BEGGARS ON STRIKE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20706, 2 May 1929, Page 18

BEGGARS ON STRIKE.

PROTEST AGAINST CHARITY. A strike of beggars was recently broken, by the police at Szeged, Hungary. Of late the number of beggars in Szeged had attained inconvenient proportions, and the citizens, in self-defence, were forced to adopt drastic measures. The genuinely destitute were separated from others who were not natives'of the town, each one being provided with a guardian, whose duty it was to appear once a month and pay for his or. her board and lodging out of funds supplied by the church community; and on January 1, when this system had been put into _ force, the _ police issued an order prohibiting begging throughout the town. In a very short time the system of organised charity began to pall on the beggars, and they called a mass meeting to_ ventilate their grievance. With admirable courtesy they sent two crippled delegates to inform the police of the date' and place of the meeting, and the names of those who desired to address it, but the police refused to grant them the permit without which no .public gathering may take place in Hungary. The beggars thereupon decided to resume their house-to-house begging, but this move was quickly onflanked by the police, who put each of the culpritsunder arrest for a week.