BIG PROBLEMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16497, 6 August 1921, Page 10

BIG PROBLEMS.

SHOCKING CONDITIONS IN CHRISTCHURCH.

REVELATIONS BY LADY WORKERS. A deputation of lady workers, which waited on the Canterbury Members of Parliament Committee to-day, revealed a shocking state of affairs in parts of (i|his city. The deputation consisted of Mesdames H. F. Herbert, T. E. Taylor, Henderson, Begg, G. Edmonds and E. W. Bartlett, Sister Edith and Nurse Maude. Mrs Herbert said that the housing problem was particularly troublesome. In one case as many as twenty-two people were living in a four-roomed house. A man, his wife and nine children lived in another four-roomed house. Amongst the twenty-two people, five girls had to sleep in a wash-house, a mere shack. There was a man, wife and six children in a so-called fiveroomed house. Three more adults and eight children now had gone into the same house. A man, wife and three children were living in a small house, and three men boarders had been taken in. The diphtheria outbreak was due not to bad drainage, but to crowded conditions.

Rent was- another problem, Mrs Herbert continued. A woman with eight children-, had to pay 25s a week for a shack. One wall was white with mildew. The floor upstairs was riddled, with rat-holes. The rent that should be charged was 12s a week, according to the valuation of the property. Unfortunately, in many cases it was working people themselves who were exploiting their fellow workers. A man was renting a three-roomed house for 12s 6d a week, and was re-letting it for £l. That kind of exploitation should be stopped. Sister Edith knew of a man, wife and ten children who were living in two tents at New Brighton in very unsanitary conditions. Mrs Herbert mentioned as a third, problem neglect by consumptives to prevent their disease spreading. An immigrant, his wife and six children, she said, rented a four-roomed house. The mother and oue daughter slept ,in the front bodroom. The mother was consumptive. Two children slept in a small back room and one of them, a girl, was consumptive. It was in Sydenham. They paid 30s a week for the house. In another four-roomed house in Sydenham, there were a man, wife and eight children. The wife had been in a. sanatorium and ono girl had had to go into the country because she had signs of consumption. Nothing could he done for consumptive children because there was no proper place for them. If the public only realised to the full the position of parents with large families, something would he done for them. The City Council had erected workers 7 homes, but they were too expensive. People who needed them most 90uld not take them. The wife would not stay in the sanatorium and went home. A consumptive man, who left the sanatorium, went home to his wife and two children. They lived in one room. A man, wife and three children slept on one mattress, placed on the floor; the wife was consumptive. She knew case after case of oonsumptives who would not stay in the sanatorium, and went spitting through the streets, a menace to all. Dr Blackmore had urged that one place should be set aside for consumptives from the whole of New Zealand, where they could be forcibly detained. They would not take precautions, and there must be legislation to provide for their detention until they were cured, or until they died. Dr Blaekmore could mention dozens of those cases. In one house, the husband a consumptive, had been drinking heavily. He had spat all over the house, the sputum clinging to the walls. A consumptive husband ,was alwavs fondling his children. Five of them were consumptive, and the wife, the last time Mrs Herbert. saw her, showed signs of the disease. Consumptives went into hotels. The glasses they used never were sterilised. They spat at the street corners. A master builder had told her that a comfortable home could be built for £SOO. Workers’ houses should not ho erected in settlements, as at Papa mi i. They wev« too much like pauper settlements. There should bo one or two in a plot or square, and others in other streets. OTP AGH PhVs TN A TVROT7 ATR Nurse Maude said that old age pensioners received £3 5s a month. It was not sufficient—not enough to live on. How they had got along during the war, she did not know. Sh© knew of a roman with eleven children whose landlord had told her she must get out of her house. She had no other place to go to. The speaker was most concerned, however, about the old age pensioners. Their pensions should bo increased. In reply to a question hv Mr Sullivan as to an invalid’s pension, Nurse Maude said that if charitable aid was generously administered it would amount to the same thing. It made , her angry to find that some children coujd pay for parents who received old ago pensions. She know of one case in which children of an old age pensioner drove about in a motor-car. WIDOWS’ PENSION INADEQUATE. Mrs T. E. Taylor said that the widows’ pension was inadequate. It should be brought into line with the pension for epidemic widows. A widow should be allowed to earn £2 a week without suffering a reduction in her pension. The wife of a chronic invalid should be in the same position as a widow in regard to pension. Sister Edith said that there should be a better arrangement for payment to dependents of prisoners. WIFE DESERTERS. Mrs Herbert said that men who deserted their wires shonld Ido got at more effectively. In many cases they were sent to Pakatoa, and their wives got nothing from them. Mr Isitt said that those men could be impounded on some public work, and the results of the work could be sent to their wives. DEFECTIVE CHILDREN. Dr Thacker said that there should be a State institution for defective children. A mother might have eight children, one defective. She would have the whole charge of that defective thrown upon her soulders at present. Mr Witty said that children who could support their parents should bo compelled to do so. “AN APPALLING STORY.” The chairman said that the ladies had told an appalling story. The members were impressed with the- absolute necessity for something being done. What could be done? The evil was so great that spii)o temporary scheme should be designed. If the worst came to the worst, they must be content to do something very simple. If they waited until they could meet the cost ~of building. the trouble would increase. It was scandalous that the Government did not compel consumptives to stay in sanatori unis until thev wera mired or died.

Ho hoped that Mrs Herbert’s details would be published in full, as they would arouse a public spirit that would insist on steps being taken. COMMANDEER HOUSE SPACE. Dr Thacker said that a temporary local carap should be established, perhaps at the New Brighton racecourse. He already had urged the Government to use the military hutments at Feather stone and Trentham to meet present difficulties. Dr Thacker also suggested that licuse space should be commandeered by the Government if necessary. He said that a gentleman had let the speaker have his house, and that several homeless people had been put in it. Mr Sullivan said that there always were unoccupied houses offered to let. Perhaps something could be done in regard to them. The chairman : Can you order a man to let his house to consumptives? In a case of that kind you'd have to ge.t the Government to buy the house and compensate him. CHILDREN IN HOUSES. Mr Sullivan said that legislation should be passed to prevent people from refusing to let houses to tenants with children. Mr Howard : Tt’s a Si ate matter. If children are the wealth of the nation, the wealth should be properly housed. It’s an economical problem, and it should be solved by Parliament. A VISITOR’S OPINION. Mr Statba.m said that he regretted to learn of the appalling state of affairs in Christchurch. He believed that there were similar conditions in Dunedin, where also a band .of noble women was at work. As far as bousing was concerned, it was a matter of obtaining materials.* The Government should supply them at the lowest price. It was impossible for some people to pay rent for houses that cost £llOO or £I2OO. The chairman said that the members would further consider the ladies’ statements, and the deputation withdrew.