REFUGEES IN GREECE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18455, 19 July 1923, Page 9

REFUGEES IN GREECE.

DEATH'S HEAVY TOLL. STARVATION . AND DISEASE. ; SUICIDE IN A CHURCH. , By Telegraph—Copyright. (Received 10.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. July 17. The Athens correspondent of the Daily Express states that the condition of refugees from Anatolia, in Greece, is indescribably pitiable. Lack of food and contagious disease are killing them off quickly. There have • been many cases of suicide, including the former precentor of a Constantinople church, who -was reduced to fulfilling: the office of caudle-lighter in the Athens Cathedral. :

His privations so preyed on his mind that he hanged himself from a bar under the canopy of the pulpit. His body was only disclosed when the service commenced and tho curtains were withdrawn from the pulpit to allow the priest to real the lesson. The congregation was horror-stricken.

HEAVY BURDEN ON GREECE.

INFLUX OF 1,000,000 REFUGEES.

If England were suddenly inundated by about 10,000,000 of destitute people, the problem of giving them food, shelter, clothing, and employment would be a severe strain on her resources. Greece, always a poor country and now halfruined by military disaster, has to, face a problem equally big in proportion. She has 4,500,000 inhabitants and has received about 1,000,000 refugees, driven from Asia Minor and Constantinople by the victorious Turks.

About 70 per cent, of the refugee families have lost their able-bodied men, the Turks * having kept them back" for forced labour in Anatolia. Many of the younger and stronger women have also been seized by the Turks. A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian, describing the deplorable condition of the refugees, a'few months ago wrote: "Here in Athens and in the Piraeus there are about 100,000 refugees. Several big buildings have been assigned to them the lappeion (a huge exhibition hall), the Municipal Theatre, schools, churches, warehouses, factories, sheds. Every available space is overcrowded. Some of the overcrowded sheds have rotting, leaky roofs. The rain drips through and collects in puddles on the muddy floor. The cold winds blowing down from the snow-clad hills whistle through the apertures in the dilapidated walls. Most of the inmates have nothing but a summer garment, which is usually a mere bundle of filthy verminous rags. Babies are born on the wet mud or cold stone, floors. Infant mortality is terribly high. A Near East relief worker who visited the camps in the Piraeus toward the end of November found that 180 babies under one year of ago were dead. "Except for a few cases of smallpox there have been no serious epidemics. Mortality is due mainly to exposure and malnutrition. Every entirely destitute refugee under the care of the Greek Government gets two drachmas a day (about lid at the present rate of exchange)', a little black bread, and sometimes a little soup. The dole of two drachmas will probably have to be discontinued, as the Greek Treasury, which has already spent more than 70 million drachmas on the refugees, is nearly exhausted. "The American Near East Relief is providing for . some 2,000,000 Greek and Armenian orphans whose parents have been massacred by the Turks or have perished during the exodus; Apparently the American Red Cross is prepared to give 10,000,000 dollars for relief. The League of Nations is giving £100,000, half of which has been . contributed • by the British Government. Thanks to foreign charity, there is no longer any wholesale dying, but unless foreign charity is not only kept up but increased thousands of refugees are doomed to perish miserably. ■"--, " In the Church of St. Denis I saw refugees crowded together in gloom and squalor amid the gorgeous ornaments, along the aisles, .in the pews, and up' in the galleries. Here, as-in other refugee camps and shelters, the absence of able-bodied men was very obvious. One of the hangars I visited, provided hardly any protection against the cold and wet. The refugees who had blankets used them to make shelters under which they could creep, tying them with bits of string or rone to posts and rafters. The Municipal Theatre of Athens, a huge, fine building, is overcrowded. There is a refueee family in every box, a"d even the Royal lodge is occupied. The gallaries, the foyer, the dressing rooms, the stairways, are thronged with destitute people clothed in razs. Sanitation is difficult in such a biulding, and the atmosphere is foul. But the Greek Red C/ss has taken over two rooms in the theatre and turned them into a clinic and a hospital 'ward that are being managed very efficiently and.are kept spotlessly clean."