WORKHOUSE PROBLEM

Hokitika Guardian, 16 April 1926, Page 4

WORKHOUSE PROBLEM

MAN W HO WON’T WORK OR, LEA YE. FATING HIS ONLY ENKRCLSE. MAIDSTONE. Feb. 22. Having been iutormed by Darky, n. power! id 22-yen rs-olil Negro, that he like; l lie sheltered rose of their workhouse and Inis decided to stay I hero lor ever, ratepayers of the llolliugbotirn Union, a lew miles from Maidstone. find they must pay ’cl rate during his life-time to snj port him. No Government Department could give the guardians any hope that, their ever-grinning guest will ever loive them. The Home Office, the Ministry ot Health, the Chief Inspector of the Aliens Department—these and other Government Departments have been appealed to and have given their decision that Darky alone can choose to terminate his s.fc'iv.

j Darky is the only name of this burly j Jamaican, tv hose appetite Is appalling tilt' workhouse authorities, even I more than ihe fact I hat it is i m _ j possible to make him work. If is just ,a year since lie came among j them, and lie lias not earned one of j the several scores of pounds he has j alreadv cost them. | (M TSTAVKI) his WKtXOMK. • Fifteen months ago, while walking j through Kent, he broke info a house j iu the neighbourhood and was sent to j_ j three months’ hard labour. The prill’ i so| > authorities handed him over to the ir j Maidstone I’nion. and when ’he onlis j stayed liis welcome the latter passed | him over to the guardians for the dis('l | ti’iet in which he had committed the | offence. ~ I Darky told llollinghonrn that he had f iconic to lay his hones among them, t Hollingliurii laughed and said they 1 would see about that, and got into s touch with Sir William Joynson--0 Hicks, the Home Secretary. There y came a reply that was the nucleus of s a dossier that is as big as that of ,n :i field-marshal. Sir William said that ‘ .Maidstone was right. ! “It appeared.” an official of the ~ Hollingbonrn I'nion said, “that ] (lie efleet oi an Act of 1907, designed to find workhouse accommodation for I people discharged from prison, is that because tin’s man chose our union for his house-breaking we must keep him. , and. what is more, it will never he ] possible to get rid of him unless he chooses to go. “To provide £1 per week means a I call tor nno-sixth of a penny rate in this very small union and as this mail’s keep alone costs more than £1 Is a week he is really aid rate. The prospect is a puzzling one.” CRTXX AND STAYS. I Ihe guardians have spared no effort to lose their burly guest. Pictures of the beauty of Jamaica have been painted, followed hy the news that he "ill To taken to tile London Docks in Hie ut most ocontort. Darky morelv says; “Xo. ! would rather live and 'lie in this nice building.” Ho lias been summarily invited to leave, but lie has simply smiled his slow smile at the gate and said : “No. I think 1 will remain.’ The law regarding aiding and abetting prevents the guardians from inviting him to play truant, and commit a burglary in some bigger union's area. He lips only really worked once, "ben he lifted a 2-cwt sack of grain with one hand 'and tossed it into,..a cart. Onee he was tried at gardening, but lie dug up the parsnips, onions, and other vegetables and ate them on the spot, so he is kept awa y from the garden now. Wood-chopping and other work be will not do. and it is unsafe to equip him with heavy tools as he was once violent in prison, so Darky tells .septuagenarians how the work should he done—and keeps oil grinning. Somehow, Hollingbourti, its guardians, and its ratepayers feel they could bear tilings better if it were iiot for that grin.