THE CITY'S POOR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1907, Page 8

THE CITY'S POOR.

A TRYING WINTER, HOW HELP 18 GIVEN, ■! AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW, It has been recorded in successive issues of the Post, when reference was tnade to the meetings of the Benevolent " Trustees, that the lot of the poor of Wellington seemed to be particularly hard this winter. A representative of the Post has had an interesting.^lnterview with the chairman of the trustees ' (the- Rev. W. A. Evans) on this 6ub- ' ject. Mr. Evans is not only a veteran . members of the board of trustees, but ' throughout his many years' residence ia the city he has gone about doing much good amongst IJie very poor, of the community. He therefore speaks with an intimate personal knowledge of hovr ' the distre&od Kvq ia our midst. - POVERTY PEEPER TO-DAy. '" "Both in your public and private capacity, Mr. Evans," said the pressman, '"have you found that during 'the prcsont winter the poor people of Wellington have had a harder time and are more numerous than during the previous year?" In reply, Mr. Evans said: "As cop*- , pared with last year, decidedly yes. There is a larger number and the poverty is deeper, more . distressing, than last year. The prcof of thjg is to be found in the records of the Benevolent Trustees as well as front >Vidnce supplied by tho nurses of S,t. John Guild and tho Ladies' Ghristian Association. Tho impression of tj-H parties is that the distress iv tha ,cjty is moro acute this winter than it has been for some time past. From our knowledge as trustees, we know that the numbers have increased. Taking the months of April, May, and June, into consideration, and comparing them . wiih the same months of last year, ths number has increased by 20 per cent." Quoting from a table showing compari-, sons oi relief returns for tho months of April, May, and June for 1P05, 19Q6, and 1907, Mr. Evans said that in 1905, 11,044 rations were given in the .tbtf* months, in 1906, they fell to 8969 rations, and in 1907, 14,629 rations wer« supplied during the same period. SOME ISSUES AND ASPECTS. Continuing, iir. Evans stated that the form of the poverty was, of course, very largely ths sama as over j that is to say, the lack of the bare necessaries of life; lack of 'clothing, bedding, firing, and such things as wpro necessary in order that people might live iv a" littlo comfort — indeed, that there might bo exist-\ enoe at all in it fairly decent fashion. This was the physical side. "Then, naturally, wherever this side of poverty is in existence*, thero is a deterioration in the moral fibre itself , because tlrp on* is very closely connected with the other. Where you find that the condition of th« people is very bad, you generally find that tho moral fibre deteriorates, tt is perfectly evident that whero there is anything like a healthy moral tone, tha tendenev is to look forward and provide lor Ihe future ; but when people como to an apparently blank wal 1 , an element of recklessness creeps in, and that' most necessarily act in a very deteripraKng way for the character.". " ""„"'.' THE POINT OF VIEW.! . I. "People are not "Classified as" poof, in tho sense that we lock upon poverty now. Tho poor, from our point of view, aro those pcoplo whose jneomeß are very much less than their expenditure, and who, in consequence, are deprived of the bai-e necessaries of life. Wherever you have them, you have differences; some » arising out of the causes that have •produced this poverty. One cause, that produces the poverty is thß'ioßt'of'.'the broad- winner. • There you^ havo a wife and small children practically thrown upon their resources, and they havo not been able to save anything in the oast. Ths result is that they Uglii to (.'WVory last ditch' be fore they como to the txustees, and then they come in real wane, perhaps with ths rent in arrears. Then, in tho , second place, yon have quite a number of people who live on the border-land of pov*erty. Tneir income and their . expenditure somewhat about balance. Now, 'if temporary sickness comes along, cr. intermittent employment, or berhSps"'A ceasing of employment for a short time, . they go down ; and the result is that i while they fight for their self-respect, whun thuy^can take m> other step' tiioy eomo to us. Then, thertt is the- class i that may bo described as thoroughly ifn- j provident in every way, who -have' no ; idea of thrift, who live absolutely- > in < the present, .vith ik> thought for the future." ' ' ' * ' ' A MODHEIN INSTANCE." Mr. Evans here ouctod a modern in- • stance : The ma'i, who iiad a small fam- ' ily, was iv regular employment, aijd d_oing very well, lie gradually gave way to drink, and not only "himself , but his wife, too. 1 '\2 res lit xrui neglect of tha • children, and a graduel drifting down vntil tha whole family became altogothcr indiffers.it U> _ what mighi happen to them — ' their celf-respcct gone, the farnilv reduced tn« ft condition of destitution that it would be difficult to surpass in any part of tho woild. One of the sons was now following alon:> the linsa of his father, who dosKii'icd cO low as to nsrvn ;i term in ' gaol. Up to the prcsont the eldest hon spends his time mostly between what • little work he does r-.r.d tho public-hofcse.'. The second son does r.wt offer any pro- • mise of imploring on his biother. Tho mother is a poor thing, and has practically lost all self-icliancc. "It is a typical family of that deteriorated and degenerate condition that must inevitably follow upon alcoholism. This family lias been under my personal observation for a period of about twtlvu years, and a brief pirio<i of assistance- to it from the BsTi«*\'.>li3nt Trustees ceased only a fortnight ago.*" EFFECT OF HIGH RENT. High rents and' the high pricn of Commodities, in Mr. Evans's experience, tul(t moro upon the casual labourer than perhaps any other cause, though it waa pretty general in its operation. The high rent charged for cottages of, say, four 1» six rooms, meant that a certain .portion of the people w<re driven to quartore to live in that were not nl all desirabls. The tendency of this wjn to wopkrn th» moral fibre of those who dtrek there, "so that from this class a. certain proportion necessarily drifted to the Benevolent Trustees and to other charitable bodie* for assistance. "We ffttd this aspect of the ense very strongly brought out by tho frequent applications to the trustees for assistance in the way of payments,- ur port payments, of rents. Several deplorable case* had come under the trustees' -' observation *only recently. The gonernl rulo wm to grant half the rent, but' in • 6omo cases they had gone beyond 'that, and had paid even up to 7s cr 10«,pw week for rent. HOUSING THE POOR. Asked whnlhor the trustees had in any way sought to eettle the vexed queitiQa of housing the very poor, Mr. EvanSTeplied tbat^hft Irostees had given very aerious c*nsid«ration to the question, whichpvas, and Ijad been, to them, for some £»me Bomething of 9 problem. In, deed, they had gone so far into thii matter that this very, week the™ w*s to be presented to the Ttonrd of Tnwtws a report coveting this autyect horn a sab- '