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Northern Advocate, 20 July 1917, Page 1

Beware of "spongers!" This is the advice tendered to the public by the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association. The matter came under the notice of the Wellington association in the form of the following letter received from the parent body:—"At a meeting of the executive, the following recommendation was directed to bo sent to all local associations: 'That the local associations be strongly urged to make public the desire of the association that members of the public, if accosted by men who represent themselves to be returned soldiers and ask for money, etc., should ascertain, if possible, the name and regimental namber, and forward this information to the local Returned Soldiers' Associations.' " Commenting on this, the chairman (Mr H. D. Harper, said that the good name of the returned soldier was being "dragged in the mud" through these contemptible impostors. Two little boys, brothers, aged eleven and seven respectively, came before Mr S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., in the Juvenile Court in Wellington and an unusual story was told of their adventure in crime. The father of the lads holds a responsible position in a large establishment in the city, from which, on a recent morning, it was discovered that certain goods had been stolen, the premises having been broken into. The matter was reported to the police, who, prior to this had received complaints from other business establishments of thefts of goods. Later, on the day that the father had made his complaint he was greatly surprised to discover that his own sons were alleged to be responsible for the thefts. The lads confessed their guilt to a constable and were charged with breaking and entering a dwelling in Shannon street and stealing £1 12s 6d; breaking and entering a warehouse and stealing various articles of clothing; breaking and entering a bicycle store and stealing two bicycles and a quantity of other material. The value of the goods taken was approximately £16.

That the habitually prodigal person is, contrary to human experience, going to suddenly become habitually thrifty as the result of a thrift campaign is a miracle that the more thoughful of the thrift enthusiasts do not expect (says the Melbourne "Age"). That some persons, not confirmedly thriftless, may be assisted to thriftier ways, is the chief hope. At a meeting in Melbourne, Mrs Fossett, a shopkeeper of twenty-five years' experience, plainly intimated that her hopes lay in the rising generation, and in the proper teaching of thrift. She described her personal knowledge of a woman, who never had a higher income than £2 5s per week, who reared nine children comfortably, encouraged them all to marry, and provided for her old age herself. One of the same mother's daughters married a labourer who had much broken time, and her income never exceeded 30s per week. Yet she was rearing three children, and it was her proud boast that she had never owed any person a penny. She used the maternity bonus for its proper purpose— the employment of a medical man, and the balance of the £5 she gave to her mother in return for nursing. "Our hospitals," said Mrs Fossett, in conclusion, "are filled with women who were neglected at maternity because they spent the bonus on purposes for which it was not provided." The remark was lassentingly /applauded by many present.