LIVES OF THE POOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17251, 29 August 1919, Page 9

LIVES OF THE POOR.

POVERTY AND HARDSHIP. SOCIAL WORKERS' EFFORTS. CHILDREN'S HANDICAP. Although it is known in a general way that Auckland's social workers are rendering noble service among the poor, full appreciation of their work comes only when one hears from the lips of the poor • ond needy themselves the story of struggles and hardships and of their gratitude , to those who minister unto their great need. The work of Sister Hannah, Sister .Lather, Adjutant Gordon, the Rev. F. R. Jeffreys and others in close touch with the needy and unfortunate, has long since "won for them the full trust and confidence of | those whose pride could never face the j oole of charity, kindly and generously adj ministered though it be. | It is an absolute fact that on what is | generally termed a living wage in the prosperous .city of Auckland working men s wives are very often unable to provide clothes either Tor themselves or tneir children; a woman whose husband earns ±-6 3s a week on which to maintain a family of seven, said the other day that j he had not had a new suit of clothes for over six years was now wearing his | one and only "best" suit to work, with j a pair of dungaree trousers to save the I others. She herself was wearing her only . outdoor winter dress for the fourth season. I Her children's clothes were made up from odds and ends of old garments, with occa- i atonal kindly aid from Sister Esther. Another woman spoke of the boon which the second-hand clothes shop run by the Order of the Good Shepherd had been to" her family. Others again obtain their cloth- | ing on the order 6ystem—they purchase an 1 order for £2 10s, £5, or higher sum, and j Pay it off at half crown or 5s a week. ihis order, however, does not go far toward clothing a fpui.'y of six or seven. I All Types of Homes. There are all tvpes of women, of course, ! ard all types of homes among those whom j the social workers are helping ; poor manI agers as well as good ones, wives thriftless I and careless and inefficient as well as I capable and careful. But all must live, , and if even the most thrifty find it hard , to make ends meet, how hopeless a task , tor those unfit to grapple with the probj lem of life at all! * • jJncluded among a number of homes I visited the other day was one which made a picture of immaculate neatness rarely seen This was the home of a working man a wife of the very best tvpe. There were sis small children; the mother, a trail, bright little woman, said her only worry was that she was not able to bring up her children as she would like to on £5 10s a week. Some time ago, owing • to broken time, her husband's earnings had only averaged £1 18s a week. A baby had just arrived, and owing to poor health and worry she had not been able ■. to feed it however, it seemed to i , be thriving fairly well now on its diet :of broken biscuits soaked in milk. ' When ; she first married, her husband had been ■ doing well, but as the babies came, and food and clothing grew dearer, they had had a hard struggle. However, she !* a making the best of things. She showed with pathetic pride the dresses ; and little suits she had contrived from old 1 sfflts and dresses, a coverlet of worn-out . blankets covered with cretonne to keep tne children warm at aight. Itne children Lives of the Ohildrea. The Lives of the Ohildroj. j One of the first points that strikes a visitor to the poorer districts in and around Auckland is the number of children. They play in the dust of the street, they hang upon almost every verandah rail and front gate, and the cry of an infant usually , sounds from somewhere inside the house. j And these are only the email children; elder brothers and sisters are at school or lat work. There are few childless homes , in the ranks of the poorer class of workers. The mothers for the most part seem to be quite unconcerned as to how the j wants of the little newcomers are to be ; met. It costs us £1 a baby." This , was the general summing-up oftbe.situa- ; tion with regard to the expense attached :to maternity nowadays. A St. Helens , nurse for ten days—that was all most of i the mothers had ever had or expected. j As for holidays in these families, such ; things were rarely known. Many of the , mothers of Auckland's children have never ( had a real holiday or respite from hard [ ; work since the day they were married,! I save in times of bringing into the world . another human life to add to their sum ' total of anxiety and maternal joy. One . mother spoke yesterday of the first holiday : she had had in 14 years; after the epij domic her husband had taken work at WaiI heke, and for a whole glorious summer : they had all lived in a tent, and gone I barefoot, and fished, and bathed, and j played in the sand. It had been the most j wonderful time in their "married life. j Limited Education. ! The aftermath of the eoidemic is still. I very apparent in the homes of the poor. \ The workers suffered cruelly: "I never ' seem to have really got "strong again," said one woman yesterday. " I used to I be able to make the bread and save a bit ; that way, but it's too much for me now, j with all the other work." i It is only when one visits such homes I as these that one realises how it is that i so many children leave school nowadays ; before they reach the Sixth Standard, and ; why comparatively few of them attend continuation classes. If educationists and others who deplore this state of things actually realised how urgently necessary the few extra shillings earned "by these boys ■ and girls are to their hard-driven parents, I they would perhaps change their tactics i and insist on proper living conditions upon which to build the superstructure of education. An instance of the way the canker of poverty strikes at the root of the child's j life was afforded by a chance remark by I the mother of seven children. Four of ! them clamoured round her in a tinv kit- ; chen on a recent bright morning. " Why : don't you send those three little ones to , the kindergarten?" she was asked. , 'I ! do, sometimes, when I can manage." she replied. "They love it but it costs 3d n week for each of them for milk, and lately 1 simply haven't had the ninepence to spare.'' The Class that Suffers Most. All the instances cited and the cases already mentioned, it should be borne in mind, are those in which the husband is iii steady employment and. the family is in good health. Hard as their struggles j are. they are infinitely better off than many' , of their fellow-men. ' What of those with , broken health, those belonging to the ranks jof unskilled labour for which during lon*' periods in the winter past there has been ; little or no demand, those belonging to unorganised trades, or who for various reasons arc unable to keep tin withlthe ordinary rate of union work? They are being helped most generously in some cases by private benevolence, by parish ministers and other workers, but there comes a i i time when private benevolence must cease. ' j "We are only a handful of people, doing I our utmost to meet a great and growing jneed." said Sister Esther, yesterday. "All j the social workers in Auckland are coj operating to the fullest extent to relieve hardship, but there are many whose need is never made known even to us. It is the increased cost of everything that is pressing so hardly on the poor. Wages I have certainlr been increased, but, as one , poor woman said. "What's the good of I increasing my husband's wages a few shil- | lings and the next week putting up the price of our food and clothing still higher?"