AUCKLAND SLUMS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10138, 28 November 1918, Page 7

AUCKLAND SLUMS

SKETCHES FROM LIFE

STRUGGLE AGAINST POVERTY. Tlio investigations made by th© voluntary workers during the last few weeks have revealed renditions never before brought with such terrible force before tho community, stays the 'Auckland "Herald." Social workers and many others hav© known tho circumstances surrounding the lives of the poor, and tho evils calling for remedy in the very heart of tho city, but the community him been largely ignorant of certain facts. Tho present, epidemic and widespread distress have now proclaimed conditions that can no longer be ignored. Much of the distress has undoubtedly been caused by neglect, thriftlcsaness, and sheer ignorance on the part of the people themselves, but the indisputable fact remains that the housing conditions in certain parte of Auckland are a crying disgrace to the city, and a menace to the moral and physical welfare, of the whole community. On every side, among the volnntary workers, who have for the first time entered these hovels, and among th© social workers who have known of them, and proclaimed them vainly for years past, are hoard to-day scathing denunciation of tho owners, SOME SORDID SIGHTS.

A tour of one of the worst districts taken disclosed. among many oilier unsavoury sights, on a main thoroughfare,' a row of tumble-down, dilapidated bouses lull of vermin, stale with the dirt ot years, with “to let’’ signs flaunting from the broken windows. Just opposite were fish, bakery, and fruit shops, and directly behind them an unsightly collection of rotting wooden buildings, tumbledown sheds, stables, thick with flies, and yards full of rank growth and all kinds of indiscriminate rubbish. That ia one spot. At the top of another very well-known street leading oft Queen street, ia a duster of hovels which must have been built nearly half a century ago. To. day they are unfit for human habitation: in wet weather, the water streams in through countless cracks, and the whole surroundings are sordid in the extreme. Yet landlords are extracting rent for such places, devoid of any oij the ordinary conyeniences of civilised dwellings. "If I had my way,” said a well-known social worker, with whom the tour was taken, "the landlords of these houses would be sent to pail and deprived of all citizen rights, lor by tolerating such conditions as these, they prove themselves wholly unworthy of the name of citizen.” CUTTING OUT THE CAJfKETB Social workers, who are familiar with ■ every phase of slum and city life ere agreed that when the epidemic is over, certain drastic and definite measures will have to be taken to deal with the troulble which has heeu accruing for years along many avenues of carelessness and neglect.. l One illuminating instance was given by another worker yesterday of how attempts to improve matters in the past have been rendered futile. “Before the war,” she said, "I went to a city councillor and reported things I had seen in connection with the hawking of fruit hy Hindoos. In the hot summer weather, fruit was found piled up in foul rooms and in bare passages, exposed to indescribable contamination. I was told that there was no by-law dealing with the matter, eo I could proceed no farther." The appointment of women sanitary inspectors is also strongly urged. Hitherto, there has been ro inspection of houses, only of yards. But it is in the houses themselves—they oonld hardly be termed .“homes" —that the dirt - ofteri“ accumulates. and it is these places that give the landlords the ready excuse, in many cases undeniably true, that there are people who would create slums in Paradise itself. Therefore it becomes all the more necessary that they should be compelled to some measure of cleanliness in the interests of public health. "Without doubt, there are whole areas close to the very heart of the ctity which should at once be condemned," said en. other authority. "A by-law enforcing that proper conveniences, such ns a sink, ■wash-house, and bathroom be put Into every new building would be a most important thing, but even more important us the question of what is going to be done with the places so long neglected. People will still have to live in many of them. A moat thorough investigation should be held, and measures taken to force the landlords to put those places into decent repair.”

TUB BOOT OB POVERTY. Some interesting opinions as to tire ■a ii.se of much <rf the poverty revealed lately lyora given by the social workers. 'Much of it is due to ehoer inability to ..oot the needs of a large family on a ,;a of perhaps M, or a little mere, week. After lbs or £1 a week has

, s*a paid tor rent, there is very little ieft for feeding, clothing, doctoring, and i.ioidental expenses of a family of seven ■qr eight, for we all know it is this class : uliat rears the largest families. It is a : hard fight in these days, and if the '.mother has no real idea Of thrift, and ! many of them have not, things go from ' bad to worse." i Another contributory cause was stated ■; to be the insatiable craving for amusement. in one family six were struggling ! along on JS2 15a a week; the mother ad- ! chitted that they spent 3s a week on ! entertainments. This seems a pathetio- | ally small sum. but under such oondl- ! tions, was really an important factor lin expenditure. "The trouble is, there Is no longer any desire for home-life," said one worker. "One does not wonder at it either, when one considers the i homes they are forced to Uve in, but ; still, this constant oroving for exolte- ; uient of any kind is not a good thing, jiind is showing strongly in the young i people already."’ In quite a number of 1 instances it was stated there was no effort toward home-life at all: all meals • wore taken out, and the place, grown duly and neglected, only used as a I place to sleep in. PERMANENT AID REQUIRED. There are just a few phases of life among the poor with whicn it is a good thing that more fortunate men and women should bo made familiar. Against those, however, must be placed the ceaseless and pathetic efforts of others to keep their heads over the engulfing wave® of poverty and despair. There are numberless instances of delicate women who go out washing or charring by the day, in order to support an invalid husband and a young family, af aged women still labouring for a pittance to keep body and soul together, of men rendered helpless by sheer misfortune, and forced to seek outside aid. In spite of ail that has lately been done to relievo trouble, only the fringe of a widespread distress has been touched, for unless permanent aid is given many now sick and suffering will relapse into the old. sad ways. 'We all most earnestly hope that the people of Auckland .will more fully co-operate with ns, said a social worker, "and take up with enthusiasm the cause of the unfortunate and afflicted in our midst. Their in ?‘ mediate sympathy and practical help is needed for the sake of the little children, the future men and women of the city.