MEETINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13307, 13 October 1906, Page 9

MEETINGS.

THE SOCIAL PROBLEM. There was a large attendance at the Leys Institute last evening, when a most interesting lecture on " The Social Problem" was delivered by the Rev. A. Macaulay Caldwell. The lecturer dealt with the function of.- legislation. ■ andlabour were also touched upon, and incidents were given showing how men who had started with a little capital had won their way to prominent positions. * The unemployed and slum life were , also dealt with by the speaker, who said that a nation which spent millions on her battleships had yet not solved the unemployed question. There were men willing to work who could -not get it, but there were also those who would not work. Happily, in Auckland these men were soon obliged to move, and. there were no " rounded corners," as there were in Scotland and England. 111 reference to slum life. Mr. Caldwell 'said there were no slums in Auckland. He had taken the liberty to view the town from one end to the other, and lie was satisfied there were no slums. If one of the worst houses in Auckland were placed in the middle of the slums of Edinburgh the little children would flock round and call it a castle. Here there were front doors. There there were single apartments, with long dark passages and filthy entrances. "One who has not visited them cannot understand it." said the lecturer. He instanced a fact where he had seen a family huddled under a wall. " What are •you here for?" he asked. "Waiting for the inspector to pass," was the answer. In Edinburgh they had inspectors, whose duty it was to see that every person had so many cubic feet of air. These unfortunates were waiting until the inspector had passed, and they would then go inside again. At the close the lecturer, who was listened to with the keenest attention, received a vote of thank-"