FILTHY DEN FOUND IN TIMARU.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2956, 31 October 1925, Page 4

FILTHY DEN FOUND IN TIMARU.

<. — OLD MAN SUPPLIES “METH.” TO YOUNG MEN. POLICE ASKED TO CLEAR UP DUGOUT OF VICE. Timaru, October 21. “I liave been in tbe slums of Glasgow, in the slums of my home town Neweastle-on-Tyne, and in the slums of London, but T have never seen anything so appalling or disgraceful as I saw in Timaru this morning,” said the Rev. T. Wilson Potts at to-day’s meeting of the South Canterbury Hospital Board, when referring to social service matters. The story as related by Mr. Potts was that as a result of information he had received concerning young men visiting a den for the purpose of drinking methylated spirits he had visited the spot. There he saw a dug-out covered with sacks and iron, which was the habitation of an old man who was down and out.- One of the old man’s victims was a young man whose wife had been refused assistance by the Social Service Committee. He wondered what the authorities were doing to permit such a place to exist within sight and hearing of everyone. The whereabouts of the young man could not be traced, and the Board could not grant assistance where two apartments were being run. It now transpired that the man was visiting the dug-out. He protested against conditions which permitted of an old man tempting and pollutng young men who were easily led being permitted to exist in a community like Timaru. He hoped that wlfatever was said would stir the authorities to take action to wipe out the den.