Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, JULY 8th, 1914. POVERTY AND POLITICIANS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLII, Issue 6134, 8 July 1914, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Times WEDNESDAY, JULY Bth, 1914. POVERTY AND POLITICIANS.

llt is not infrei|uently asserted that I there arc no slums and no real poverty in New Zealand. That idea, is rather dispelled by the facts revealed ill a recent meeting of the Chmti church Citizen s Benevolent Association, where it was reported that no fewer than -1.10 applications for coal and blankets had been received, liesides lc> applications for second grants, and 70 for further assistance. Of those. I-I: cases were held over, 21 werj passed without help, and 1 !)8 blankets and 010 coal orders were given away. That moans that there | arc literally hundreds of -people in Christchurch who arc so poor that 1113y cannot buy the means of protection from the .severe cold of the winter i I Add to this the number of children lof these poor people, ;iud it wiil be realised that prosperous; Christ church has a greater proportion of poverty within its confines than the average citizen realises. Already the Benevolent Association's worker's have received '10 more applications for relief than they had in the corresponding period of last winter. The Society's Inspector reported that sli2 had investigated some particularly heartrending cases of poverty. Only a few days ago she found, in a totally unfurnished room in Manchester street, an old man lying on a sack that was his o-qly bedding, and he had not had a bite or a dunk for two days. In another case she found a family with several children, with not even a scrap of food in the house, and not a liennv to buy any with. In a til ire* case a woman and iive or six children had eaten nothing but weak I porridge for several days, and there were many other similar eases. The chief point of interest about these distressing revelations is the fact- that most of the applicants for relict blame the .strike at the latter o\u\ of iast year, while a great portion of the others are women and children who have been reduced to dire poverty by the desertion ■>!' the breadwinner. So far as the strike is concerned it is safe to assume that there, wiil be periodic outbursts of the kind until a. way can be found to s.ttisty !. h;.1 legitimate cravings of men i>>v .something more than a mere rxi-ilcncc The subject, however, is nut of Mtflieifitt importance- to call our politicians oil' party bickerings to give it attention for :t moment With regard to wife deserter-; our methods of dealing with them might with advantage In; revised. I{ is impyv-dbk; to conceive a more heinous clinic than that of a mini leaving his witf and children t<_> -iiit't fur llicnise! yes or -Marvc If the wife bias io take action we compel the husband to contiihute to h>-r keep, and if Im.: fails we imprison him, which is about as sane as endeavouring to cure drunkenness by iiiipri-ionmeuL In neither ca>c is

tho remedy worth bothering about The problem of etUdently" de U lj n ,i with tin- deserting liremlwiunei' and tho cons^uent uu<--vy ;„ iT.vcaloii , lt Chnstchaieli. is uf h.-ast owe of the matters that call mure loudly f.>r t } !e Jllto.lltion 1.1 our h'iiishuurs t ! i;iu ,; o A<lilri'ss-iu-Uc}.ly debates and m -i m utiicr inanitios ot tin- kuid in they .seemingly love to indulge