THE POOR IN INDIA, JAPAN. AND AMVMZCA.

Timaru Herald, Volume LV, Issue 5828, 1 December 1893, Page 3

THE POOR IN INDIA, JAPAN, AND AMVMZCA.

#-_. As a traveller interested in the pauper p*o* blem, Mr 8. A. Barnet gives in theForinightly Review, the results of his observations on the poor of India, Japan, and the United States. Poverty he declares to bs the most striking fact in India. Va-t multitudes live at almost tha lowest level compatiable with continued existence ; the yearly income of the country per head of the population is only £2, as against £4 in Turkey and £30 in Bngland. Yet the Indian pauper is generally content ae long aB he can live; bub wben famine comes, the danger ia that ho has no intelligent reason why he should restrain hia paEaions. Considering tbe relief agencies of the country, and while appreciating the efforts made by tbe Indian Government to raise the oondition of (he masses of the people, Mr Barnett expresses bis opinion that the state would be more helpful if it did less for, and took leas from them. It is only by eduoation, he concludes, by raising the character of the individual, that tbe mass of the Indian poor can be eaved. Of Japan be has a muoh brighter etory to tell. University professors told him there was very little poverty, though they thought it would ensue on tho industrial syßtem superseding the tradition of land tenure which holds the people to tho soil and bids overy man make a garden of his holding. Mis siuniriea took bim to eee their poor, and be found them clean, neat, cheerful, not under severe pressure, " touohed by real friendship into hope, and real sharers in the national life" The poverty of America struck Mr Barnett moat by its contrast with wealth and the wickedness aaaooiat ,d with it. The poor consist of (1) tho tramps, (2) foreign im migrants, (3) tbe weak, the thriftlees, und the drunken ; and rolief ia afforded by Btate poorhouaes, the organisation cf voluntary charity aud the gilts of churches and individuals ; but in no city has relief been fitted to tbe needs of the poor. " In San Francisco where wages aro 10a a day, and the smallest coin in oiroulation ia equivalent to the English threepenny bit, it is difficult to find anyone who will clear a pair of boots, and yet every winter there ia a strong demani for relief works and subscriptions to relief funds." In Chioago, aide by nido with the triumphs of civilisation and immense opuleoco, the greatest imaginable poverty, fifth, immorality, and the worst sanitary conditions obtain. There are no playgrounds, no open spaoes easily accessible to the poor, and tie school accommodation is ao limited that the children willing to attend oan only do so ub "half timers." Wealthy, cultured Bostoo has a population of which one in 15 or 20 is in receipt of reliof- The arrangements for poor relief iu Auierioa generally are far behind thoso of England, yet the American poor have one advantage ; tbey have hope, and are ever looking for 'better times." What American especially neods in relation to the pauper question, Mr Barnelt declares, is bette r local government and better conditions for health and education.