SUNDERLAND'S DISTRESS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 179, 24 April 1908, Page 5

SUNDERLAND'S DISTRESS.

• A WOEFUL PICTURE. Thousands of men, women', and children aro literally starving; in, Sunderland to-day (writes an "Express" contributor on February 18),' and hundreds; of families arc living ou the pennies rarncd by children'who 'sell papers and matches in.the streets.. : •Last night I "held up" ono of a number ot barefooted child itiadcrs, and asked what ha meant by it. His father, a carter dependent on the shipyards,: 1 was worklcss. There were nine of them-living in two small rooms, and lie, uio undersized, twelve-year-old child—aSout two-thirds the proper size— was earning • the Sunday dinner. But as all Sunderland's army of unemployed cannot earn Sunday dinners by selling papers and matches, it follows that in not a few homes to-day there has been' no Sunday dinner to eat. In hundreds there has probably been little, if anything, beyond dry biead. Unemployment ha'! knocked at tho door, and thousands of. families are living on "relief." 'J lie whole town is mapped out into relief-districts, each with its committeo and band of investigators, and each commit-teo-makes its .demand for shilling tickets from the Mayor's fund. On Wednesday lar-t the central office issued. 9200 shilling tickets to "cases" which had all been inquired into. . That represents quite 4000 families, I am told, or 20,000 individuals, between whom and starvation .stands only the Mayor's fund, which is now rapidly dwindling. Since tho fund was opened,'in November last more than 100,000 .relief tickets have been issued. Eleven' thousand pounds in all has been raised, and in five, or six weeks it will,all have been spent, and yet the shipyards are idle, and the shipbuilders say that no orders arc .at hand. Without ships to build these thousands of people in receipt of "relief" havo no hope of employment. Out of forty or moro shipbuilding/klips there are said to bo not moro than a dozen in use. .Firms that a year 'age had 5000 men on tho books to-day have twV or three thousand. No ono seems able to toll the. real number of workless men. A man clo'soly identified with the relief- work tells me it is not far short of 15,000,. including lads. -Others, perhaps not in so good a position to judge, ostimato.it .at 10,000 at most. But, if it is 10,000, it is a tcrriblo proportion out of a population of 150,000 persons. Now there is a prospcct that things may bo even,worse. Unless terms are arranged this week there will be a genornl lock-out in tho yards, and thoso who are still at work will join tho worklcss army. In thousands of homes the cupboard is all but baro, and but for tho free breakfasts and freo dinners, many of tho school children would faro ill indeed. . , Last night I was taken into a one-roomed home, whero > soma of tho furniture had been sold, all the little articles pawned, the week's "relief" food eaten, and no food remained. In ono bare attic a man and wife sat, with a bit of bread lor Sunday. In another one-roomed home a woman lay in bed'with .her".week-old baby. The husband sat by tho fire with four little ones round him. There was not a scrap of any.kind of food in the placed For threo days after tho baby was born the motlior had only tc-a and bits of bread which her neighbours gavo her. There was one bed for the man and wife and five children. In another one-roomed home a man and wife and eight children were packed. They wero living on "the tiekots"—three shillings' worth of food a week. In most cases only two tickets are given to a family two shillings' .worth of food, for seven days. AVhat do they eat ?. • Tho dietary of an unmarried workless man proved to be a kipper, a small cake, and a drop of tea per day. Throe or foul' pounds of potatoes lay on tho table in another ono-roomod home. The man had dug them from a field outside tho town. They wero all tho food for to-day. Ono of the .children lay in.tho solitary bed with sacks for a pillow. . In another home a weeping woman held in her arms a dying child. Tho workless father had been sent to gaol for the crime of theft.. The rest of the littlo family sat round tho fire, intentlv and sorrowfully watching.the youngest die."