VICTIMS OF OFFICIAL BLINDNESS

NZ Truth, Issue 1255, 19 December 1929, Page 9

VICTIMS OF OFFICIAL BLINDNESS

— » ■• Sick Mother and Her Children Unattended For Weeks CHARITY THAT STAGGERS

(From " N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative) giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuii niiimiiiiiiimiimiimin inn ittni iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.'iiiiiiiniitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy

| The shocking plight of a mother and her eight children of tender years | | m the Hutt Valley district is something more than a mere reproach against | I our social welfare system; it is a damning indictment of the whole system of | |/ charitable aid m New Zealand. | | v The narrative which is told m these columns concerning the privation I | v and suffering of Mrs. Young and her children is a standing denunciation of | I the Charitable Aid Board of Wellington and its methods, and is irrefutable j ! evidence that a very radical change is an imperative and immediate neces- 1 1 sity. , , / . j

T^HE public of . Wellington, ,as m other ■centres, is compelled to ! subscribe to the funds oif these official charitable orgranisatoins, and it is up to citizens Ito see that such poignant episodes as the one under discussion do not occur m our domestic history. "N.Z. ' Truth" has many times been* in conflict, either m public or private investigation, with the Char it-' able Aid Board because of its methods. The brief and naked truth' m this case Is -that; if the methods of this body had been different much physical suffering and mental anguish would have been averted. There is not the slightest doubt that Mrs. Young and her eight children have suffered considerably because the board's organisation is underataffed. Publication of such details as concern this mother and the hardships she and her family have had to endure while they excite sympathy . must achieve something more. It is m the hands of the public as to whether an alteration is made which will minimise the danger of a recurrence of such pathetic cases. : In an electoral area of approximately 170,000 people, the Charitable Aid Board has one lady visitor to observe the manner m which dependents employ the allowances made to them and the circumstances under which they live. The Hutt Valley, by no means a mere pocketful of land and humanity, is included m the Board's operations, and if urgent relief or domestic adjustment is required m the Hutt, Miss A. Kirk, the lady visitor mentioned previously, has to retire hurriedly from,' one of her multifarious labors m Wellington City, board a bus, and make the journey as best she may. A Bitter Fight. ■;;,' The provision of a car for this wearisome, exacting occupation is- a matter to ■ which Board members should devote their earnest attention. For years the family cup of the ■woman with whom this story is concerned has brimmed over with bitter experiences and hardship; of fighting .against circumstance, grappling with new > troubles, fresh anxieties as the family increased; of striving to nurture her children from the very slight me'&nS^^hich her husband's brought at the end of each week. Since 1921 they have been within the observation of the Social Welfare Department, but this story is not concerned with the cause of Mrs. Young's plight, nor with the fact that her husband's misdemeanors earned him imprisonment. A few weeks ago Alan Farquhar Young was sentenced to three months' , Imprisonment for false pretences. Within the past few months Mrs. Young found herself m such straitened circumstances, heightened by the anxiety of her own physical condition,

that despite an allowance equal to 39/2 from the Social Welfare Department, she had to seek other means of reinforcing her capital. Stick by stick, garment by garment, the family effects disappeared, until at length there was scarcely more thana minimum of personal clothing left. Young went to gaol, and his stricken ' wife was left to face countless problems, and* the still more anxious one of impending motherhood.

On Sunday, December 8, an infant girl was born, and the mother, unattended, lay upon a filthy heap / of rags, without doctor or friend to comfort her. "I tried to keep this quiet," she told "Truth's" representative . when he called upon her later m the week. "I tried to go on alone, but couldn't. I suppose I was wrong — I wouldn't tell anybody how we were. *My pride Wouldn't let me. Tills little thing, my baby, came into the world without a doctor or anyone but me," she burst out, sobbing, drawing the sleeping youngster to her. "It was a wicked, wicked thing to say my husband had T. 8.," she exclaimed tearfully. "I'm sure now ■ he hasn't, but whan I read the paper the other night it worried me dreadfully." As sppn as Miss Kirk became aware of the facts, she made a hurried trip to Randwick, whereupon she set m train a number of arrangements which made easier the immediate future of Mrs. Young and her children. This aid should long ago have

simply wonderful — an absolute mother to these little mites here. While her mother brought the new baby into the world, Joyce looked after them and did what she could. Scarcely over twelve, too!" "Isn't it sad?" she continued. "The father m prison; the mother unable to do a single thing for herself; one child suffering from rickets because it hadn't sufficient to eat — and a new baby." Through the generosity of many people, and his own zealous urge to help, Inspector Fletcher, of the Hutt Borough Council, played Father Christmas to this stranded little bunch of children, whose eyes lit up with joyful anticipation as from time to time he came to the house. He arrived laden with pots and pans, edibles, kitchen utensils of all sorts, since scarcely more than the few pitiful rags on which the mother had been lying 1 constituted the worldly belongings of the Young family. Through the kindly watchfulness of

reached them but for the unfortunate reticence of the mother and themcomplete system of the Social Welfare Department of the Wellington Public Hospital. No blame could reasonably be attached to Miss Kirk, who is an estimable social welfare worker, long skilled m cases and matters of distress. Some weeks ago she called upon Mrs. Young to ask whether she needed assistance, but was assured they lacked nothing. "Under-staffing is the trouble with

Sir Alex. Roberts, mayor of Hutt. Fletcher organised and expedited the relief work, and it was not long before the family had beds to sleep m and someone to care for *.he children. On Saturday afternoon he took them to the Lower Hutt Town v „ . , .. . Hal1 ' where '«* a collection of garments and shoes sent m by sympathetic folk. The sight of those children trying on the clothes, unearthing the toys from ' .

the Social Welfare system m Wellington, where at present it is manifestly impossible for Miss Kirk satisfactorily to deal with the myriad cases that pass before her observation. The public hospital is similarly situated, as indeed it has been for many years. The trouble does not appear to lie m the expedition of relief measures so much as the facilities for observing the manner m which people are making use of them; whether or not they are attempting to help themselves, and whether they have used outside help to the" maximum advantage. Mrs. Young's eight children must have lived under fearful circumstances within the past eight months or so. The house, even though kindly women had scrubbed it from stem to stern, scoured and disinfected it, was still impregnated with the odors of dirt and disease-breeding conditions when a member of "Truth's" staff inspected it. .-.;. "The Little Mother" Yet the youngsters playing around its back doorstep were cheerful, wellbehaved enough, though one or two looked a trifle wan m the bright sunlight which flitted across the concrete yard, and the marvel is that one little girl of two years alone is suffering from rickets, dread malady which follows malnutrition. Joyce, the eldest, was the little mother of them all; looking after this one, reproving that, helping the other. When "Truth's" representative arrived at the house he saw a small girl struggling- with some garments m the wakh-tubs, and when he inquired her name, she said: "I'm Joyce. I'm doing some washing for mother,, sir." The kiri'Slyf -woman who, among a number of others, had worked magnificently to restore the broken home; said of Joyce that she "had been

cardboard boxes, was one to be remembered. Young- bodies which had not felt the clinging comfort of such clothing for many a day straightened with newfound pride; fingers shook feverishly, anxiously over the little piles of socks, coats and underclothes Which had been sent m, and about an hour later a. knot of deliriously happy children scrambled Into Fletcher's car, clinging tightly to their bundles •of clothing and toys. Mrs. Young cried when she ' saw them. Subscription lists have grown m the Hutt Valley, but there is yet much to be done, nor should the avenue of help be less than a national one. Sir Alex. Roberts would gratefully acknowledge receipt of money for the relief of Mrs. Young and her nine children. Letters addressed care of the Lower Hutt Borough Council will find him. Slum conditions, distressing poverty such as this, ought to be impossible m this country, and it behoves the Charitable Aid Board m Wellington, and not only Wellington, but every municipality m New Zealand, to reconstruct its policy of social welfare. Merely granting foodstuffs is not enough. Those who through misfortune have fallen by the wayside should not be thrown a bone and then ignored, or at least left unattended until still greater distress sweeps over them. One lady visitor for the whole of the Wellington electoral area is nothing short of disgraceful. It is unfair to Miss Kirk, unsatisfactory to the Board and disastrous to those who, like Mrs. Young, have pride that will not let them speak. ' iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.