is no co-operation , and

they have no investigating officers . They have greatly assisted to destroy thrift and independence among the people , and although the Boards of Guardians have 38 Free Dispensaries , to which all can resort Avithout becoming paupers , ancl also excellent infirmaries for paupers distributed all over London , besides the hospitals for infectious cases maintained by the Metropolitan Asylums Board , no account is taken of all this , and Provident Institutions are directly discouraged . A small payment from out-patients at Hospital Avould promote independence ancl Avould help to pay the cost , as is the case of the Lock Hospital , which collects a large sum of money in that way . The same