ELEVENTH ORDINARY MEETING. 101 



Donation of $50 to the Funds of the Institute, by Sandford 

 Fleming, Esq., C. M. G. 



On motion of Dr. Kennedy, seconded by Mr. George 

 Murray, it was resolved that the thanks of the Institute be 

 tendered to Mr. Sandford Fleming, C. M. G., for his generous 

 donation. 



D. A. O'Sullivan, M.A., LL.B., read a paper entitled 



SYSTEMATIC CHARITY. 



Every large city in the world has a destitute population ranging 

 probably about five per cent, of the whole number of its inhabitants. 

 There are the poor who are unable to work, the poor who are unwil- 

 ling to work, and the poor without work for them to do. 



The first of these classes include the sick, the aged, the deformed, 

 and those who, whatever their disposition may be, are unfit to sup- 

 port themselves. They form the great mass of any city's permanent 

 poor, and they are the ones towards whom the energies of the chari- 

 table and the actions of the Legislature are directed. 



The second — and an alarmingly increasing class — furnish the 

 pauper and the tramp of modern civilization, and it is said on the 

 authority of a very experienced writer that "the pauper, the 

 imposter, and the fraud of every description carry off at least one- 

 half of all charity, public and private, and hence there is a constant 

 and deplorable waste in the alms-funds of every large city." 



The third class of poor, able and willing to work, but without 

 work to do, is a fluctuating class, absent in one city and present in 

 another, and varying also in seasons in the same city. They form 

 the lower order of working classes; if work is provided for them 

 they may arrive at a higher level, if not they become depauperized 

 and are the scandal of society. 



I have divided the poor whom the taxpayer and the charitable 

 have to support into three classes, with reference to their capacity or 

 inclination for work — for labor of some kind ; bul there are others 

 with whom the public are concerned, such as the criminal of minor 

 offences, who is kept in gaol or in prison at the public expense ; the 

 drunkard, who finds his way to the same institutions, and a large 

 miscellaneous class who, by reason of vice that is a legal crime, or 



