PROUD POOR IN SYDNEY

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1930, Page 6

PROUD POOR IN SYDNEY

DISTRESS MET IN THE STREETS. MEAL TICKETS RESENTED. Applications for temporary relief by unemployed in the city streets are becoming so frequent that many citizens are inquiring whether there ifl no satisfactory alternative to handling out easi> for apparently genuine cases. .People who are ready and anxious to help recognise the unwisdom of giving money to strangers indiscriminately. They suggest that a better method would be to°supply themecives with meal tickets for distribution, since this would at least entitle the applicant to clean food under the supervision of a recosnised organisation, says the Sydney Moininor Herald. inquiries in the city revealed that charitably disposed people can readily secure such tickets for distribution co, needy persons. For instance, from the Sydney Night. Refuge, 2, Francis Street, under the auspices of the Central Methodist Mission, a book of meal tickets, representing 21 three-course meals, including soup, meat, and pudding, can be produced for 18s. No tickets are available for beds, because the accommodation is limited, and all are taken up by 6 p.m. each day. Ihe refuge, supplies- about 180 free meals daily, yet even so often IGO men are turned away every morning. They have first preference next dav. Tickets for meals, can also be obtained from the City Mission. The demand for shelter is also taxing to the utmost the accommodation controlled by the mission, whieh provides a bed and morning meal for necessitous cases, and also pays for men sent to- the various Salvation Army hostels. The Central Methodist Mission makes arrangements ior receiving men at a building, at which there are free beds, dormitories, and a number of cubicles. Several social workers, however, deprecated the value of meal cards for distribution by private citizens. Experience has shown, they said, that in most eases this alternative to money was resented by unemployed men m distress, that they often refused to accept them, or. if they did, failed to use them.. The case of a judge of the Supreme Court, who had‘been overwhelmed by applications for charitable assistance, and had made a. special arrangement for bed and meal cards with the City Mission, was mentioned. The judge had issued cards instead of giving money to all who seemed to him to be in real need, yet not one of the numerous eards lie distributed had been returned to the mission.

At the City Night Refuge and Soup Kitchen, in Kent Street, the manager (Mr. Holmes) said: “We w longer issue tickets. Tell people to send needy applicants for aid along here, and we will look after them.” Tho Refuge had thought it advisable to- discontinue the ticket system, he said, because the men usually regarded acceptance of sueh form of relief as- a blow to their selfrespect. During June, 23-121 meals and 4415 beds had been provided. The great need of th moment, ho added, was clothes, ami especially boots. Tho Benevolent Society of New South Wales, which deals with eases of distress, oh a large scale, does not supply tickets. Tho organisation is fully occupied in dealing with as many as 8000 unemployed men a . week, as well as giving relief to women and infants, and its various institutions are attending an increasingly large number of cases.