TENDING THE AGED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 815, 12 May 1910, Page 3

TENDING THE AGED.

ANOTHER FIELD OF ACTION,

A SALVATION ARMY PEOPOSAL.

The Salvation Army is. always thinking out new schemes for the alleviation of suffering, and the improvement of living conditions among the poor. Brigadier Bray, who is in charge of the social work of the Army in New Zealand, is a man of action—of deeds rather than words—and what would probably startle the ordinary citizen are everyday experiences with him. No sooner is one object achieved, or on the high road to achievement, thau another presents itself.

An idea, at present only in its germinating stage, was propounded by the Brigadier in the course of a conversation with a Dominion reporter yesterday. The basis of the idea is the establishment of' a home for old ago pensioners, and for old people who may not bo in the receipt of State pensions, but whose sons, daughters, or relatives may feel inclined to pay according to their means for the comfortable housing of their parents, or other old people who have suffered tho "stings and arrows of outrageous fortune," only to find themselves poor and helpless in their old age. At first glance the.idea of placing the old people away in a home may not commend itself to some people, but (accordins to BrigadieT Bray), a littlo thought brings out the advantages of sucli an institution.. An old man, who, perhaps, cannot do much for himself, receives a pension of 10s. a week. With his fading faculties he can do but little in the way of spending the money to the' best advantage,, and, in some cases, makes the poorest use of tho aid granted by the State. Such people are more often than not the parents of hard-working folk, who, full of their own troubles, are placed at a' further disadvantage by having to fend for the old people. Tho struggle is a hard one for , all, perhaps, in many cases so hard that the aged are neglected and left to themselves more than should be the case. Would not such people T)o better off. in a home such as is_ dimly suggested for Wellington? Brigadier Bray states that the Army already has two homes of the kind, in Australia—one at Packenham, 30 miles from Melbourne, and the other at Manly near Sydney. They take the State pensioners at about Bs. a week, and he feels confident that they could do it in Wellington.- A young, hard-working man, who may be . too heavily burdened with the personal care of. an aged parent, often felt inclined to. pay a few shillings a week to .be rid of .his burdensome liability, and the old people on their 'part are on tho whole better looked after, better cared for, and, in some cases, better fed than they would be in their humble homes. No definite steps have been taken so far to institute such a home in Wellington—at, present it is an idea in the back of Brigadier Bray's head. ,