EVICTED PEOPLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 56, 8 March 1937, Page 10

EVICTED PEOPLE

SHIFT TO VILLAGE

CANON HAMMOND'S WORK

BUSY CLERGYMAN

I An outstanding Australian social worker, Canon R. B. S. Hammond, of Sydney, arrived by the Awatea today from Sydney. Canon Hammond is well known in Sydney for the social [work he performed in Sydney during the worst years of the depression, but his chief claim to fame is that he is the creator of a village, twenty miles out of Sydney, which houses 94 families and contains 385 children. In addition, Canon Hammond maintains a single men's hostel in the city, personally directs social work at the courts, and attends to his ordinary parish work at St. Barnabas' Church.

Tracing the growth of his activities, ,in conversation with a "Post" reporter today, Canon Hammond said that the depression in Sydney had a different angle from the depression in other places in that many people were evicted. In twelve months 8000 persons were evicted, and at one stage 300 single men were. sleeping in the Domain in the cold and wet. It occurred to him that' persons existing under those conditions were ideal material for violent Communistic action. His first ambition was to help those men, and he consequently acquired a large building in which they could live. Within three months' time he was sheltering 500 men. He received valuable help from Sir Frederick Stewart, a former Federal Minister, who gave him £500 a year, and, in addition, the scheme

was aided financially by the amount the men received from the dole, which was then 6s 6d weekly but was now 7s 6d. Any man could not do much on 6s 6d a week, but Canon Hammond aimed to give a man two meals a day and a bed. He more than achieved that aim. By purchasing in bulk he was able to feed the men economically, and his shelter now accommodated 300 men; and there was a waiting list.

Canon Hammond then turned his attention to married people who were evicted, and opened a family hostel. Eventually he had five family hostels open and four single men's hostels, but now he had only four family hostels and one single men's hostel, providing accommodation for 300 single men a%:d j 60 families. CHEAP BUILDING. His next step was to convene a meeting of people who were evicted or about to be evicted, and he suggested that they should work for themselves. They agreed, and he made an appeal to the public for land and material to give these people an opportunity of building homes for themselves. That | scheme was not a success, the land being unsuitable and not of such a character as to permit of Ms supervision. He then purchased 13 acres about 20 miles out of Sydney, on which he built thirteen cottages. The settlers were picked from tradesmen, and the cottages, which were built by the men, each contained three rooms and a sleeping-out porch. The land cost £25 an acre and the cost of each cottage was £75. Discussing'the financing of the scheme, Canon Hammond said that the Rotarians gave him his first help, building the first three cottages; the public supplied the rest, . aided, of course, by the amounts the settlers received from the dole. Later 15 additional cottages were built on fi^een acres and later .still 35 more were built, also on 35 acres. Today in that little village, which was called Hammondville, there were 94 families and 385 children. The acre of ground provided the settlers with an area on which they cultivated vegetables and raised poultry, etc. .The scheme would never have been successful had it not been for the State's child endowment system which, together with the dole, pro-; duced 28s a week for : a family totalling six. , • . . . j SETTLERS CONTRIBUTE. , j As unemployment decreased the set- j tiers were obtaining work, and about 40 per cent, were now employed. Each settler was asked to pay 5s a week for three years and 7s Gd a week for four years, after which the place would be his own. Such a scheme was what he termed constructive philanthropy, and, although when tfiey went on to the land one might say that the settlers were penniless, they had now paid £800 off their cottages. Different industries in the city had helped him, the shipping companies, for instance, building two cottages side by side which they named Port and Starboard. The manager of the village was an ex-detective sergeant, who was also the postmaster. The Government had not encouraged the scheme because it did not favour community settlement. Sir Frederick Stewart, Sir Samuel Walder, and he himself were the trustees of the company, which was registered as a non-profit making concern. Apart from his £300 per annum stipend, which he received from his parish, Canon Hammond said he received no remuneration from the scheme. Canon Hammond said he was looking forward to his holiday in New Zealand. "When one has been running nine hostels, a village, attending the court, and looking after one's parish one feels like a bit of a holiday," he remarked.