On Friday week a meeting of the City Council for
the Organisation of Charity, and many of the chief supporters of London charities, took place at Lord Avebury's house, when it was decided to hold a public meeting at the Mansion House on June 26th to consider the formation of an Associa- tion for the promotion of co-operation in charitable work. The proposed Association would be a co-ordinating society, or a kind of clearing-house, for the scattered and diverse work of innumerable charitable agencies. It would try to introduce uniform principles in the administration of relief, and to prevent overlapping. As the Times points out, in 1906 nearly ten and a half .millions was subscribed to London charities, and the relief expenditure under the Poor Law was nearly five millions. All this was insufficient to prevent dire suffering, and the conclusion is irresistible that much money is misapplied owing to the absence of concert among charities of the same kind. A wise suggestion is that the new Association should be formed chiefly of large sub- scribers to the existing charities. Thus the existing charities would not feel that the Intelligence Department—to use yet another description for the proposed Association—was intruding impertinently. We are convinced that the Association is required, and we hope that it will be successfully formed on June 26th. It will in no way interfere with the existing Charity Organisation Society,—a body to which the poor, and the country as a whole, owe a deep debt of gratitude, and for whose untiring and noble efforts to maintain the character and independence of our people, and to save them from the unspeakable evils of pauperisation, no praise is too high.
Previous page
