RECLAIMING' MORALE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19029, 1 June 1936, Page 13

RECLAIMING' MORALE

ALLOTMENT PLAN UNEMPLOY ED INTERESTED ADDRESS TO ROTARY CLUB ' Details of th«S scheme by which aid lias been given, to well over IGO.CCO people Hi overcoming the tendency to mora i and physical deterioration conseque.it upon unemployment in the United Kingdom 3 the baas of address to the Gisborne Rotary tub ] today, given by Mr. H. Crosiand, ot Manchester, England, who ... now visiting Mew Zealand on a holiday tour. Mr. Croslarid's address had.reference to the work adopted by the Society of Friends, with particular application to the South Wales, Durham and t umberland areas, where the closing of coal mines had had a serious effect upon the employment of the whole population. Pointing out that in these areas the people were almost solely dependent upon the coal indnstrv for their livelihood. Mr, Cropland mentioned that the tendency to adopt oil for the fuelling of ships, and electricity in manufacturing processes formerly carried on by the use or cob for steam-raising purposes, had closcc down the pits over a large portion o the coal-producing areas in England ami Wales. It would help Ins audience to understand the position, perhaps., when he stated that the loss of one epal-burti-ing'ship.meant- that SCO miners would lose their -employment* '" Idleness was thus lorced upon t he, populations of whole districts in the coal areas, the position being accentuated bv the fact that, the dole, as operated in the United Kingdom, was payable only to men who stayed idle, any initiative on the part of the individual being liable, to disqualify him from receipt o! the unemployment pension. ■PROFITABLE FIELD OF WORK

In view of these conditions, Mr. Crosland continued, his religions society, the Society of Friends, had felt that there was a field of profitable work opened to them, and had commenced m a small veal's ago a "movement- which had now grown to very substantial proportions. It was designed to arrest the moral deterioration of the people rendered compulsorily idle, and to furnish, too, the means of physical regeneration in some small degree at least. The, nucleus of the scheme was a small area of land lying outside one of the main industrial towns, which was acquired by the society and. laid out in small plots, each M> suuare yards in area, for the purpose ot gardening on tho part of the unemThose who took up the plots were not riven the land free, but were required to make some return in the way of rent, the basis ranging from 25s per year in some part* down to 10s per year in others. Committees of the allotment workers were formed to cultivate'the co-operative spirit audit was found that these committees took tho keenest interest m promoting the work, in helping each other to ■■ better results, supplying tools and stock" of seed, and in a number of other ways working to bring the scheme to sucThe scheme gradually extending from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, the number of people assisted also grew m proportion, until in 1934, the last year for which Mr. Crosiand had statistics. 110.CC0 were working the plots. EFFECT UPON POPULATION

It was'a'remarkable testimony to tin effect of the plan upon tho general health of those interested, said Mr. Crosiand. thatm some, districts it was possible toi school-teachers to recognise which ch,dd mi came from houses in which tlu family worked on ait" allotment. Iheir general health was distinctly above tin average of those from homes in. which the benefit' of abundant green vegetable.' was lacking. The effect upon the adult population was also most noticeable, the tendency to moral disintegration having been arrested, and a new interest having been established in lives which, with the closing clown of the mines', had faced, a blank wall. , , , Not every section of the. scheme Had been embarked upon without difficulty. Mr. Crosland mentioned. There hail been one centre where the menfolk hari abstained in a body from tailing up the allotments, until, as often happens, i. woman stepped in to set an example. Having trenched her land with the expectation of; raising leeks and celery, she went to the nurseryman's shop anc> ordered her seedlings by pointing! out which box she would take. Carefully tending her young plants, she was amazed when-they began to bloom pro lifieally, and turned but to be Chines: asters'! The kugh turned against the iadv, but it. had a wholesome effect, fm it broke the ice with the menfolk, and the colony was established forthwith, eventually becoming a flourishing centre.

FINANCE FOR WORK "The finance on which we ,d e P en d to inaugurate and keep these allotments going comes from various sources," Mr. Crosland explained. "The Government at Home has recognised the value of the work, incidentally, and now allows a subsidy of £1 for every £1 contributed. An average of 17s in the £1 is recovered in; rentals, and very few of the occupants of the plots default in payment. It is also interesting to know that many. people who have latterly succeeded in getting hack into employment have kept lip their allotinents." Interest in the scheme was rjiven an impetus by competitions between one district and another in the quality of the allotment products, while the disnlavs cf allotment products at Roval Agricultural Shows had also riven an incentive to Ibr workers and extended public interest in flie project. The late King George V had expressed bis approval of the work beincr carried on, and photographs showin<T King George and Oueen Mary in"nectine the' products of the allotments bad prove! the finest advertisements the scheme had ever had. CO-OPERATTYE SPIRIT

Important a 3 was the main plan itself, its by-products were hardly less significant. From the co-operative spirit nurtured in the allotments, there had grown many fine works in various towns which local rates could not have financed; while the establishment of new industries in some of the centres of serious rmemoloyment had opened up a- new possibility of escape from the bogey of enforced idleness. Many young men in the

"coal-mining villages were now apprenticed to furniture-making, and in time » would become journeymen in that trade, where their father's had been miners descended from generations ef millers, subiect to ■ all tlie drawbacks of the miner's life. "As the conclusion of his address, Mr. Crosland was warmly thanked by Rotarian A. F. Salmon, on whose motion a vote of thanks was added bv the gathering. Rotarian J. E. Sflimmin was in the .chair.