WORK FOR TRAMPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 245, 17 October 1932, Page 11

WORK FOR TRAMPS

CLEARING HOUSE SCHEME. YOUNG VAGRANTS’ WELFARE. A clearing house for young tramps is planned by Mr. Frank Gray, who has devoted many years to the grave problem of vagrancy, and has come to be known in England as “the tramps’ champion. ” The scheme, which, if carried out, is likely to have repercussions all over the country, was embodied in a memorandum placed before tho Oxfordshire Public Assistance Committee at Oxford on September 2. In conjunction with Mr. A. A. Webb, of Reading, Mr. Gray applied for the tenancy of the Bicester Poor Law Institution with the object stated above. It was announced that tho sum of £l5OO had been voed by the Pilgrim Trust, of which Mr. Baldwin is chairman, towards the estimated annual cost of £2OOO. According to the proposals, unanimously favoured by tho meeting, the institution will be used to put tramps to productive work while an effort is being made to find employment for them. In the post-war period there has been an increasing number of youths under the age of 21 in tho ranks of the vagrants. This alone it. is felt,, should call for the consideration and sympathetic interest of the community. Under the scheme the clearing house would be maintained for an experimental period of three years. To this establishment would bo removed, by consent, all young vagrants in casual wards within a given area of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. The object of the movement is to establish or re-establish these men in , normal occupation and surroundings likely to lead them to become useful | citizens. Until employment could be found for them, the inmates would be engaged in suitable productive work. A special committee is considering the mernora nduni. For a considerable period Mr. Gray has accommodated young tramps at his beautiful home at. Shipton Manor, near Oxford. Ho has found employment for some of them; others he has envouraged to join tho army.