Destitution in Auckland

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 5, 3 June 1885, Page 2

Destitution m Auckland

A reporter of ifae Auckland Star lately. i;.turvi«!tri*<|, ihe matron of U>t_ Women's Refuge, and m -the .coift^*' ol' conversation asked her if ; there wag really much m -Auckland. Her reply gave him 10 uniJei;BtainL v that there was more thau Was generally believed, although it was not BO much caussd l»y want of employment/, us \>y drink. " Ind*od,?' added Mw, Hutchison, "if y«»u could only sea >ome of the miserable and wretched * houses thai L have visited, whore f^n, children are starving and desertied.iUr ho:b father and mother while on their drunken spree^ *your heart arouloYv . blued for the little ones. F could tell you of six or seven .little children m a wretched house without a mantel of . fnod, and no one uear to look after them. Timy bad only half a lo*f of lueadamong.st them for two whole dny», and you way imagine the?? great delight when I oarried them some fond from the "butcher's. That was m Newton, Imt worse casej jum? frequently to be met with m town? ■ Ah a rule; they are all the immediateresults of dr;nk." Oue exceptional^ ' pit iaule case wu.s related. v A lihkK little girl," said Mrs Hutcbinsofo,!:-- --" only fourteen years of ajje, came to' me recently and gaye herself . r iijj>r ? She had a comforlalile home, but tur step-mother and herself did not get' on well, and *hu ran away from lienie.' For several months sho had nowhere to livn l>nt m the D«»iuain, and she' slewt there^ni«ht after night m *$ wealliers. At last she grew weaty of her life, and came to the Hpiue,*' 'Vt* - expressed surprise at the statement 1 that the girl had lived m the Domum' for two or three montln, livt J Mra. Hutchison said thu was nothingexceptional. Numl»erß of |>eople. she added, wore c<«mpeiled through? torce of circumstance to aleep; tUtero every nighr. : . N ■: