Ninth annual report of the St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, Church of England District Visiting Society / with some account of the different societies subordinate or affiliated to it - Anonymous

CONTENTS.

NINTH ANNUAL REPORT.

13. Subscribers to the Society may recommend cases for inquiry and relief. Recommendations may be sent to the National School House, whence they will be forwarded daily to the Visitors. Money remitted to any of the Parochial Clergy for the relief of particular families shall be appropriated to that purpose, if they are found to be proper objects of charity; otherwise it shall be returned to the Donor, or, with his consent, added to the general fund.

14. Visitors are requested to forward their Books to the Secretaries, for the consideration of the Board, the Saturday before the monthly meeting.

15. A Parochial Lending Library shall be provided by the Board, together with a supply of Books and Tracts, to be either given, lent, or sold by the Visitors. No Book to be sold at a lower rate than half-price.

16. Cases of sickness shall always be reported by the Visitors to the Parochial Clergy.

17. The Board, at its monthly meeting, shall supply the Visitors with funds proportioned to the probable wants of their several Districts.

	PAGE
Blankets	[22]
Coal Fund	[20]
Clothing Fund	[21]
Winter Club	[21]
Provident Club	[21]
Work Society	[23]
Maternity Society	[13]
Parochial Nursery	[14]
Infant School	[15]
Christ Church National School, Gore Lane	[18]
Jennings’ Buildings School	[16]
Analysis of Relief given	[24]
District Visiting—Its Practical Working	[25]
—Results	[28]

Money expended.

Moneydeposited.

In putting forth, for the information and satisfaction of the Parishioners of St. Mary Abbott’s, the Ninth Annual Report of the Kensington Church of England District Visiting Society, the Committee feel constrained to call the serious attention of all residents blessed with the will and power of exercising a discriminating charity to the several subscription lists annually put forth from the date of its foundation. A comparative view of the balance sheets of its receipts and expenditure, from the time that the several Ecclesiastical Districts were separated from the Mother Church will reveal facts, which no impartial person can consider in creditable keeping with the progress that has taken place in the numbers and respectability of the population. Large areas of formerly vacant ground, both in the New Town and on Campden Hill, are now covered with houses, in the occupation of tenants who must possess competent, if not abundant, means. In Palace Gardens, mansions have sprung up, which, in all the appliances of a luxurious and tasteful civilization, throw into the shade the neighbouring Royal residence. The value of rateable property is now assessed at a sum that very largely exceeds its registered amount six years ago. From such data, and arguing from the general benevolence of the English character it would not have been unreasonable to expect a corresponding advance in the sums set apart for Christian Almsgiving. This natural hope has not been justified. The reverse is the case. Year by year the contributions have been falling off, until between the revenues of 1846 and 1852, there exists no less a difference than 150l., being considerably more than a third of the entire income from those sources. Nor must it be supposed that the continued erection of habitations adapted to the requirements of families moving in the upper and middle walks of life has been unaccompanied by any provision for the accommodation of the numerous classes who wait upon and minister to their wants. In one street alone a considerable number of small dwellings, containing from six to eight rooms, have recently been built, by which comfortable lodgings are secured to upwards of five hundred new inhabitants, of whom a large majority, on any failure of health or employment, would become eligible candidates for temporary relief. Under the pressure of circumstances thus doubly adverse, with a sphere of usefulness steadily increasing, yet decreasing supplies wherewith to occupy it profitably, it may be a matter of surprise to some, that the operations of the Society have been so efficiently and perseveringly maintained. But the solution of the problem is to be sought in the tendency of those operations themselves. The alleviation of physical misery was but one, and not the most important one, amongst the many objects, which engaged the attention of its first managers. To forestall the occurrence of distress, by stimulating and encouraging provident habits, was, in temporal affairs, their main purpose. The principle of forethought was systematically wrought into the mind of each applicant for help. Hence, in proportion as the love of the rich waxed cold, the energy of the poor strengthened; and though the bounty of the former diminished, the savings of the latter augmented until the Deposits in the Coal, Clothing, and Winter Clubs have more than doubled the amounts collected by subscription. These constitute a reserve fund always available to its members, in seasons of unlooked for privation. Ordinarily, the man who has money in each of these Clubs requires no extraneous assistance; he is sufficient for himself. His three grand winter wants, fuel, raiment, and rent, are all provided for. This independence enables him to understand the pleasures of an honest industry; raises him above the influence of any trifling fluctuation in his trade, and educes at once and fosters the invaluable characteristic of consistent self-respect. The establishment of safe and remunerating investments for the earnings of the prudent artizan is a boon, which soon returns an ample interest to a neighbourhood. As their intention and working becomes known and comprehended, they are thankfully appreciated by the more thoughtful portion of the operative body, who soon learn that by the exercise of a due economy and regular apportionment of their wages, it is quite possible to anticipate the ordinary exigencies of the future, and live independent of eleemosynary aid. That this result has taken place in Kensington is demonstrable from the subjoined table, which shows the sums spent by the Visitor in a district where the population has increased an eighth in three years before and after the introduction of the Clubs. It would probably be found a fair type of the system.