Money expended. Money deposited. 1847 £13 12 9 £11 16 3 1850 7 0 0 18 18 3 1852 10 5 6 26 0 10
The Winter Club deposits amounting last year to £8 1_s._ 6_d._ are not included in the summary. Enough however will have been adduced to indicate in what way the reduced resources of the Institution have hitherto sufficed for its actual necessities. But the causes that have led to the deficiency in its income are yet to be explained.
These may be stated as arising first from the death or change of residence of many original supporters; and, secondly, from want of acquaintance on the part of new comers with its existence. Nor should this be a matter of much surprise; since, in every populous parish, so many Institutions for the temporal and spiritual advantage of the working-classes are necessary to be maintained, that comparatively few of those, who do not make a conscience of inquiring into their condition, are aware of either their number or relative importance. This remark applies with peculiar force to suburban districts such as Kensington, where a large proportion of the heads of families proceed early in the morning to transact their daily business in London, and do not return until the evening. The fault of their ignorance is not however to be charged to the Committee of the Society, who do all in their power to make known its title to assistance, both by the publication of Reports, and the appointment of a collector, whose business it is not merely to gather old, but also to solicit new subscriptions. But in many instances, the servants are prohibited from receiving printed appeals by a general order, which, of course, renders nugatory any communication that might be addressed to their masters through the medium of the Press. This is a hardship on both parties, in that the very individuals who are the first to complain of the apparent omission, are the involuntary victims of their own direction, and continue deprived of a satisfactory channel for the administration of their alms; while the Charity advocated in the pamphlet intended to be left at their houses suffers in the full amount which might otherwise have been placed at its disposal. There are some cases on the other side, in which the clergy have been requested by persons immediately on their entrance into the Parish to supply them with a list of the benevolent Institutions requiring succour. It would be well were this example more universally followed. None would then complain of being overlooked.