A WEARY TRAMP.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8281, 24 October 1905, Page 5

A WEARY TRAMP.

A Family Walk from Wellington

to Eketahuna

The Mother Wheeling Two Infants in a Pram.

Had to Camp Out on the

Roadside.

Reach Mauriceville in a Deplorable Condition.

The story of an extraordinary case of privation has just come to light. A clerk in a Wellington warehouse lost his employment, and, having got into straightened circumstances, decided to try his fortunes elsewhere. With his wife and three children—the eldest aged three years and youngest five months —he set out on foot for Eketahuna. The man carried a heavy swag which contained the whole of their possessions, whilst the woman wheeled the two youngest children in a perambulator, the eldest one, notwithstanding his tender age, having to walk. The party trudged on their wearisome journey till Masterton was reached —and still they tramped on. Last Thursday night, famished, sick at heart, and worn out, they camped in the bush at the corner of Jackson's-road, Dreyerton. On Friday morning, drenched by the rain of the previous night, they again set out. At Mauriceville they were fortunate enough to meet a good Samaritan in the person of Mr Rowel, baker. That gentleman not only supplied them with food and attended to their immediate wants, but paid their fares to Eketahuna, which place they had determined upon as their destination, and //Bfa where the bread-winner had hopes of finding "W" employment. When they met Mr Rowel, the whole of the family were in a deplorable condition, and the suffering and want which they had endured in their long tramp from Wellington was plainly apparent. It is to bs hoped that their fortunes will now undergo a change for the better and that such a painful experience will not be theirs again. [It may be as well to point out that there should not have been a necessity for the wife and young children to endure the hardships inseparable from making such a journey. We feel sure that had the husband made known his position in the proper quarter in Wellington, those dependent on him would have been temporarily provided for while he himself sought employment elsewhere. We do not wish to detract in the least from' the heroic efforts put forth by the wanderers, but the mother and her little children should not have had their endurance put to such a severe test. Tramping one hundred miles, in very unsettled weather, without shelter at night, was a terribly trying ordeal for the whole of the family ,_ # especially the brave-hearted mother, wheeling her infants in a pram, and the little fellow of three years of age. It seems almost paradoxical that such an incident should have to be recorded in a country so prosperous as New Zealand is Said to be.]