HELP FOR CHILDREN

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 1, 1 July 1935, Page 11

HELP FOR CHILDREN

OTAKI HEALTH CAMP

The chairman .of the Otaki Children's Health' Camp Association, Dr. H. E. Gibbs, commenting upon the case of the mother and her six children, remarked today upon the continuing necessity of assisting families in such circumstances and -upon the facilities which the association was able to offer, facilities, however, sadly restricted owing to the limited funds available. ' "The pitiful plight of the case ol a mother and six children in such deplorable circumstances as were reported to the Wellington Hospital Board constrains me to write, as chairman of the Otaki Children's Health Camp, to stress the point that this camp is intended for the relief of such cases in respect of the children, and yet, for want of funds, we are functioning at about a quarter of our capacity," said Dr. Gibbs. "Here is an institution, equipped and staffed to take 100 children all the time, and there are hundreds of children needing the care and attention we can give them, and again the old cry is 'no funds.' "I know that the public of Wellington have been appealed to recently for large sums, and only the dire need of this immediate urgency allows one to dare at ,the present moment to launch another appeal, but I feel strongly on this subject. Ido not want to belittle the other funds, but what other social work can appeal as ranking equally with the immediate need of feeding and clothing these unfortunates, now, today,. this bleak cold morning. Try to picture the children in the case reported, getting down, shivering, from their improvided bed, putting on, say, a shirt and pants, possibly damp, no fire, and a quarter of their needs in food. Is there any real comparison between this present need and other relatively Utopian prospects? Yet the former objects receive official and widespread recognition, and light upon such a shocking case as' that reported is needed to wake the community to what is happening. in. their midst, today, here and now. . " TASK TOO GREAT FOR THE FEW. "My committee feels with me that the matter should hot be the function of a philanthropic few who give their time and- money to meet the social situation, but that it should be put on a proper basis. What is the cause? Is it ajesult of the economic situation and, if so, is it a by-product our. our capitalistic system? What are the capitalists doing? Paying taxes? What are our governors doing? Why, in this., fair land' s in the midst of abundarice,' have we these children starving with cold and lack of food? A way must, be found, but meantime something' must be done to meet the immediate situation. If a man is drowning one must1 throw him a lifebuoy and not wait to discuss how he came to get into the water. "If anything comes out of this present exposure we hope that in. respect of the children we may be allowed to use our neglected asset, the Otaki Health Camp, as,a refuge, while provision can be made for the adult sufferers elsewhere," said Dr. Gibbs. "But this means 'funds,' only at the rate of 10s per child per week, but while in the aggregate it means a fait sum, we feel the work we are doing should give us a claim upon such funds as are ear-marked for the poor and needy, such as. the unemployment fund, the Hospital Board, and even the Mayor's Fund, apart from the moral obligation of the moneyed class to provide something towards the removal of such a blemish to^ civilisation and to Wellington in the present time of grace." . ' •' .