THE SHADOW OF THE STRIKE.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14349, 8 May 1912, Page 9

THE SHADOW OF THE STRIKE.

DISTRESS IX ENGLAND.

PITIFUL SCENES

Files of the ,; Daily Mail, ,, to hand by yesterday's mail contain descriptions of the distress in England causal by the coal strike. Writing fro.n Manchester a correspondent said: —tn one. of the small streets off Mill street. Bradford, a suburb of MMichester, tlw women were in unusual commotion this afternoon. Half a dozen of them clustered on tho doorstep of one of the cottages. One explained, " It's oalj? Mrs C , sir, she's fainted again, and when she faints her children run. screaming to the neighbours to fetch 'cm to help. Another woman brushed past us carrying a grocer's blue-papor tiag. It was tilled with coke. £sh« meant to lignt a lire in the invalids house, •'file's got no fire nor nowt, else," said the woman; "there ain't many fires in this street." I looked ip> at- the opposite row oi chimney-pots. There was only one :n about twenty from which aro.se the slimmest trace ct smoke. Enquiries showed that of nil the inhabitants of the street there v «:.s >carcely one family thnt was o<tvpiii£ poverty as a directresult of tho strike. This is typical of the whole district. In addition Iα the miners of the neighbourhood, all <-.f whom nre in great nued, there aro the wireworkcr.s' families, the women from tho flax mill, carters' families, and others. nil of whom aretrying to 15 on incomes varying from 7s (id a week for miners down to nothing for the rest- Iα James street 1 found that only one man was at work. Of the others, tho incomes for the week could not have totalled n sovereign- Enquiries in 3treot elicited information of a very similar kind* and there is no reason tor thinking that any .streets in Bradford are better off. Tho poverty uiul suffering arc » indeed, dreadful. A man turned a cartload of boiler a&hcs on to tho waste- law I* at the corner of Hawko street, and : u five minutes them were fifty women raking through the ashes with their fingers to find cinders. A meat extract firm's cart camo into tho district '.\i the afternoon and began a free distribution of hot beef tea. Men. women, and children fought to get near tho vehicle. I was assured tint i hundreds of people are lying ill in houses with neither food nor fire. On another day tho '•Daily Mail" said:—Tho saddest side of the evergrowing rolttmo of distress and privation is tho suffering imposed on those who are too young even to understand the cause of their misery. Crowds of half-starved, hnlf-clothod children flock to tho soup kitchens and other food distributions which have been organised on thoir behalf. Thousands of little, ones are being kept alive by charity. In somo places they clamour and struggle as much as their enfeebled condition permits for places at the soup kitchens. At Ukeston. in tho M : dland conl area, a soup kitchen maintained by the iSalyation Army is daily tho gathering plnco of half-starved children, somo little- more than babies. Ono lad was so faint with hunger that ho reeled at the smell of the soun. Tho pangs of hunger arc also tho reason wliy little children with largo bnsins havo to bi> watched to prevent big boys with smaller bnsins making forcible exchanges. Stories aro even told of starvinp fathers nml mothers devouring food sent home for tho children. On tho other hand many mothers aro starving themselves in their efforts to feed their fairilies. Crowds of pinched women and children with bassinettos, wheelbarrows, trunks, and one oven with a birdcage in which to carry tho coke, gathered outside tho Manchester Gasworks soon after four o'clock yesterday morning. .Some of them showed obvious signs of fatigue. These were helped by a corps of Boy Snouts, who handed them coffee and biscuits, and also gavo a hand at pushing tho trucks. t • A missioner engaged in relief work yesterday related a few of the cases she had met'with. A labourer, thrown out of work two weeks ago. had a wife and four children. They had no fire yesterday, and only a loaf and a l:ttlo tea in the cupboard. A wnrehouso odd man had not had a job for three weeks. Hβ had an ailing wifo and two children. A mwr. of soup and somo bread was all that they had had that day. At Iseirton Heath a family of fire was absolutely without food. The next day ono of tlie. children died in a fit. In many a Middlesborongh street the whole population is in receipt of reliel. Heartrending are some of tho experiences narrated. One woman who appenrerl before the committee yesterday said that her husband dropped uown dead the previous day. She had no food or fire, in the house. During tho temporary absence of tho nvm in ehnree of a baker's cart a. liumM-v man yesterday seized a loaf and rnn iwav A constable overtook him. "rmrtamne." ponded the man "and cr. : s the missuo. Come nnd see. ' in© officer went with the man to hie house. There in a pot on a tiny coke fire ho found a young dog being cooked, lno policeman gavo tho mans wile- some money. >