SUNLESS LIVES. SICKNESS AND POVERTY IN WELLINGTON. EXPERIENCES OF A DISTRICT NURSE

"There is no poverty in Kew Zealand," said Mr. Seddon on a famous occ.i.siun, bub had he made a study of the lower levels of life hi any of the New Zealand cities, he would have altered his opinion, in this city iilone there is much poverty — and, worse than poverty pure and simple, siekne&n amongst the poor. Engaged in relieving the distress of this spindrift of society, which leads a sunless existence at the best of times, and which lias always be/ore it the menace of eclipse thiough sickness, is a District Nurse, who works under the uegis of the St. John Ambulance Society. Mis. Holgate is one of the busiest of women, and «hu spends her life amongst the poor. Her special work 18 nursing the poor in their own homes, and she is emphatic lcgarding the dicadi'ul effect ot sicknebs amongst the poor. Listen to the tale of the man who lost his nerve. It is typical of the cataclysmic effect of sickness on a family which, in health, btruggtqp along with its head just above the waters of starvation, death, and oblivion. This man earned a small wage, just sufficient to keep the wolf from the door, and suddenly tho wife fell ill. Terrified by the disaster, he fled, and some kindly neighbours having called in tho District Nuise, he returned again in two or three days to a world that ho thought had gone to wreck. Weakness, perhaps, but tho margin between existence and ruin is so small that his sudden terror can be understood. ■again, the Nurse found a dreadful state of affaire in a hovel consisting of one room. The mother suffers from cancer, and with her husband and two children ate (a small item), slept, and lived in this small and unsanitary shelter. Tho mother could not be properly nursed at home, and had to be removed, but she fought to be allowed to remain. Her husband joined in her eritiealiea, and they wept at th© break up of the home. She had struggled along, and had nursed herself, and could do it still. But ■with a decision that was greater kindness than yielding, tho I'Wirse insisted on removing the woman, an * disinfecting tho poor room. Home^dc now and then the woman pays shott visits to her family and to th« husband who is fighting the world for her children and herself. "Oh, but the saddest case of all !" It was briefly told — the tale of a woman's devotion and slavery, a hopeless fight, with the handicap of a relentless disease. A young woman— little more than a girl — ruled a household consisting of her hu.sband, three lodgers, and her own baby girl, and niled it without Avid, the while consumption was hurrying her to the grave. She was in tho lost stages of the disease when her case became known to the D strict Nurse, w-ho stopped the unequal light. She was found sleeping on a be*l made by placing a mattress on some packing cases, and niter being property tended she told her pitiful story of sunless toil in the shadow of tho Valley of Sorrow. Nine years she had been married, she said a few days before she found iest in death. "How could I?" she replied to tho question why she bad not obtained medical aid before. "We could not afford it, and who" was to look after the home?" In her nine years' tragedy she had never known tho touch of a woman s hand, nor the mercy of another woman's aid. Nine years ! "No poverty," said Mr. Seddon? Then it should be grotesque to spe«k of starvation ; hujt starvation there is, even in New Zealand. A little girl was brought to the Nursfc's office, suffering from nervous breakdown, according to her mother. Tho mother had been separated from la-r husband, who had added brutnlity to their poverty. He had struck the child, sfiid the mother, "and over since Rhe hns been n. nervous wreok." Investigation: showed that tho "nervous prostration" was due to the fact that for weeks the mother and daughter had lived on—dry bread ! Not for a day, or two days, but weeks! And onco aVriving home, himself hungry and penniless, the father robbed them of their poor crusts, and they (starved until the mother, tending her sick child, had earned a little bread. But it is not all shadow ; there Is sometimes a little shine. There was the family whose mother fell iH, and which could not only not atford to send her to tho hospital, but which would go to rack and ruin if she were removed. Tke poverty was nob so great that a little could not bo spaml for a doctor's visit now and thun, and the lnc-thea* is visited and properly tended in her own home, surrounded by her children, and exercising her mother-influence- cwu from the sick bed. It must »ot bo thought that it is only the desperately poor who are on the visiting .list of tho Nurse. There are many families whoso head is a labourer earning a small but steady wage. All is well enough with them in fair weather, but the- elightC6t burden of skkness becomes at onco ft mountainous weight. It is the mother, perhaps, who has some chronic affection. She is not bed-ridden, but in happier circumstances would be- treated in a hospital. She cannot afford the expense, and &he can earn a little at homo, and be in direct command over her children. Removed to a hospital she would be idle and fretful, and worry over her home and her practically orphaned children. Nursed in her own home, she Ls near her children and is relieved of all anxiety, while the family can work unburdened with her core. With many interruptions — for she is a busy woman, afc the cull of tho lame, tho halt, and lite blind— Nurse Ifotgato told theao and other of her experiences amongst the poor. The people- visited are quick to.lenm hygienic principles, and Mhj mothers learn more cf the proper treatment of their children Quite apart from the good work of tke nursing itself, the systom .is spreading a knowledge of nursing amongst tho people — nursing and hygiene. Whori a baby suffering from bronchitis is, found sleeping in a cold, cheerless, dump room, facing the cold .«outlwyly winds: when children are packin threes in dark, low roouns like unclean packing cases; when phthisical patients in advanced stages of the diseaw sleep in Hl-renttialed rooms' and mingle promiscuously with their family — there there is .small wonder that infant mortality has reached a degree that calls for tho Attention of the State. In this connection Nurse Holgato hns in contemplation a ischemo for delivering lectures to mothers on the proper nursing of childmi, and who is to my there is not grout need for it? Some figures may bo interesting. Of 68 pulton to on tho" list, e?ght arc cases of consumption, four of cancel", and five of paralysis, making one-fourth of tho total. Tho remainder cover affections of the most diverse character, oven in— eluding dyspepsia. There is plotit^ of scop© for more work in tho homes o\ the sick poor, and for mow district tiursefc. Nurse Holgatc cays "a district nurse who •tows tho {seeds of* thrift, self -help, self-re-strnint. and self-respect in Ihe round of daily i\ork is a help to solving the social problems that aro causing us bo muth