ENGLISH POVERTY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11476, 6 February 1905, Page 4

ENGLISH POVERTY.

Nbw Zkalandebs who- have never lived • in< England can have little or no idea of "TJhe ' amount of poverty which • can exist in England when times are barf. Recent London papers contain most harrowing accounts of the distress prevailing in England at Christmas time. At a time when, of all times, good cheer should have been within the reach of every one, there were, in West Ham, alone, no .less, than •30,000 people in receipt of relief. • The rate 3" due on November Ist amounted to about \£s7,Uo(),. and of this only .£31,000 had been paid, four of the seven boroughs and parishes forming the union having paid nothing. In spite of this shortage of money the guardians had' to disburse considerably more than the' 1 average, but fortunately the publication ,of the details of some, of the cases of .poverty led to a generous Response on the part of well-to-do people. v There were some 10,000 families in the grip •. of • poverty in West Ham, and 'so keen did the distress become that attempts to discriminate broke down 'before' the wild "demands of the starving. Some of. the more, respectable case 3 received money, and the rest • got orders for bread and dry groceries. They

had no meat, no vegetable^, n.6, opal, and in the depths of winter starvation, rations of tea and bread formed the staple food of thousands. In addition to the receiving -relief, there Ttfere auother. 20.C0D suffering ~ starvation in varying . degrees! or staving off starvation by the .help of clubs or by selling „or pawning furniture. As is usual in -.such periods of distress, numbers of people were" too proud to admit their poverty, and much . needless suffering resulted. A typical case was 1 that of a ship's fireman, a steady,' respectable man, who for weeks was workless';. .His house . was described .as . containing: little besides cleanliness — nearly! every- bit of furniture had gone. , Finally the husband came back one day from • a vain "search for work to a house with not a particle of food in it Tor himself and, his family. Yet, evep. in the <; f araj . of. , starvation, he would jiot "beg for food ior."- ask ■ for relief from -the parish, and; at' last, in "utter desperation, his wife went to .the authorities and obtained tickets for food. The bitter "distress" found,, echo,' in.jyild at the meetings of the unemployed, who were ..urged to-revolt'-against the wealthy. "A thousand stockbrokers', if' told' ,'they 'would have to gp without food for a.^week, would be. up in xeyolt," said one,, orator. Another fiery, speaker* described the British aristocracy .as the most callous: in tho world, and Mr Balfour as the most callous Premier that Britain ever knew. 'Tf'.pniy wish," he said, "that you men., .had, half the pluck, half the energy, that the -men of '86 had. If ■ you had- any ■ pluck you wouldn't stand it. You would- "\rqvolt. Yes,; revolt* Why, not? . You had „ better by half die fighting than starving:'.'- -» •