Rector’s Struggle.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17976, 22 March 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

Rector’s Struggle.

FIGHT WITH POVERTY. The plight of a rector and his family has just come to light. The Rev. Douglas Birt, rector of Leconfleld, near Beverley, Yorkshire, collapsed and was taken unconscious to Hull Infirmary suffering from a septic knee. His wife had to apply to the relieving officer fori help. When seen in a private ward Mr Birt said: “ Life has been a great struggle for me. I have been at Leconfleld nearly 14 years, and my wife and I have brought up a family of 10 children on a pittance of a stipend considering the tremendous rectory we have had to keep going. The total income from the living is not more than £350.” “ How we have fought through to clothe, feed, and educate our children I really do not know. The eldest boy is a -cripple, aged 19. He is at home struggling with the rest of us. “ Another boy has left home and is earning his own living. But besides my invalid son there are eight children at home. • One is a boy, aged 17, who does odd jobs, such as gardening Another is a girl who looks after the poultry. “ The seven others are attending the village -elementary school. We cannot afford to give them any other education. The struggle to bring up my large family got me head over heels in debt.” Mrs Birt, a refined and kindly woman, was in the dimly-lighted rectory getting her children ready for bed when an interviewer called. She showed him into a room which, displayed every indication of the. family’s struggle to live.

Mrs Birt said: “It is perfectly true we have had to apply for -parish relief. I dare not tell Mr Birt yet. He is too 111. No one has come to our assistance except . the very poorest people of the parish. One is a poor widow with an out-of-work son. She has helped us with a hit of food. The guardians have allowed us 30s in coal, oil for the lamp, and food, but no money."