position to offer sureties or show that they will themselves repay by instalments. The loans are free of interest.

To such persons the Charity Organisation Society will do all in its power to give the best possible assistance, perhaps not exactly in the form asked for, but in the way which the Committee consider most likely to effect permanent good, and to place the applicant in a position to put himself out of the need of charitable doles to support himself.

The funds at the disposal of the Committee are very limited, but they try to meet the requirements of each pressing case, and of course the more the Society is supported the larger will be its power to help.

Even for persons in distress the Charity Organisation Society

1. Will not do for the poor what they ought to do for themselves, and thus encourage improvidence.

2. Will not give money to or for the families of those who waste their wages in drink, thereby encouraging the self-indulgent, and discouraging the steady and industrious.

3. Will not undertake the duties of other people, either by assisting those who have well-to-do relations and friends, or by attempting to support those who should be dealt with by the Poor Law.

4. Will not give to those incapable of supporting themselves doles which can only postpone, but not prevent their falling on the Parish for support.

The Charity Organisation Society

1. Cannot, even in all deserving cases, provide pensions, though in certain cases it will try to obtain pensions from other sources.

2. Cannot undertake to find work or employment for able-bodied men, who generally are far better able to find it for themselves.

3. Cannot pay all the expenses of persons desirous of emigrating.

Consequently it is no use for the following persons to come to the Charity Organsiation Society for help :

1. Those who have been improvident, and being now incapable of supporting themselves, are in want of a pension.

2. The families of drunkards.

3. Those who have relations able to assist them.

4. Those who have forfeited employment through their own wilful misconduct.

5. Able-bodied men (or their families) who are out of work, and have no near prospect of getting any.

6. Persons who want to emigrate, and have not themselves got together a reasonable part at least of the sum required.

7. Persons who want money to pay back rent and other debts.

NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS.

Persons wishing to devote their money to any particular object can do so through this office. They may contribute to

(1) The General Fund for carrying on the work.

(2) A fund to be used only for relief.

(3) Special cases of distress in which they can take a personal interest. (4) Special forms of distress or relief: e.g. cases of illness, orphans, purchase of surgical instruments, sending convalescents for change of air, loans, buying or redeeming clothes or tools, sending boys to sea (outfit, £3. 10s.), emigration, a pension fund for old people who have been provident, &c. &c.

Money given for a certain purpose will be used for that purpose alone.
Committee Meetings every Wednesday at 4 P.M.

LAMBETH COMMITTEE.

Chairman-Sir WILLIAM MCARTHUR, K.C.M.G., M.P., Alderman.
Vice-Chairman-*STEPHEN S. TAYLER, Esq.

Miss F. H. LORD,

Ex-officio Members.

Miss C. M. WHITEHEAD,

Representatives of the Lambeth Board of
Poor Law Guardians.

Every Incumbent of a parish and Minister of religion in charge of a place of worship within the District, or such Curate or Assistant Minister as he may appoint as his substitute.

The Committee have the benefit of the co-operation in various ways of the following:

Rev. M. H. BEGBIE, M.A.
Rev. G. H. BROMFIELD, M.A.
Rev. C. E. BROOKE, M.A.

Rev. ALLEN T. EDWARDS, Sen., M.A.
Rev. ALLEN T. EDWARDS, Jun., M.A.
Rev. W. W. EDWARDS, M.A.

Rev. TREVOR FIELDER, M.A.

Rev. J. MCCONNEL HUSSEY, D.D.
Rev. A. H. JEPHSON, B.A.
Rev. E. W. WARREN, M.A.

Hon. and Rev. F. G. PELHAM,
M.A.

Rev. H. H. MONTGOMERY, M.A.
Rev. J. S. PRATT, B.A.

Rev. J. R. STAREY, M.A.

Rev. S. BACHE HARRIS, M.A.
Rev. W. A. HARRISON, M.A.

Rev. G. W. HERBERT, M.A.

Rev. E. M. WALKER, B.A.

Office-86 UPPer KenningtoN LANE, S. E.

Hours-10 A.M. to 1 P.M.

Assistant Secretary-Miss M. NEILSON.

Agent-Mr. J. T. Fox.

Bankers-LONDON AND WESTMINSTER Bank, Lambeth BRANCH.

The Committee's District comprises the northern portion of the parish of Lambeth as far south as the northern boundary of the Ecclesiastical Districts of St. Andrew, Stockwell, St. John, Angell Town, and St. Saviour, Herne Hill, The Committee meets on the second Wednesday in the month at 10 A.M. Decision Committees meet on Tuesdays at 3.30 P.M., and on Fridays at

10.30 A.M.

Persons willing to assist the Committee in its work are invited to send their names to one of the Honorary Secretaries.

K

REPORT.

DURING the past twelve months we have dealt with a larger number of cases than in any preceding year—viz., 1,054, of which 465 were assisted in various ways.

Two special branches of our work have during the past year been extended in their operation by working through a central agency, viz, the treatment of convalescent cases requiring change of air, and the sending of delicate children into the country or a three weeks' visit. The number of these last has been 173, or more than three times as many as in previous years.

We notice with much pleasure the more cordial relations which are springing up between the clergy of the district and our Society, and we think we cannot do better than quote the opinion of the vicar of one of the largest parishes in Lambeth, as expressed in a letter recently addressed to one of our Hon. Secretaries, and of which the following is a copy:

DEAR MISS DAVIES,-I must thank your Committee for all the help they have given us in our work for many months past. I feel that you are working on right principles in all your attempts to help the poor of Lambeth, and it is a very cheering fact that the lady visitors of this parish, numbering about thirty-five, are steadily giving up their old stystem of dole-giving in minute sums, and are willingly consenting to work on some better constituted scheme. I have hailed with the greatest satisfaction the presence of yourself or of Mrs. Malkin at our monthly meetings. I only wish you could find time to attend the District Visitors' meetings in other parishes. I am sure nothing would help so much to give confidence in your Society as to meet you at the time when definite cases are being discussed, and to see the effectual way in which the Charity Organisation Society grapples with them when they are genuine.

'You may remember that twice this year I have handed over to you the papers of the applicants for the Hayle and Walcot Pension in the Kennington District. I wish I had done it sooner. The last few persons who have been elected have been more deserving than their predecessors in my opinion, because of the facts obtained by the agents of the Society; and I have been able on these last occasions to call the Committees of those charities together with a much happier feeling, because there was a better chance that the right person would be elected.

'The readiness with which you respond to our appeals, and the very substantial help you give our deserving poor, make me almost ashamed to come to you, especially when I can do so little for the funds of the Charity Organisation Society. I mark for special gratitude your work in sending children into the country for a holiday and our convalescents to the seaside. Will you kindly convey my thanks to the Committee?

Yours very sincerely,

'H. H. MONTGOMERY,

'Vicar of Kennington.'

In our last Annnal Report we invited any philanthrophic persons who might wish to take part in removing the evils connected with the housing of the poor, which were then exciting general indignation, to communicate with us, and we promised to give them all the assistance in our power. We are glad to be able to say that the invitation was promptly responded to, and a Lambeth Sanitary Aid Committee was formed in affiliation with the Mansion House Council on Dwellings. Its action has been very useful in enforcing existing sanitary laws and helping the poor of Lambeth to secure healthy homes.

Ministers of all Churches and Chapels in the district are

ex-officio Members of the Committee.

Hon. Treasurer-Mr. W. POWELL.

Hon. Secretary-Rev. EDWARD LOCKYER,

Agent and Collector-Mr. M. LAFFAN.

Office-School Room, Vicary Street, Cornwall Road, Brixton Rise. Hours - From 10 A.M. to 1 P.M. (Sundays and Bank Holidays excepted.) The Committee meet on Tuesdays at 10 o'clock.

The Hon. Secretary or a Member of the Committee attends at the Office daily between 11 and 1.

REPORT.

THE Brixton Committee of the Charity Organisation Society, in reviewing the year just ended, are glad to say that it has been a year of progress. Evidences are by no means wanting to prove that their work is taking a deeper and stronger local hold. A considerably larger number of cases have been dealt with than in any previous year; nearly all of the local clergy and ministers have proffered their help in many ways; there has not been that determined opposition to Charity Organisation principles on the part of the laity, so painfully observable in former years; and, lastly, notwithstanding the loss of many old subscriptions, through the death or removal from the district of kind supporters, the Committee's income shows a hopeful increase-the donations received towards their General Fund amounting to £30, compared with £9. 168. 6d. received the previous year; while £113. 138. 6d. were sent

for Special Cases, against £89. 18. for 1883. The Brixton Committee are, therefore, encouraged to press forward with the great work which they have in hand; which, if not untempered with signs of failure here and there, has borne sufficient fruit to convince them that their labours have not been in vain.

During the past year 737 cases have been dealt with, against 582 the previous year. For the year 1882 the total was 499 cases; for 1881, 393; and for 1880, 296, in which year the Brixton District was considerably enlarged.

The Committee have met during the year forty-eight times, with an average attendance of nine members, and their work has, for the most part, been confined to the following parishes:--All Saints', Clapham Park; Christ Church, Roupell Park; Holy Trinity, Tulse Hill; St. Matthew's, Brixton; St. Saviour's, Brixton Rise; St. Jude's, Dulwich Road: St. Catherine's, Coldharbour Lane; St. Paul's, Ferndale Road; St. Saviour's, Herne Hill; St. Paul's, Upper Penge; St. Matthew's, Denmark Hill; St. John's, Angell Town; and St. Andrew's, Stockwell.

It cannot be too often stated that the great work which the Charity Organisation Society has set itself to carry out is the improvement of the condition of the poor. Nothing, therefore, that really affects the poor is outside the Society's scheme.

Benevolence wields a marvellous power, and is capable of producing much good or much evil. There is perhaps nothing,' says Archbishop Whately, that can produce a greater amount of mischief than thoughtless good-nature. For instance, if anyone out of tenderness of heart, and reluctance to punish the criminal and worthless, lets loose on society mischievous characters, he will have conferred incalculable hurt to thousands. So also take one of the commonest cases, that of charity to the poor. vagabonds might go far towards ruining the industry and the morality of many A man by freely relieving all idle others; for there can be no doubt that careless, indiscriminate almsgiving does far more harm than good, since it encourages idleness, improvidence, and imposture. If you give to ragged street beggars, you are, in fact, encouraging people to dress themselves in rags and go about begging with fictitious tales of distress. If, on the contrary, you carefully inquire, and relieve honest and industrious persons who have fallen into distress through unavoidable misfortune, you are not only doing good to them, but also holding out an encouragement to honest industry. It is now generally acknowledged that relief afforded to want as men want tends to increase that want; while relief afforded to the sick, the infirm, and the disabled has no tendency to multiply its own objects. It is remarkable that our Lord employed His miraculous power in healing the sick continually, but in feeding the hungry only twice; and the power of multiplying food which He then manifested served to mark that the abstaining from any like procedure on other occasions was a deliberate design. In this He probably intended to afford us some instruction as to the mode of our charity. Certain it is that the reasons for this distinction are now the same as at that time.'

The first thing that is done in the case of a person in distress is to MAKE FULL INQUIRY RESPECTING HIM. He is instructed to attend at the office any morning between the hours of 10 and 1, where he finds one or two members of the Committee, the Hon. Secretary, and the Agent, who are prepared to listen patiently to his statement. questions and answers-his address for the last three years; his weekly A form is then filled up, composed of income and expenses; the names and addresses of his friends, relatives, references, and former employers; his shop and other debts; the number and value of his pawn tickets; the name and advantages of his club or trade society (if any); and how and to what extent he has been helped by charity. These items of information are then carefully and systematically followed up by the Hon. Secretary and Agent. The persons whose names have been given are visited if residents in Brixton, or they are interviewed by the Agent for