DIRECT ACTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 July 1919, Page 6

DIRECT ACTION.

AND DIRECT RESULTS. I HOW WOMEN SUFFER. Melbourne, July S. Relief work proceeds busily at the Trades Hall. The. following description of it, from the Age, gives an adequate idea of the conditions: — Surely the day lias come for the strike to be regarded as barbaric. Out of mercy for the women and children, union officials ought to scheme some new way of settling old grievances. The two-edged sword of the strike most certainly is far sharper when it cuts the working man and his family than when jt causes passing annoyance and present loss to those more comfortably circumstanced. How any set of men could know of the proceedings day by day at the Trades Hall and remain obdurately intent upon their personal grievances passes comprehension. ' Capacious though the Trades Hull is, It can scarcely contain the teemisg crowds that block every passageway and corridor and yard, awaiting orders for relief. There are men, women, girls, youths, and children. All look inexpressibly sad, and their patience is the patience of hopelessness. "The women with children first" is the cry of various officials on Saturday morning, and women carrying babies or leading toddlers are hustled from the throng into a room already crowded with people seated on long forms, facing a table where three women sit busily writing. BACK WITH THE MEN. A few men try ,to get into the queue of women. "Back there, you!" cries a marshal. "That's not fair, and you know it. Le.ft the women get there first. They've got to get away with the kiddies." The men s.teal back to their forms, and the women come forward to the table. They all look alike, somehow. Their clothes were new once. Once they had pride enough in their appearance to have a set of buttons on their overcoats; now, in their lis.tlessness and don't-care spirit, they use safety-pins to replace the missing buttons. They are not slatternly—they are merely utterly dispirited. As each woman files up she gives to the nearest secretary a form given to her by the secretary of the union to which her husband belongs, certifying that she is genuinely in want, and that her case has been investigated by an official. The first form glanced at says: "Hubband in hospital, influenza. Six children under seven years of age. No food, no bed covering, no clothes. Very sad case, truly deserving." She gets a £1 note and an order for ,17s 6d worth of groceries. That has to last for a week. She passes on, and the next woman comes up. She has been waiting, along with countless others, for hours for her turn. She has no children with her. She is painfully thin. Her white face is so drawn that it startles one; the big eyes have the repellent brightness of certain forms of blindness, and she literally appeal's to be as unseeing as a trance worker.

DEATH AND DISEASE. Her scrap of paper explains her appearance: i'Husband lying dead in the house; three children down with influenza; no food, no clothes; quite destitute." From the scribbed pencilled lines, "Husband lying dead in the house," one looks again hastily at the slight | figure. It seems incredible. A newly-made widow, unable to stay by her husband's form for tho short while it remained unburied; three children down with influenza, and she has been patiently waiting her turn for the day's dole. The second look reveals the fact that there is an unborn child as well. Direct action is brutal in its incidence at any time, but in the depth of winter, when a deadly epidemic is laying its clutches upon all who are underfed or too scantily clothed, it seems criminal beyond belief. The newly-made widow is given tho maximum help; Bhe is spoken to very kindly, but the bright eyes remain tearless- She is led away to a room where blankets are being given solely to expectant mothers. These blankets are from the Defence Department's hoard. "Well, thank goodness she will be kept warm!" one says in blissful ignorance. Investigation shows that the blankets are pure shoddy. They are miserable flannelette, innocent of any wool in their composition. ' MANY PITIFUL CASES. This newly-made widow makes the investigator want to get away from the files of waiting women. "Surely that is an unusual case?" is asked, but the secretary shakes her head. <f No, it is not. We are getting used to stories like that. Influenza has been too strong fof these people. If it is not the father dead, it is the mother or some of the children. You see, at the best of times, most of these workers only get about' £3 3s weekly, and even that is not constant, They can't save anything on that money where there is a family. They seldom get real sit-down meals. The children are fed on "pieces"—bread and jam oi' bread and dripping—all day long, and, While that keeps them from feeling hungry, it does not make them grow strong, and when an epidemic comes along they get it badly." "It seems inhuman. What can be done 1" "The seamen won't go to the Arbitra-

tion Court, it seems." said the official, with a gesture that seemed to show he was out of patience with the seamen, j That was'to be understood, because it 1 I Has not the seamen who had to interview women in cases something like ,that ! new-made widow's day after day. j ENDLESS APPLICATIONS. I The storeroom where the blankets and good, solid all-wool flannel were stored was visited, and there, in readiness for sorting, were great bundles of warm, new clothing sent from some of the big Melbourne drapery firms. "Look at .this lot," said one woman. "That firm has sent us £IOO worth of garments like these. It deserves the workingman's patronage." Then the grocery store came under review, and the parcels were being made up with professional deftness. Tea, sugar, candles, matches, rice, sago, soap, jam, potatoes, oatmeal, and condensed milk were being made up into three different sized lots, valued at 7s Ud, 12s Cd, and 17s (Id each, according to the number of the families. The dozen people working could not keep pace with the endless stream of applicants. As 1 o'clock approached the "marshal" addressed the waiting hundreds. Those of you who have enough food in the house to last till Monday come up and get a ticket that will give you first place Monday morning. The money is pretty well run out, but there will be groceries enough to go around those who need them" Less than one-third of those present accepted the tickets; the rest patiently awaited their turns for the food