IN LONDON SLUMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 7

IN LONDON SLUMS.

THE WORK OF SIR JOHN KIRK. A REMARKABLE CAREER. Over 40 years of hard work in the most poverty-stricken quarters of the London slums—such is the record of Sir John Kirk, director and secretary of the Ragged School Union and Shaftesbury Society, who will arrive in New Zealand in December.

Iho Ragged Schools Union was founded in 1844, or about-70 years ago. Its object was 'to roach the thousands of unfortunate children living in the atmosphere of disease, poverty, and viciousness that pervades the East End of London. The union started with 20 schools, 200 honorary teachers, and 2000 scholars. That was in 1844. By 1910 it had attained a growth which seems little short of phenomenal. By that time the number of persons assisted by the union amounted to 100,000. The schools had' increased in 140, where no fewer than 4558 men and women voluntarily gave up their days and nights to teaching among the waifs and strays of the dark p Laces of London. Nor is the work of the union simply educational. > In the same year over BEOO children Jggre given a fortnight's holidav by the or in the country. A day's outing in the summer was afforded to 107,200 others —a boon whose inestimable value is almost unrealisable to dwellers in Sydney, where slums, in the true- sense of the term, are practically unknown, and where a penny tram or steamer transports one to sea Or to the bush. And finally 6839 cripples were continually visited, cheered, iand assisted by 1000 unpaid visitors. Sir John Kirk joined the staff of this wonderful institution in 1867. In 1879, when the first secretary of the union, Mr J. G. Gent, retired, Mr Kirk, as he then was, was at. once chosen to fill his place, and during the 32 years which have since elapsed his work has been carried on tirelessly, patiently, unostentatiously. When last year his services deservedly received the reward of knighthood the honour did not come unexpectedly to anyone but John Kirk. On him alone it fell as an entire surprise. That a testimonial from the union and the general public was on the tapis he knew, of course, for the matter was of widespread publicity. The English papers were full of it, and the spontaneity with which the appeal for was answered was remarkable. Letters and money literally poured in on the.committee. It was the senders less than the amounts sent which testified eloquently to Mr Kirk's efforts, for only three contributors exceeded £2O, and the average was from to 156. " Ragged School Workers" sent stamps, with a wish that the sum could have been more; cripple children united their pennies; from South Africa, Australia, Canada —from France, Italy, Russia. Germany— English residents contributed their quota. •But the crowning testimonial was yet to come. On the morning of May 23 Mr Kirk was summoed to Buckingham Palace, and introduced by the Marquis of Northampton to King Edward, who told Mr Kirk that he proposed to make him a knight. Mr Kirk in the greate.t surprise began to decline the honour, but accepted at the advice of the Marquis, especially when told by the King that it was the particular wish of the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Camp-bell-Bannerman. The King thereupon conferred the honour.

It is difficult to realise amid what scenes Sir John Kirk has passed his life, and from what unpromising material his work has built up its results. In 1844 there were in London alone over 100,000 children unable either to read or write, of whom 30,000 were absolutely homeless, and all resided in surrounding's of a degrading, or even criminal, nature. It is as on© instance only, that in a single den of three rooms, 24 men, women, and children ate, slept, worked, and lived. Even now one can find places where conditions are scarcely better. In one room in an East End court live two old people, a young woman, and three children. They pay 3s 6d a week for ront and Is 6d for firing. Their meals consist of a little fish, some dry bread, and weak tea. without milk or sugar. All. they have to depend on is the occasional day's work of the young woman. The East End is a region where every farthing has its value, where trades flourish, and existence eked out in ways and under conditions to which Sydney has no parallel. And it is largely due to the unceasing efforts of' Sir John Kirk that so much has been and is still being done to ameliorate the lives of some of the j most abjectly unhappy and degraded human beings in the world. ! Tne interests in which Sir John Kirk is an active participant are multifarious, and the length of the list proves that ho ia a tremendous worker. The organisations, beginning with the Ragged Schools Union, number no fewer than 58, which I must entail an inconceivable amount of I energy.