ASKING FOR HELP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15620, 19 May 1911, Page 8

ASKING FOR HELP.

THE POOR AND NEEDY.

THOSE WHOM THE PUBLIC RELIEVE.

At ©very meeting of the Hospital land Charitable Aid Board the secretary submits a list of cases relieved. It is oniy a small table, a few figures, and it is an utterly inadequate way of showing how the public, through the Board, relievo the distress that prevails in the city. The public seldom •know the amount of destitution dealt ..with in this way, because they cannot gat behind the scenes and see these things with their own eyes. It is doubtful, indeed, if the Board itself has very clear ideas in this direction, as this branch of its work is left in the hands of the Charitable Aid Committee, which receives all applications, examines applicants and listens to reports of the Board’s officers. There is, of course, a complete system of inquiry, which enables the members of the committee to become acquainted with each applicant’s circumstances and to judge very shrewdly if a case is a deserving one, and if so, to what extent. The pile of written applications placed before the committee at every fortnightly meeting is evidence of the work the officers do; and the personal applications from men and women, old ana young, married and single, who have gone down in the struggle show that the committee’s duties are responsible and heavy. The committee meets in a room into which a long, narrow passage, with seats on both sides, enters through a doorway. The chairman, reading from his list, calls a name, a lady officer opens the door to the passage and reneats the name; and one or the applicants walks in. There are occasions when an applicant is boisterous, loudvoiced und* clamorous, demanding relief as a right, and sometimos expressing opinions in strong and unmeasured terms For the most part, howevci the applicants’ manners are quiet and supplicatory. A few questions aro asked and answered, and the applican retires into the passage again while the committee discusses the case - M 1 ® usual course is to grant a quantity of rations, gauged by a money value, and to guarantee or pay rent, vhich is cue of the most obstinate problem the poor have to solve. It is, of course, the seamy side ot life that is displayed to the commutee. Bad husbands and bad wives, u - natural parents and unnatural chidren, have left the marks of their sins on others, who cry for help. In many cases men and women are paying the penalty of their own weaknesses; and behind it all there loom the shadows of drink and the devil. At a recent meeting of the committee, when the door was opened there stepped into She room a middle-apd woman, who gat down at the table and told the old, old story of a worthless husband. Sho has six children. The' eldest, a boy, is at sea. All the others, except one are girls, and. are young. She does sewing, sometimes in her own home and sometimes in her employees homes, in the latter case leaving her children, the youngest, of whom is four, in the house. For long terms she earns nothing, but occasionally she earns. Ss, 6s and Vs a week. She was given 7s 6d a week worth of rations, and an equal Bum for rent, for eight weeks.. When the door was opened again an old man, who earns 15s a week, and who has a wife thirty-six years of age and a family of three, came m and asked for heln in view of the expected arrival of another little one. Out of the sum of los, 8s is absorbed in rent. He earns small sums in a humble way, but trade is slack and he cannot find work. It was decided to offer his wife a place in the St Helens Home when her trouble comes, £1 towards paying a woman to look after the chilclien, and os a week for rations.

A voung woman, twenty-nine years of age, with three children ranging from five years and six months t 9 eight months, stated that her only income was 2s 6d a week, the rent of a room occupied by her mother, and that her husband was in the Consumption Sanatorium. She said that she had a little food, and arrangements were made to give her relief. A frail, thin old man, seventy-five years of age, who has been fifty-four years in New Zealand, asked for permission to enter a Homo. He has six children, fi ve sons aTld one daughter, all grown-up. Four years ago he possessed a few hundred pounds. He gave it to one of his sons, who lost W and left the old man absolutely destitute. He said that his sons, so far from helping him, could not help themselves. They were all failures in life. He was given four shillings a week for rations for a month, and. it was decided to inquire if ho could not obtain the old age pension. Another old man, considerably wea-ther-beaten, whose occupation is following the plough at soventy-two years, and who also occasionally carries the swag on country roads, said that he did not wish to die in a hurry on account ot a “terrible pain” at the back of his peck. He is a cheerful beggar, and a sturdy old buffer, and it was decided to send him to the doctor at the hospital if his condition called for treatment. The wife of a man who has become blind asked for assistance. They liavo nine children, all grown up except one. Amongst them there are several labourers. She earns a little money, and was given 5s a week for rations until lelp comes from her family. Renewed relief was given to the wife of a n artisan, a little woman with a pleasant manner and a bright smile. He said he would do nothing for me, and he has kept his word,” she explained. “ I have not heard from him or seen him for thirteen years. I will loon be able to get along all right without him but I haven’t got much gtrength, aud it has been a great struggle.” The last case on the list wns that of § young man, probably under twenty»ix years of age, who has been before the committee repeatedly before, and has been in the doctor’s hands. “ You liave corn© again?” was the question that greeted him. “Yes, I’m sorry I’ve had to come back,” he replied. “ I have looked for work, but can get nothing. I can Reo how it is. I will have to go to Mr Taylor and see if he can find me something. T don’t know anyone else to go to. I can’t do tho work I used to do. I never eat anything in the morning. I can’t eat anything in the likes of breakfast.” He has a young wife and two children. He has received os worth of rations a week, 7s 8d for rent, and Is 9d a week for milk for the children. His case is a puzzle, »nd the chairman gave him a little lecture, advising him to make a further effort to help himself. “If a young man like you can’t find anything, tho chairman said, “what will the old people do?” It was decided, somewhat reluctantly, to continue the relief for another fortnight, and the young fellow left the room with a remark that ho irould certainly make another effort to 'And work, and would take anyteing ♦hat came to his hand which his ftrength wtwld allow him to do.