CHARITABLE AID FOR THE NEEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19154, 21 August 1930, Page 9

CHARITABLE AID FOR THE NEEDY.

APPLICANTS WAIT HOURS UNDER BAD CONDITIONS.

Out of work and with no prospect of work for some time, comparatively young men week by week join the band of women and more elderly men in the Hospital Board office every Thursday. It is their last resort, for there they hope to receive the means to carry them on until better times are at hand. „ Known as ‘‘Charitable Aid Day, Thursday sees the applicants arrive in the morning and depart when the office shuts in the evening. In a draughty corridor, in a space between the office counter and the wall, congregate various types of humanity. In a portion of the office where not thirty people could comfortably be accommodated there are grouped over 100 men and women. Every Inch Occupied. Conditions this morning were pitiable. Every inch of room was taken up and the office staff had to push through the throng to shepherd the applicants to the committee room or to the ration room. Those wanting to get tickets for the outpatients’ department also were put to a good deal of inconvenience in approaching the counter. Many of the people • were almost at the end of their tether and the long wait in a close atmosphere was obviously telling on their nerves. The procedure each Thursday is for the Benevolent Committee to meet and decide upon renewal of ration tickets and then consider the new cases. Those to whom it has been resolved to grant relief can then either get their rations soon after or return on Friday. As the number of applications to be dealt with is large, the Committee sits most of the ‘day, and long waits are necessary on the part of many of the applicants. A fortnight ago there were 121 applicants. The number was not so great last week, as numbers of the unemployed, both men and women, had been given jobs that arise through special National Week work. From this morning's evidence, however, the number apparently shows no sign of decreasing, about 160 cases being dealt with, and the need of greater space and more comfortable conditions is obvious. Long Waits Necessary. Most of the applicants have to stand, but the women, or thirty or so of them, have the privilege, if privilege it can be called, of sitting on wooden lorms. Sometimes people have to wait for three hours on these forms, which are hard, with.low, straight backs, and are innocent of anything that makes fur comfort. Draping themselves over the counter, lounging along the walls, and sometimes overflowing into the street, are the men. Here there are tradesmen, willing to take work of any sort, but unable to obtain it, together with the ordinary labourer. Not brought up to any trade, the labourer knows only one kind of job, and he is denied openings in that bv the surfeit of applicants. Steam heated, and with the muggy atmosphere common to steam heating, the office is far from being an ideal waiting room. In the winter draughty come from all directions on account oi six doors opening into the office. V\ hen the day is wet and coats are drying by the radiators, the atmosphere is anything but healthy'. ** A Decent Set.” j “ There has never been a more decent lot of men.” That is how Ajne member of the Hospital Board described the present type of applicant. “ They are young men with families who are up against it.” More than one member has expressed the opinion that it is high time that something was done to improve the conditions of the waiting room. Another drawback to the present state of affairs is that anyone wanting a ticket to visit the outpatients’ department or who has to pay an account must push through the applicants for relief until the counter is reached. It is also considered in some quarters that a certain amount of efficiency is lost among the office staff on account of the constant hum of voices, the stuffv atmosphere and the lack of proper accommodation for the men and women who are seeking aid. _____________