HOME IN COUNCIL COTTAGE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27165, 8 October 1953, Page 2

HOME IN COUNCIL COTTAGE

ELDERLY WOMAN’S LAST YEARS GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH NOTED Given a tenancy of a City Council pensioner’s cottage when she was 83 years of age and suffering from palsy, a woman lived. comfortably and happily and improved in health for a further 11 years. The mother of 14 children, All of whom had been born without the aid of a doctor, she died last week. The story of her occupancy of a cottage and all it meant to her was told yesterday by Mr J. W. Huggins (Chief City Inspector) in a report to the Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Feast).

“As the wisdom of, the council in building homes for the aged may sometimes be questioned, councillors may be interested in the details of one tenancy of a pensioner’s cottage which has just been terminated by the death, of the tenant,” said Mr Huggins’s report. “Early in 1942, this lady called to see if her application for a pensioner‘3 cottage was in line for allocation in a street where the buildings were nearing completion. Typical of many elderly folk, she preferred to be independent in a home of her own, rather than live with relatives or in an institution.

“She was very frail and was badly affected with a palsy condition, making her head and hands shake continuously. She informed me that she was nearly 80 and I tactfully informed her that a cottage would not be available, the council having previously suggested to me. that it would be unwise to allot a cottage to anyone over 75. She accepted the decision philosophically but asked me to call and see her living quarters. I did so and immediately decided, against what I thought was my better judgment, to make a unit available to her. “After all, the council’s suggestion as to age was not an instruction, and I thought that the few months, which appeared the maximum of her life expectancy, could be spent in comfort. She moved in in August, 1942. “Comfort Worked Miracles” “The comfort worked miracles and years later she improved so much in health that she even lost her palsy. I suggested she must have a clever doctor. Her reply, with a smile, was: ‘No: but I -have a wonderful landlord.’ “She felt that living in comfort at a rent she could afford with security of tenure had not only prolonged her life, but had improved her health so much that she was able to enjoy her life.” • Mr Huggins recalled the day when the tenant proved into the council cottage with an outsize load of oldfashioned furniture. He informed her that not only would the cottage not hold the articles but there was no need for them. She tearfully agreed to send them to an auction room but remarked that they were “the first bits of furniture dad and I ever owned.” Mr Huggins added: “I felt very humble.” She also told him that she had had 14 children “without a doctor” and she and her husband had worked hard to rear the family.

“I called on her occasionally over the years, sometimes only for a moment or two, but her welcome was always sincere,” said Mr Huggins. “I think the council should feel proud at providing a home for this worthy pioneer, who spent the last 69 years of her life in this country, in the evening of her life.”