A DESERTED WIFE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 274, 6 July 1910, Page 3

A DESERTED WIFE.

Sir,—The suffering of'children con- <• stitutes my greatest grief and the ) great cross in my work. God intended / that every child should receive love I and welcome here, but so often are greeted with indifference and.neg- / lect. In this respect the men ,are the ( greatest sinners, and the numtier of- / defaulting and absconding husbands . > and" fathers is becoming a positive j scandal, an,d apparently the authori- i ties are unable to cope with it. Re- 7 cently a very young mother, attrac- ' tive, well-bred, but in great trouble, called upon me with her little babies, ( whose father was one of the absconding / members —a. man so base that he had, I without cause or warning left his girl. ! wife and.children to the mercies of a ! cbld worid. Poor bairns, if they were ( without parents they could probably ■ be admitted to one of the institutions } which very properly give first care to i orphans, but their lot is worse than / such. They have a father who is alto- j gether unworthy, and their mother is j handicapped by. poverty and so tram- I melled by the care of the little ones that thus far we have not been able to i find means by which she can earn the 1 necessary food and clothing for them. I Without help they Would not have had i ; either food or habitation, while their ' : clothing is altogether insufficient even ) for genial weather, so your readers j will imagine their condition during J I the recent bitter cold. I urgently > i need funds and clothing to help this I brave little woman and her children, ' tand some others whose lot is somewhat i similar, over their immediate necessities. The inhumanity of some of these ! men almost brings me to despair, ' although they would generally be / i allright but for the publichouse and its : influence Others would gladly play • their part but are prevented, by » physical infirmity. - Such a man and I his wife have recently been brought ■ to poverty, and are with their two i children .existing in an underground i .room in., one of our near suburbs. ! They are destitute of clothing, enE tirely without fire, and would have been without food also had not some 1 of their neighbours, who themselves ' live onvthe borders of chronic J?ov--1 erty, denied themselves" occasional ) meals that they might minister to 1 the needi of these strangers within i their gates. The experiences of the i poor generally make them sympa--3 thetic with those who are enduring i worse circumstance r than themselves. . i These parents are respectable folk 1 who are used to better things and 1 they are nearly distracted ,'at theirs inability to provide for the children they now have, but their positron is _ ■■ made worse by the fact that another baby is expected in,a few weeks. No _ provision, however, has'been made for 1 it, nor can be made, and their position , far a -desperate one. Many of my poor 3 friends" are self-respecting folk and manifestly I cannot parade their povj erty by disclosing their identity, but , I want your readers to enable me to , carry help to them. We urgently need f funds to do this, and food and fuel arid ; clothing can also be turned to/account. ■ \ Supplies of baby and children's cloth- , , ing will be especially useful. Will those who can assist us please commu- , nicate with the treasurer, Mr H. E. Pacey, care New Zealand Dairy Association, Wellesley street, or with yours . truly, SISTER KENNETH,. Auckland s Methodist.Mission, with which is in- ' corporated the Helping Hand Mission, 1 Rose road, Gray Lynns June 27th, j 1910. - •'