N.Z. SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 171, 6 July 1911, Page 1

N.Z. SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

AS VIEWED BY A GLASGOW LADY. Mr-. Barton, an ex - -city council- ..>• ut Glasgow, and who is conductors a i' rn-ade throughout New Zeai ind in the interests of No-license, js at present in Hastings, and this morning accorded an interview to a representative of the ” Tribune.” WONDERFUL NEW ZEALAND. I was always anxious to see this wonderful country of New Zealand.” said Mrs. Barton. * since we heard so much from Mr. Keir Hardie some years ago. I am very much impressed with the progress the country has made in sixty years, and the early settlers—the pioneers who arrived here in the early days -must certainly have been men of great grit and perseverance. The only thing I am afraid about is the • and question. The land is not taken up as it should be. and in this respect you might very well take a lesson from the Mother Country. I have learned since my arrival that a land hunger exists in this country, ami I certainly ♦ Link that if the Natives are not prepared to work their land they should make way for European settlement. Then there is the question of your railways. I think it would pay to borrow more money to improve your railways, whereby the back country and the centres could be linked together. This would take people to the land and give them an outlet for their products. This is the policy that has boomed Canada, and encouraged immigration to her shores. The money borrowed for this purpose would certainly be a good investment. THE LIQUOR QUESTION. Turning to the liquor question, Mrs. Barton said, “ Your legislation has made a distinct advance, but at the same time your drink bill is El 2- p<-r head more than it is in Scotland, and though the drink is more expensive, still it is a waste of money and not the thing to give remuneration to the workers—it certainly does not improve them individually. Now, if the New Zealand people took advantage of their laws in regard to prohibition. not only would they save their money, but the brains and physique of the nation from being destroyed, and as one from Scotland I would like to make an arepeal in this direction. In Scotland people were so well posted as to what has been done by the traffic that 50 per cent, were abstainers ; and if they could only get legislation through the House of Lords, they would very soon make short work of the trade. The difficulty was in the fact that 327 members of the House of Lords were either owners of breweries or shareholders in them. The Scotch whisky was the downfall of so many in Scotland, as in New Zealand, and capital derived from this source was used in buying baronetcies and Feats in the House of Lords.” UNEMPLOYMENT AT HOME.

Referring to the unemployment question, Mrs. Barton said: —‘‘In Glasgow we have one and a half million acres of land, and though the suburbs and outlying districts are very beautiful, yet we have a great many slums and a large number of people are continually on the verge of starvation. During the last great depression in employment we had 22.000 unemployed men in the city <>f Glasgow alone. To grapple with the difficulty we created a borough distress committee, consisting of 16 town councillors. 11 parish councillors, am! It members representing employers of labour and trades unions. Several large tracts of land which were considered of no value were purchased, and as many as ’-no men were sent to till the soil. They were provided with dormitories and wholesome food, allowed 6d a week for pnebet money, and the balance of their earnings was pa id to their wives at the rate of 2- for every child up to 1; . The money was handed over l>y the committee, and the men t -!v.-s never handled it. The rc-ult.-. ’ eontin ned Mrs. Barton, were “ wonderful. Men who went on the land emaciated and weak, within a fortnight had improved beyond recognition. The land turned out to be a great remunerative scheme, and what ■was previously an idle tract became

a fine colony. A large percentage of the 22,000 unemployed were men who had wasted their opportunities in life, and hard drinkers with' miserable homes. STATE INSURANCE. Mrs. Barton commended Mr. Lloyd George s scheme of insurance against sickness, also the State labour exchanges. Every man in the Empire would now contribute against unemployment, and no one would be allowed to sink below the line of poverty. Men would register throughout the country, and the employer would register when he was in need of labour. Thus the job would go to the man, and the man to the job. INFANTILE MORTALITY.

Mrs. Barton next referred to the work being done in Glasgow to stem the tide of infantile mortality. Attention had been drawn to this social evil by Lord Balfour of Burleigh. The work had been taken up in the darkest parts of the city by twenty women of the Christian Temperance Union, and the result had been a decrease in the death-rate of fully 100 per cent. The Corporation of Glasgow supplied doctors and facilities for giving sterilised milk, and a wealthy member of the union provided a dinner table, where women were able to obtain one wholesome meal each day. All these schemes prevented great waste, but no permanent social reform would be brought about until the drink traffic was placed under the heel. SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

In conclusion, Mrs. Barton said that during her term of ten years on the Glasgow City Council and nine years on the School Board she had been watching the many social problems with which they were confronted from the inner circle, and though she was a humanitarian and desired to better the people, she had come to the conclusion that they were only beating the air till they disposed of the drink traffic. Her advice to the people of New Zealand was to toke advantage of the magnificent legislation recently enacted and get rid of this social evil. She believed, like John Ruskin. that it, was not a question of how much money was made, but how much was wasted. • I would like to add,” said Mrs. Barton. “ that I am delighted with the hospitality of the people of New Zealand, who received me wit li opened doors and an eagerness to show me round. Such treatment reveals a grand trait in a people’s character.” Mrs. Barton is t<» address public meetings in Hastings this evening at St. Matthew's Hall, and to-nior-row afternoon and evening at St. Andrew’s Hall.