PITIFUL POVERTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 11

PITIFUL POVERTY.

CASES IN AUSTRALIA. CHILDREN ON BARE BOARDS. Many particularly distressing cases of poverty were brought under the notice of the Mayor of Granville, near Sydney, lately. In several of these ho found after investigation that the parents had been unemployed for many months, and their furniture had been sold. Children were sleeping on bare boards, and the families, being without chairs, had to sifc on the floor. Their bed covering at night was hessian. It was also found that many children and parents had no underdo* hing. n In ono house where there was ito.nirniture and no clothing or blankets, an unfortunate woman was about to give birth to a child. She and her husband and three young children had been living < n Government relief rations for several months. Another pathetic caso is that of a family at Clyde. The father has been out of work for seven months. There, are fix young children, a baby having been born this month. As the unfortunate family has no money to buy fresh milk, the child was being fed o»" skimmed milk powder, which was included in the rations. A local medical man recommended that the family should be given additional sncl special rations for the mother,who is in, a weak condition. Those \ver» refused by departmental officers when application was riiado. The Muvor slated that lie could grant, only a liitle aid with Iho funds at his disposal because there were scores of casos of genuine distress in district.