CURING SOCIAL EVILS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23145, 17 September 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

CURING SOCIAL EVILS

Relief and W elf are Work

By H. R. RODWELL

aFTER long experience as a /A worker and investif* rin the <•*- «*• field of social s- , ice, Mr. J. Q. Henriques has iiten a book that will prove into ing and valuable not only to tl >e directly concerned with the development of social service organisations both public and voluntary, but also to the general public. Mr. Henriques knows at first hand the evils that affect society to-day and their nature, and in his book he makes them real to everyone who reads it. And it is necessary that we should know and realiso fully the evils that exist if the community is to take tho necessary stops to rid itself of them. The author not only reveals tho problems but explains the methods now inuse to solve them, and suggests by a critical analysis of these methods how they could bo improved to servo their purpose better. Relief and welfare work must be considered together. During tho long periods of distress in which some form of "dole" has become almost a normal institution, the real welfare aspect has been to some extent lost sight of. To relieve distress is by itself not enough—the individual must be restored to such a position that ho can again live a full life under good conditions. Home Life Such conditions include not only a ■"job," hut also satisfactory housing. Tho author's long experience has shown him how difficult it is for those condemned to occupy old, inconvenient and pokev. houses in congested areas, to retain their self respect and to build up a full and wholesomo homo life. He holds tho view that the voluntary social service organisation must exist to supplement the work of the public organisation. Tho State must always legislate for the "average man" who. like the "economic man" of the classical economists, simply does not exist. Consequently the public organisation cannot by itself meet fully the needs of any community. The voluntary organisation, on the other hand, is better able to appreciate the unique penumbra of each locality, group and individual and to modify its methods to meet each case. Collaboration and co-operation between these two types of organisation must however be full and free. Unfortunately this is not always realised, because both fear loss «f prestigo or of individuality, since they fail to distinguish between collaboration and amalgamation. Tho result is waste and overlapping. Mr. Henriques' long and careful observation of the problems which social service organisations are endeavouring to solve gives his opinion tho weicbt of authority, but occasionally one is forced to disagree with him. For instance, he expresses the view that the individual should rot want to seek State aid which carries and should carry a ispcial stigma. Causes of Distress The distress in which the individual finds himself is to-day due, in most cases, not to his own failure to his talents, but to circumstances over which he has no control. The factory worker, unemployed because the market for the goods his factory made is gone, through the rise of international competition or through the tariff policy of a former foreign buyer, cannot in any sense be held responsible for the position in which he finds himself. His self-respect suffers enough through the loss of his job; is it to be still further lowered because his acceptance of relief carries with it a social stigma? Under such circumstances much of the value of social service is lost. It is true that there are individuals who will take unfair advantage of the services offered, but other safeguards. against such abuse can and must be devised. In New Zealand tho welfare aspect of social service is well to the fore, and in working out methods of giving effect to this ideal Mr. Henriques' book will prove of very real value. "A/Citizen's Guide to Social Service," by J. Q. Henriques. (George Allen and Unwin.):