THE POOR AND NEEDY

Evening Star, Issue 19290, 1 July 1926, Page 4

THE POOR AND NEEDY

m INCREASE IN DISTRESS

Distress in the city this winter has not been as accentuated as might have been expected; both the Salvation Army and the Otago Hospital and Charitable Aid Board report that the number of applications for assistance is not in excess of last winter’s totals.

One day recently eighty-one applications for assistance were handled by Ensign Coombs and other Samaritan officers. Orders were given for groceries, meat, firing, boots, etc. There were, of course, the everyday seekers of advice. It was a long and busy day, and it was not till midnight that Captain Montgomery and Ensign Coombs were finished. At midnight, tfie captain was at a home where help was needed; and it was given. “No, I do not think that the distress is worse this year,” stated Ensign Coombs this morning. “If the weather had not been broken, with the consequent small pays, I think the people would have got through the winter wonderfully. Crowds of people [ have had to help in other years have been placed on their feet through the Exhibition. More younger people are asking for assistance.” All the orders issued at the Samaritans’ Office are supported by the Commercial Travellers, while friends of all denominations forwarded clothing, etc. The continued wot weather has caused many inquiries from women and men for clothing and boots. “ This week the appeal for boys’ trousers and boots and working men’s apparel has been verv heavy,” remarked Ensign Coombs. * Riles of clothing and boxes of boots were stored in her office ready for distribution among the needy. All day long inquirers call at the office and ask for assistance. One' man sent along a gross of jams, and these are being handed out quickly. To make the homes of the poor comfortable by the additions of oqkl pieces of furniture, which would he v rejected, by others, is another work of the Samaritans, , and in a corner of the barracks a wicker chair, a wash stand, rocking chair, and a bed are stored, and these will he taken to the homes whore the furniture is a joy and a. blessing, as Ensign Coombs stated. Unemployment is not the paramount concern of the Samaritan workers; they are interested in the circumstances incidental to unemployment, and sickness. Ensign Coombs said her days were busv, and much time was spent outside the office. This morning she was in search of a cottage on the Flat for a family which was living on a hill about four miles from the tramway. The husband was in hospital with a double fracture of a leg, and would ho unable to climb the hill again. The mother had recently undertrono a serious operation, and her illness had been made mere acute by her, walking up the hill after visiting the hospital. This was a ease akin to many which they had to undertake.