450.
OUGHT THE COLONY TO BUILD UP A KESE VE FUND.
= ↓ (Daily Press, 27th November)
In the Legislative Council on Thursda
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
RELIEF FOR THE SUFFERERS FROM THE BOER WAR.-
[December 2, 1899.
| public opinion, such as the building of new | on the strength, is an instance of how easily gnols, Á cash reserve is, in fact, a thing to the head may be led astray by the heart. be avoided, not cultivated. We may cheer- The proposition was mule by the Hon. H. fully hand down to our successors works of E. POLLOCK, and the effect of it would. permanent utility executed to meet recog- have been to penalise the majority of the nised needs, but it is quite a different thing sufferers, to preclude Hongkong from assis to hoard up money to hand it down in cash. ing the families of those gallant officers Ench generation has the duty thrown upon have been struck down in the proportion of it of expending its revenue to the best ad- ons to eight of the total casualties while vantage, having regard to both present and leading their men on, from doing anything future needs. Meie boarding is the worst for Sergeant Whatsisname's dependents, or possible use to which the public revenue giving a helping band to women whose
marriage is recognised by the military re-s | could be put.{
gulations. The lot of the women not on the strength would undoubtedly be a pitiable one if they received no assistance, but they do not constitute a majority, nor is there any fear that their case will be overlooked in the administration of the Mansion House Fund. Mansion House Funds, raised for many s The country has had a long experience of and diverse objects, and their administra tion has invariably been such as to command the confidence and approval of the con- tributors. In the present case the Fund is placed on a basis sufficiently wide to entitle all claims to consideration, and we may be sure that they will all be dealt with as liberally as the money, available. will permit. The effect of having several conditions would be to diminish the use/ competing funds each hampered by special fulness of the money contributed, as there could not be that complete organisation
(Daily Press, 28th November.) - The meeting held at the City Hall yester. day in connection with the raising of a fund for the assistance of the wives and families of soldiers who may fall in the Transvaal War arrived at a wise decision in voting that the money raised should be given to the Mansion House Fund. General GAS COIGNE's remarks in his first speech, though made under a misapprehension, proved use- ful in leading to discussion and so clearing up a point upon which others as well as the General appeared to entertain mistaken ideas. The use of the term “patriotic” in connection with the proposed fund had led the General to suppose that the money might be handed over to the Patriotic Fund for distribution, that Fund being, AS he explained in his speech, the balance of the money raised for similar purposes at the time of the Crimean War, and the income from which is now used for the relief of necessitous cases arising in the Army and Navy.
that will characterise the Mansion House Fund. General GASCOIGNE spoke of the interest the officers' wives now! Lake in thạc women of a regiment. The administrators of the Mansion House Fund will no doubt 1 avail themselves very freely of the assist
ance that officers or their wives may be willing to give them in the investigas
HE, the Governor, referring to the mem- orandum of the unofficial members on the public works estimates, said it must be admitted by all that in using the premia de- rived from land sales we were using the capital of the colony, and that the question arose as to whether the money or a certain portion of it should not be put into a reserve fund in view of future necessity. We ven- ture to dissent in toto from the proposition that the colony should build up a reserve fund in cash. The best reserve fund the.. colony can have is represented by public works of such a character as to contribute to the permanent prosperity of the colony and the well-being of its inhabitants. It is in the prosecution of such works that all money derived from land sales should be employed. It is no doubt correct that the unsold land represents capital, but it is unproductive capital. When the land is sold it at once begins to bring in revenue, and from every point of view it is better that the land
should pass into useful occupation, than that it should remain idle. His Excellency spoke of spending money on works which are not works of permanent utility, and we gather that it is for works of that character that he thinks the premia derived from laud sales should not be considered available. But what does His Excellency mean by works that are not of permanent utility? All public works are supposed to be of permanent utility, and if occasionally the supposition is not borne out by the result the mistake must be set down simply to error of judgment and must not be taken as vitiating the principle. Works that are not of permanent utility, by which His Excellency possibly means such are de scribed in the Estimates as "annually re- “current,” are naturally chargeable to the general revenue, that is, the revenue ex- clusive of that derived from premia on land sales, and are so charged. It is now many years since the Colonial Office issued in- structions that the revenue derived from premia on land sales was to be kept separate from the general revenue, and any prudent financier in framing a budget would naturally treat that particular item as of
it was a little unfortunate that the letter uncertain amount, and as likely at some
of the Lord Mayor of London to the Times, remote period to disappear altogether. But
inaugurating the Patriotic Fund in connec in the meantime the sum brought into
tion with the Transvaal War, escaped notice account under that healing cannot be better
until after the meeting on Monday last. employed than in the prosecution of neces
The letter was reprinted in our issue of yes- sty public works. On the average of any
terday, and it will be seen that it invites sub- long period of years the cost of public works
scriptions for various different objects in of permanent utility will be found to con-
connection with the relief of the distress siderably exceed the amount derived from
arising from the war, namely,, (1) widowa preinin on land sales, and in maintaining
and orphans, (2) sick and wounded, that it would not be correct to use revenue
disabled soldiers, (4) wives and children coming under that heading for works not of
Had this been understood on Monday the permanent, utility His Excellency was con-
meeting would have been able to make its testing a shadow. But the point of import
own selection. As it was, the selection has ance in His Excellency's remarks is the
been left to the Committee, which at ila suggestion that the colony should set about
meeting yesterday decided that the building up a cash reserve. That was the
money collected, in Hongkong shall go to: policy followed by the late Sir Joнs Pore⠀⠀
The real question before the meeting was, the fourth of the above objects, which it is HENNESSY, and those of our renders who were
not whether the Patriotic Fund was to have understood will cover also the first. The resident in thecolony during the administra- anything to do with the money raised for Lord Mayor says that the money subscribed tion of that Governor will remember how, in the sufferers by the Transvaal War, but for wives and children will be handed over. pursuit of that unfortunate policy, public whether the whole of the money should to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families' Asso- works were starved and the progress of the be remitted to the Mansion House Fund, ciation, and it is not to be assumed that that colonyl retarded. Moreover, a cash reserve whether it should be devoted entirely to the association would abandon shy families gives a fictir of attluence to a colony'] relief of women and children 'not on the, der ita care upon the death of the husban and invites
demands for Imperial strength, or whether there should be two or purposes, such as the military contribution, more competing funds. The second proposi- or directions to carry out Colonial Office, tion, namely, that the whole of the mousy, fads that do not commend themselves to should be devoted to the relief of those not
We are not sure that the Patriotic Fund deserves the hard things said of it by General GASCOIGNE. It is common to see in the Service papers bitter complaints with reference to the d- ministration of that Fund, but the com- plaints seem to be due mainly to the fact that the income is limited while the claims upon it are numerous. The whole of the annunl income is expended, and ex- pended to the best judgment of those upon whom the responsibility rests. But it is necessary that. a fund of that kind should be administered on strict lines, and its management is not ex ictly the one that should be selected to manage the fund now about to be raised for the relief of those who suffer from the Transvaal War. Nor was there ever any intention that any ruch selection should be made. Or the present occasion, as in the case of the Crimean relief fund, there may possibly be a small balauce left after all known claims have been liberally dealt with, and in such an event the balance would presumably find its way to the Patriotic Fund and be iu- vested, the income being used for the relief of ordinary crses of distress arising in connection with the Army and Navy. No more appropriate use could be found for it. It is, however, unnecessary to consider at this stage the disposition of a problemationl balance, which in any case is likely to be small, seeing the large demands that will be made upon the Fund.
|
tion and verification of cases. calling for assistance: Mr. FRANCIS upoke of the Soldiers' Families' Association... The assis tance of that Society.. will also no doubt: het invited. But whatever the precise machinery that may be adopted for ascertaining and dealing with cases of distress, we may rest assured that those responsible for the ad- ministration of the Lord Mayor's Fund will effectively carry out the object of the con- tributors. Past experience amply warrants that opinion.
Daily Press 30th November.)
and father. The second and third objects, will also excite sympathy, but it is the sup port of wives (or widows))aud, children the soldiers and milors engaged in the war
t