A CITY WITHOUT SLUMS

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12508, 22 May 1906, Page 8

A CITY WITHOUT SLUMS

THE FAVOURED POSITION OP CHRISTCHURCH.

ABSENCE OF EXTREME POVERTY

Few cities of any sieo are able to boatt of the fact that they do not possess a slum quarter, for os a matter of experience, the larger the town and tho greater its collective wealth, the more obtrusive is tho slum element with its associations of extreme poverty, crime, and misery. And quite lately the Auckland and Wellington Press have been displaying wive concern about the extent to which slums have sprung up in their midst like fostering sores on an otherwise healthy body politic. Nor are the contributory causes, even in

"God's own country," far to seek. The restriction of the residential area and ths' presence of aliens may create a slum quarter apart from economic conditions, ami Wellington is a cas;e in point. Tho tame evil io less pronounced in Auckland and Duuedin, but it exists all the tame. Moreover in the two northern cities the fact that they are &ea ports in- direct communication with other countries give* them their share cf the human wreckage wiiich is ever drifting along the wends highways and stranding en route in spite ot legislation to kf.p out undesirable immigrants.

hut Cliriwtoiiurcii is, happily, free to .1 large extent, from thesa influences, and it is alao a city with room for expansion on all tides, and when a "Press" reporter put the question to Nurso -viaudo yeisreitiay. "Aro there any suims in Cnridtciiurcii.-"' she was aoio lrom Jier kr.uwieuge of tho poorer clashes, and tjieir Homes, to aiisvcr deciaealy in tue negative. iuero may be what you would call '■slummy' houses,' Nurse -Maude contuiueil, "but as lor slums as we usually uiiueis-taiut iu<i word, tnero are none. lon cant take any particular quarter ot CiiiisicniLreh niiu oail it a lUum. There aro uieiepuuioie nouses inhabited by oiMepiuaoie people, but siicli cas.es are usually i.-uhu-eu, anu n.io ellect is quite oineieut lrom wnat it womd be were tiieie a number oi these, piacts liuu-ukd togoiner. ' iMii'M) ....aiiue her© specified several streets cuiuaiiiing wnat s.io calleu •>.i.iiauuy' lioiue.-f, but u<ucuu Jnai it wouia oe uiiiair to paiMcu'inriue, as uicso stieets were also the home of a uuui'ucr oi vc.y ro-pcCtaoie pe^pe. ■•.so,'' saiu -sui'sj .nuiiue in if r uy to anotiier quesaon. "i'llu-re is no exueme povoity in Cnr.etcnuica. Tueie certainly is powny Here and there, out noooay La go hungi-j-, and c-.a.u----aouj aid is reau.iy giVtru to any really in need ot n. mere is more riiifi'enua lrom wna-t I fsiioiua caii 'genteel poverty in Onris.cnuion man iroin doeiu'tucion. Tno pv.«ple wiuo cutter music aro respectable peoplo, wlio wal not flis-K tor alalia nance, ana who swive to keep up appearances. We nnd tuern out souietiiiitK), aud t-iiey are invariably peap*© striving with great anxiety to inane both enus mtec, and to t.o so tuey often have to go wivnout and warm clothing in winter time. On.y tins morning a came under my noace ot a poor woman, who was struggling to bring up a narge family, aaU wiuo nadn't a woo.len garment to wear; and tinere are a lot oi men and women going about without proper boots. Tney aro walking almost cm tho ground, ami aire in imminent danger of contracting rheumatism and consumption."

: Reverting again to tue aicuministira.tion of chan'la-ole aid, Nunse Alauoe said that sometimes peop.e criticised $16 Charitable Aid Board lor not g.vimg felief in certain cases, but when it was withheld tihere was generally a good reason for doing so. '•Of course," added tho lady, "a good deal of .distress is " caused through diruako'nness, and look at the coals and bWnkofes we, give away during ihe winCharitaole Aid Board will riot, as a rule, give relief to famil.es whoro ihe father gets good wages and spends them on liquor. You can got a yery good idea of the email amount of real poverty there is iv Christchurch from the appearance of the school children. If you go along to the Gloucester street school any morning 4Uid watch tho children going in, you will be surprised to find how healthy, ana happy, and well clothed they are, and it shows that, generally speaking, t-nere is not much wrong with them. There is one thing, however, that I would like to cay something about, and that is the state of the houses many of the poorer people have to livo in. Unless a man can pay lOa, 12s, or 14s a week, he simply cannot get a place fit for has family to occupy. Many of the places working people live in are old and insanitary; tho windows were never made to open except a couple of inches from tho bottom, and they ought to be condemned if the Health Department did its duty. The landlords won't do anything but collect the rent, and so things are allowed to go on." Nurse Maude also holds the opinion P'rongly that tho State should ko the housing of that stotion WSiamnnity, which has not the r the ability to house itself pronit that, after all, is quite ■ matter.