WANT IN SCHOOLS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 804, 3 July 1933, Page 8

WANT IN SCHOOLS.

A Pitiful Sight, Writes Headmaster. DISTRIBUTION OK BOOTS. “ It is pitiful to see children coming to school on wet, cold day's with shoes that are no protection.” This excerpt front a letter by. the headmaster of one of the primary schools in Christchurch to the Businessmen's Committee indicates the hardships that many families in the city are enduring at the present time. Headmasters of all the institutions in the city and suburbs have written to the committee in response to its expressed desire to furnish the children of deserving families with footwear, and their replies give a vivid idea of the causes that are contributing to the existing distress. W hile it is shown that many children are being deprived of sound shoes and boots because the earnings by their fathers on relief work are so slender that they cannot be afforded, other causes of want in this connection are given as desertion, widowhood, part-time work, poor circumstances, invalid parents, sickness, and “ fourteen in family.” The remarks also reveal that a fair percentage of children are absenting themselves from school because of lack of shoes. A Thousand Pairs. The Businessmen’s Committee is wasting no time in its effort to alleviate suffering amongst the children. It has already distributed parcels of boots and shoes to several schools, and to-day' commenced the main distribution. Its attention was focussed on the poor state of footwear that many children were forced to wear when recently the D.I.C. and Mr 11. F. Herbert, of the Herbert Shoe Store, each gave 100 pairs of children’s boots and shoes for distribution. It was then decided to allocate sufficient funds to make available 1000 pairs, and headmasters were asked to co-operate in the matter of their distribution. The secretary of the committee (Mr M. E. Lyons) stated this morning that some schools had already received their parcels, but the main distribution of boots and shoes was being made to-day'. Other supplies would follow as they were made available bv the manufacturers. The inquiries the committee had made amongst the primary schools demonstrated very' strongly how much the teaching staffs in the city had done, very often from their own pockets, towards relieving distress, more particularly in the direction of providing footwear and clothing. Grateful Parents. i While so far the committee has bareIly touched the fringe of its work in the schools, it has already received many letters expressing the appreciation of parents of the gifts made to their children. One, which is typical, reads as follows : “ I am writing to thank your committee for the boots, and also for your kindness in getting them. It was a very' pleased little boy that ar'rived home to-night. Actually they' are the first new boots he has ever had, as up to the present there has always been a pair of his brother’s available. I always knew that ‘music hath charms.’ but I believe now that new boots have also, for and the new boots became such friends that I had quite a business to part them at bedtime.” Another mother wrote: “Just a few lines to express our sincere thanks and gratitude for the gift of beautiful shoes and boots all my children received yesterday. As we have eleven children, it was impossible to provide them all with new shoes, but you have solved our problem.”