IN NEW HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 9

IN NEW HOME.

Central Depot’* House in Order. Within three day's a small has transformed the empty shell of a building in Tuam Street into a wellorganised depot efficiently performing one of the most important functions of the present civic life of. the community—the relief of distress. Onlythree day-s ago the Central Relief Depot moved to its new quarters and a tremendous amount of work has been necessary to adapt the building to the peculiar needs of the depot’s work. This morning both outside and in was the usual patient crowd, waiting uncomplainingly for- the assistance with which the depot augments their slender means.

Mr T. H. Cape-Williamson, the honorary- director, pointed out- the work that had been done in the transformation of the building. No outside assistance was called in, for the depot staff is almost a complete community in itself. Among the unemployed who are attached to the depot staff are carpenters, and these men, working with scrim and plaster-board, partitioned the two floors of the building into its separate departments. Arrangement of Offices. Downstairs are the distributing officers. The first office is devoted to the handling of applications for firing, a busy section at this time. The next room is used for the storage of women’s clothing. Then there is the boot storage room, and next to it the boot-repairing department where several tradesmen are hard at work.

The canteen corpus next. There rations are served. The walls are lined with shelves containing many- different sorts of provisions with fresh bread predominating. There, too, men were busy-. The back of the canteen has a large door opening into a lane running in from Madras Street, this back entrance being used for the reception of goods for distribution. The administrative staff and the legal advisory and housing officers are comfortably' housed upstairs, this section of the building being also partitioned off. Applications for relief are received here and, strangely- cheerful note, amid these evidences of want, children’s voices are heard. For while their mothers sit silently waiting, their children play happily on the floor. The depot staff has quickly accustomed itself to the new conditions, and all were busy' and cheerful this morning—but there is another side of the picture. The number of applicants for relief are not declining. Many of the shelves in the depot are empty-. Continual replenishment is essential. The statistics, which Mr Williamson has so readily at his finger-tips, show that there must be no slackening in the provision of supplies to meet an urgent demand.