Congested and Impoverished Condition of Great Centres.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 37

Congested and Impoverished Condition of Great Centres.

If we direct attention to our great centres of population, we find that the condition of the poorer districts of our great towns and cities is becoming dangerous to the welfare of the whole community. Let us look for a moment at London. A recent return presented to the London School Board by its School Management Committee is simply heart-breaking. Day by day nearly 44,000 little children attend our board schools "in want of food." Voluntary agencies provide over 800 cheap breakfasts and 13,000 cheap dinners daily, and by the same means 7943 free breakfasts and 26,585 free-dinners are supplied. Nevertheless, twenty-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine children, in a city where every house is within the sound of church bells, "do not obtain enough food." Nearly 25,000 children in the board schools alone in a state of chronic starvation 1 All this has been corroborated by the recent work published by Mr Booth, on " The I abour and Life of the People in East London." After very careful inquiries, the author shows that in that district, consisting of a population of 900,000, there are 35 per cent., or 314,000, belonging to different classes of poverty, sinking to want.

Again, Archdeacon Farrar recently stated in Convocation that there are in London 100,000 paupers, 80,000 fallen women, and 60,000 married people living in single rooms, and that to this mass some 240 souls are^ being added every hour. As the result of this state of things, Dr Newsholme, medical officer of health at Brighton, tells us, in a book recently published, that in the case of five descriptions of disease, the death rate per 100,000 inhabitants is as follows : —

One and Two Boom Houses. Three and Pour Room Houses. Five Boom a or Upwarda.

menr cause reflection? Whilst £40 pe* annum are produced by every man, womatr, and child in the country, 45 per cent. who reach the age of 60' are, or have been, practi-" fcally patfpers. The average lifetime of whatj we may Call the vrelt-to-do, of society is 55' years, that of artisans or skilled workmen jtf 37, whilst that of the working classes ia only 25, and S2 per cent, of their children die before they reach five years old. Surely Professor Huxley is about right in a statement recently made, that the presence of widespread body and soul destroying and ever-increasing poverty, in the midst of abounding wealth, is the true sphinx enigma which this" civilisation tttust solve, o? else be 1 devoured b^ the monster itself has generated I.'1 .' London is not alone in' fchi's sad' conditJori of affairs : in Glasgow, for example, families composing 125,000 of the population are' living in single rooms. Nor is this state of things only applicable to the United Kingdom ; in our colonies, of which we are so proud, but whose systems of land tenure and land taxation were largely based upon the example of the Mother Country, a similar state' of things seems to be growing up, happily not yet so acute, bat still sufficiently serious to attract our attention". Ina Recent work entitled "Looking Bac'fcwa)fds, J' society of to-day is compared to a prodigious' Stage-coach, to which the masses of humanity are harnessed, and which the? are dragging toilsomely along a very hilly and sandy road. The drivei is Hunger, and permits no lagging, though the pace is necessarily slow; despite the difficulty of drawing the coach along so bad a road, the top is covered with passengers, who never get down even at the steepest ascents. These seats on the top are breezy and comfortable, well ttp out of the dust; the occupants can enjoy the scenery at leisure, or critically discuss the merits of the straining team. Naturally such places are in great demand, and the competition for them is keen, everyone seeking as the first thing in life to secure a seat for himself on the coach, and leave it t to his child after him. In continuing the description of this simile, the question is asked, whether those on the coach have no commiseration for their fellow beings, from whom fortune only distinguished them. Oh yes I is the reply, commiseration is frequently expressed by those .who ride for those who have to pull the coach, especially when the road is bad or the hill is steep. At saoh times the passengers call down encouragingly to the toilers on the rope, exhorting them to patience, and holding out possible compensation in the other world for the hardness of their lot in this j while others contribute to buy salves and liniments for the crippled and the injured. Such a description may seem to be overdrawn, but remembering the facts I have brought before your attention, it appears to me that it is too true. If so, may it help us to realise, more than possibly we have as yet done, how great is the need for our interest and for our work. —" Christian Economics, with Reference to the Land Question." By ALfiBKT SPICEE, I [

lcuf.o diseases of the lungs (ineludingconsumpfcion)... 985 689 iiscellaneoua unclassified diseases ... ... 799 764 Tervous diseases and cfineaeeß of nutrition in children ... 480 235 lymotic diseases ... 478 246 Lccidents and syphilis in childreu ... ... 33 H 328 590 91 114 Total ... ... 2774 1945 Once more, should not the following 1123 I state-