SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13226, 11 July 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

THE LOWER SOCIAL DEPTHS.

SALVATION -ARMY SLUM WORK.

A mutant Gordon", a lady officer of the Salvation Army, who lias been engaged in social work for some years in Australia, and is at present fft Auckland in connection with & proposal to start slum-work in this city, was. interviewed by a representative of the Herald yesterday, with reference to her experiences in slum work elsewhere, and the need, if any, of such work being done here. '■}-.■. ... Adjutant Gordon, who is a fluent speaker, and manifestly a. woman, thoroughly conversant with every phase of human nature, said.she was herself a New ! Zealander, but had spent .some years in the j social work of the Salvation Army in the Commonwealth, devoting most of her time to'work among women. . " I cannot say if there is room for my special work in Auckland yet," .she rei marked, ■" because I have not had time to thoroughly acquaint myself with the condi- : tions here." | " What do the resident officers of the Army say?" Adjutant Gordon was asked. "■•'• Well," she replied. " they tell me that the work is urgently needed, although the conditions of diving appear to me to he certainly much better .than. in; Melbourne and Sydney. I went round the hotels on Saturday evening last, and was delighted to find no women in the bars'.; but was pained to notice, the number of young fellows drinking there. They were ■: certainly in much larger numbers than I expected. I hare been, too, in some of the very poor parts of Auckland, and have Men some most miserable dwellings, but I cannot say. that they were worse than slums in Melbourne and Sydney, although Sydney is improving rapidly with regard to the effaeement of slum areas. My work has been connected with the slums, and if there is a real need lor such work in Auckland wo shall do it. ; TYPICAL CASES. > "Let me illustrate the character of the work by some typical eases with which I had to deal in Sydney. We found a poor woman in childbed' and the little one was only two days old. There was no nurse and nobody to look' after the woman but. the husband, who was doing the washing and looking after the house as well as lie could. Well, one of our workers took charge of the • place, cleaned up the house and nursed the poor Woman through .her trouble, and she was not left until quite convalescent, and ready to do for herself. Groceries and food were supplied, and the husband was looked after aswell as the wife. Another case was one in which a poor woman was brought to bed. There were five children, and the eldest was only years old.- The husband was a wharf labourer, out of work, and backward in his subscription to the union. We took charge of the house, cleaned it up, whitewashed a room, got the children's meals ready, looked after the mother, and paid up her husband's subscription to the union, and gave them a. start. The poor fellow got work- again, after seven-weeks' enforced idleness?, and his gratitude was most touching. He wanted to know what he could do for. us 'in return when he had got ; on his feet again, but We, told him. that this fact was sufficient reward for us." :'" GRATITUDE A RARITY. "Yes, .Miss. Gordon, gratitude is a. rather rare virtue i among . those fov whom you work, is it not?" . .■. . " Well, wo do not look for it: but we have evidence of it in plenty: ; but some cases do not exhibit the slightest trace. of it?-no-matter-how-much is 'done v for'them." ■ ''And now for youi work among women?" "The.work which may be done among women in Auckland will bo to. provide them with' cheap lodgings. All cases that come under our notice that should be better dealt with at the Parnell Rescue Home will be sent there, and maternity cases will be sent, to the maternity home at Ponsohby. This is ■ dono already; but We may meet with cases eligible for those institutions in the course of our work. -■ We wish to procure suitable premise's, and then we shall have a home for poor girls and women, who are striving to keep straight, to'go to, and they will- be able to get a bed for 4d a night; and cheap meals?. We wish to prevent girls becoming bad, to remove them from surroundings that drag them down to sin. ~ The inmates of the -house will be girls whose cases would not be met by the rescue home or the maternity home. If a, woman and her family find themselves homeless, we.shall take them • in and feed, them. We shall be able to provide a place of shelter for women who gc out to work, for friendless, girls, servant girls looking for a- place or out of one. We shall. close j the house at'ten o'clock sharp, so that the I tone of the place may not suffer. Very great care indeed is needed in matters of this sort, for we cannot exercise too much thought and consideration in the management of the home;.and it will also be the centre of our slum,work."

THE SHORT-FROCKED GIRL. "You have not _ been long in Auckland, but you may have been long enough here to see something of the class of girls in the street, and to know whether they would he the class among whom you could work?" "It is true," replied Miss Gordon, " I have not been long enough here yet to form a very trustworthy opinion, I understand that numbers -of short-frocked girls, who march up and down Queen-street on Saturday night especially, are not in need of food or shelter; but there is need for much work to be done among the class of young girl who has a fairly'good home and plenty to eat. . There is something wrong with the parents in such cases. They are either too severe, and make homelife intolerably dull and unattractive or they are altogether too lax, and exercise no discipline at, all.:: Both extremes ■ are bad for" .the children,, who are forced to seek their pleasure and. recreation in the street." I. " Some of them are very voung, too, Miss Gordon V 5S '■■'■•" That is so ; but I have known of women of over 30 who walk the streets in short dresses, and have their hair hanging down their backs. There seems to be, for them. a fascination about being thought to bo still young girls, while alf the time they are full-grown, mature women. Where they are not. absolutely destitute they Mill be hard for us to get hold of, and to help in a moral sense, I admit." : THE CHRONIC CASES. "And what about the chronic Police Court case'/" ' ', . "Of such 1 have had considerable experience. I have been in attendance at the Auckland Police Court, and have seen no women brought up during my visit. I shall continue to visit the Police Court every, morning. Asked whether she could suggest any method of reforming the habitual female drunkard, Adjutant Gordon said: "I think permanent good would be done by putting them on a vegetable or poultry farm, far away/from town influences. Let them have plenty to do. They could do a great deal in a market garden or on a poultry farm. Not hard work by any means, but enough to keep them employed, and to keep their minds occupied. The Salvation Army in often accused of being a money-making institution, and it is often said we endeavour to'reclaim people for what we can make out of them. So we do but that la no argument against a principle, of our work, which we rind to hi essential to success. We do not believe in taking a lot of people in and keeping them in idleness. Why, idleness is the very curse of their lives. We do not believe in harshness, nor do we practise it in our work among the destitute, but we do believe it is better for the subjects that they should earn their keep. It certain!- helps them to preserve ' their • selfrespect, and it is carrying out, to a large extent, the principle of self-support upon which we endeavour to conduct our various organisations.'" ■ .