POVERTY BREEDS EVIL

Evening Star, Issue 22275, 28 February 1936, Page 15

POVERTY BREEDS EVIL

INADEQUATE RELIEF PAYMENTS HOSPITAL BOARD'S POLICY ATTACKED "MOT DOING DUTY BY PEOPLE" “ Poverty degrades people. It leads to many things—crime and immorality and every evil to which man is subject. Our relief allowances are not sufficient to assist indigent persons, and yet it is asked why many of their children grow up to live shady lives, why our Borstal institutions are full of them, filled with ready-made criminals.” In these terms Mr M. Silverstone launched an attack at last night’s meeting of the Otago Hospital Board on its inadequate outdoor relief allowances, which he compared with other boards’ figures to show they were below the average for the Dominion. He asked for an increase, but no resolution was put forward. “ Since elected to the board I have tried to learn .on what lines the outdoor relief is administered,” Mr Silverjgtone began. “This relief is one of the most important humanitarian 'functions of the board, and I have always felt it to be insufficient to meet jthe needs of the persons who ask for . fit. One considers it is reasonable to (assume that the majority of these who iseek relief need it, and they should Ibe given enough to maintain a moderate standard of health. This is mot being done at present, and I intend to show that the scale and amount pf relief given by the board is too low.” FEW PENCE A DAY. In January, the amount paid out in (relief totalled £428, and the number provided for was 177 adults and 200 dependents, so that the average amount received by each was £1 2s 9d for the (month, or 9d a day, Mr Silverstone continued. _No one would say anyone could maintain an ordinary standard of health on such an inadequate sum, Which had to provide food, clothes, and shelter. Nothing was allowed for amusement, which was vitally necessary to persons in such conditions, as in most cases the causes for their wanting relief were inability to work or illhealth. Mr Silverstone went on to quote individual cases, in which the daily amounts of relief obtained for each member of various households ranged from lid down to 6d. He cited an instance of a single man in ill-health receiving 9s lOd a month, and another of an aged single woman £1 15s, or Is 2d a day. “ You do not think of the help they get from others,” put in Miss B. Farquhar. “ I am coming to that,” Mr Silverston# replied. “1 make no statement Without being sure of my ground.” “ The medical and nursing attention given by this board is practically nil,” he said, in presenting the following figures taken from tpe Government statistics for- 1934-35: —Wellington, £1,526; North Canterbury, £952; Auckland, £538; Otago, £l. “ That is not correct,” said Mr J. W. Dove (chairman). ■ “ Then the Government return must be wrong, and I accept your word,” said Mr Silverstone, who proceeded to compare Otago’s expenditure for 193435 on food rations to the poor and needy, totalling £4,707, an average of £7 0s Id a case, with South Canterbury’s £1,145 and £5 8s a case, Southland’s £1,754 and £5 19s, Hawke’S Bay’s £2,868 and £8 3s sd, Wellington’s £15,429 and £9 Os 3d, Auckland’s £29,'484 and £9 12s, North Canterbury’s £15,341 and £ll 15s lid, and Buller’s £939 and £l9 2s lOd. SPENT LESS THAN OTHERS. The total number of cases for New Zealand had been 12,009, on whom £93,638 had been spent, or an average of £7 15s lid each. Otago’s share was Ss lOd below this average, clearly indicating the board Was not doing its duty by its people. It should not spend any less than other boards. Poor people who asked for assistance had a right jto it, a right which could not be denied. “ As far as I can see, Statute places no restrictions on the amount of relief to be paid out by boards,” said Mr Silverstone. “If a board finds it necessary to spend three times as much, it is allowed to do so. Dunedin is one of the wealthiest cities in New Zealand and Australia, according to its population, and we boast that we are so wealthy that we are able to invest millions in other parts of the Dominion. Furthermore, it is not true that a Scottish community is mean. This board receives more voluntary contributions to its income than any other_ in New Zealand, the total last year being £7,000, and the people of Otago are willing to help us further. They don’t want to see women and children go hungry.” INTERJECTIONS CREEP IN. Reference was then made to a meeting held some four years ago to discufes the question of relief for unemployed, at which Mr J. W. Scurr made a statement which Mr Silverstone alleged to be to the effect that the board kept the unemployed right down on the bread line. Dr Newlands: That’s a lie, and a gross misrepresentation of what was said. Mr Scurr said it was our job to keep the unemployed above the bread line. The man who manufactured this statement to convey its opposite meaning is a cur, and the man who repeats it now has much to answer for. Mr Dove supported Dr Newlands, pointing out that Mr Scurr had explained his statement and had its twisted meaning corrected. Mr Silverstone accepted the chairman’s explanation, when Dr Newlands ’interrupted: “Mr Scurr is a wellknown citizen, and I say again he who misrepresented his words is a cur. Who this person is I don’t know.” “ Order, gentlemen,” the Chairman Cried, but Mr Silverstone replied: “I never refer to persons in privileged positions as curs, and; ” Dr Newlands; I said I do not know who the person was,_ but my term for iim is my firm opinion of what he is. The speakers were called to order and Mr Silverstone was instructed to proceed. He spoke of there being more than enough.in this country, which produced twice as much food as it could consume, and the board had the power to distribute it. “THEY’RE ALL DRUNKARDS.” Miss Farquhar asked what should be done with persons who presented grocery orders from the board and asked for money, and what was to be done if they spent it on drink? “ That’s it, they’re all drunkards, which is the argument of those who have never known want, whose economic position is assured, and who don’t have to worry where to-morrow’s meals are coming from or that a cosy bed always awaits them,” Mr Silverstone returned. Miss Farquhar; You’re talking a lot cf rot.

Mr Silverstone; Of course it’s rot, to Jhose who live amidst plenty. He asked why the board was not nig-

gardly in its administration of the hospital, where it treated patients handsomely. Why did it not show some generosity before many of those admitted fell sick? Mumbling and much talk among members was now .accompanying the speaker’s remarks, terminating in Mr D. M'Lennnn’s rising to a point of order, and inquiring what was really before the meeting. The Chairman explained the Benevolent Committee’s report .was before the meeting, and Mr Silverstone was perfectly justified to speak to it, as he was doing. However, Mr Silverstone said little more, except to comment on the fact that next year’s estimates would soon be considered. He wanted the Finance Committee to provide for a larger income in order to enable the board to deal, more humanely with all persons seeking relief. Not one in 100 of these persons was found to be unworthy of it, so thorough were the inquiries. But he_ contended that the whole policy required renewing, and he would like the actions of previous boards to be refuted or justified. EXPLANATORY REPLIES. “ As chairman of the board, I must stand by Mr Scurr, who in his time performed good work in administering the position as chairman of the Benevolent Committee,” said Mr Dove. As regards the general question he said the board would sit again before the Finance Committee considered the estimates, and instructions might then ho given. Dr Newlands claimed a right to reply, and said members had listened to ‘all this” as attentively as possible. He did not intend to accept the figures in many cases, for he did not profess to know how Mr Silverstone had arrived at the average percentages quoted. In some cases small allowances were made because there was other income. The board had a capable relief officer, whose inquiries into persons’ circumstances were made carefully and sympathetically. The allowances made, from the point of view of maintenance, could not be regarded as handsome, but at the same time could not be denied to be sufficient. It might be right that fhe board did not act with the same liberality as Canterbury and Auckland, but there were the larger populations to be considered. Some of the argument he agreed with, but it was all nonsense, Dr Newlands said, to talk about the wealth of Dunedin and what amount citizens were

prepared to contribute. The board was kept by taxation, which must be increased if the board wanted to spend more. This would mean higher rates, and because of the bigger demand on individual persons there might be some fighting as hard as some of those to whom their little contribution went. “ The position cannot be as bad as (with a wave of the hand) he would have us believe,” Dr Newlands concluded. Discussion was halted as the Benevolent Committee’s rennrt was adonted.