STEPFATHER'S CRUELTY.

" LAD ROPED TO A MATTRESS. "THRASHING EVERY MORNING." A shocking case of ill-treatment of a child engaged the attention of Mr C. C. Kettle, S.M., in the Auckland Police Court, on Monday. A man of small stature, named Thomas Jones, a painter, pleaded not guilty to a charge of having wilfully ill-treated his stepson. Station-sergeant Hendry, who represented the prosecution, said that the circumstances surrounding the case ■were very bad. The defendant had persistently ill-treated the boy, and on one occasion strapped him to a mattress for some hours in order to prevent him from running away. Jones frequently gave way to drink, a"nd often used profane language to the lad. The boy m question, who is 11 years old, tearfully related his experiences with his step-father to the Court. He stated that the accused Usually came home drunk on Saturday nights, and he (witness) received a thrashing with a strap almost everyd ay. He had not been long discharged from the hosEitaJL after being treated there for a roken thigh, jbut his step-father's cruelty made him run away to his grandmother's house" in Ponsonby. There he was found out, and one Friday evening his father took him back to his home at Mount Roskill Road, and at 7.30 tied him down to a mattress with a rope and let him stay there till the following evening, with* only a thin blanket covering him. He was given some breakfast at 7.30 a.m. on Friday, but did not get anything else to eat until after 5 o'clock. All he had to drink was a mug of strong tea, but he could not bear the taste or it. After he had been tied up for about twentyfour hours the constable took him away. * All this while \hiß mother was in the hospital, and his step-father expected him to do her* duties, thrasaing him when he found that things did not suit him. '" Mrs J. A. O'Brien, who lived in the same house as the accused and bis stepson, said that the child reee : . red a thsashing every morning, and in tho evenings it was "either a growl or a clout. She had often given the ltd food. Constable Adam Murray stated that the accused nad complained, to him one Saturday of the boy having run away, -and he went round to 'he house ard found him tied to a 1 maWe?s by . a piece of rope which was oound arounr his chest. The mattress was situatet at the top of a draughty staircase, and the boy was hungry and cold. "If the house had caught on fire, he would have been burned', to death," said the constable. The accused, in defence, stated thai whatever he had done he had believed to be in the boy's own. interests. He was a troublesome lad; and *$mr situation had arisen through his running away from home; ;?/ In reply to his Worship, accused said that he had only on one occasion struck his wife. He also acknowledged' that he occasionally had. a bet; on a horse rape. He . earned 10s.- per day, and spent between 3s and- 4a per week on liquor. , > . . ; i •. - • , The accused's wife, who was discharged from ,th© . hospital last week,, and appeared in a- .very weak state o health, said that her husband; treated her kindly, but the boy was impudent to her. > . ' , N In rebuttal Constable Wainhouse, of Kingsland, described: ;how on. one occasion lie went to the accused's residence qrad found his' wife ill in- bed, she not having received any , attention whatever for, f qu* days.^On her left cheek, there- wfere the , marks 'of a blow,' and when asked' how -she came by/ it she replied, "Jones did it before going to work." * Two nurses came in the ambulance and took'/ttie woman away. Witness afterwards nad ft look through the house, and foUad that there was "not a inor&el of fop&in the place." Th& magistrate, in giving nis decision, said that the : -evidence of OI- j treatment was overwhelming. It was simply another case ,whero a man had .spent his money in drink and gambling instead of providing for the maintenance of his wife, and family. The boy had been subjected to ill-treatment of the grossest - character, and he thought that if the whole ot the treatment were disclosed it ' would be too horrible to. speak of. "I convict you without any hesitation whatever," said Mr Kettle, addressing the accused, "dnd P shall remand you until Saturday morning, so that I may determine what I shall do with you.' His Worship then committed the boy to the Auckland Industrial School, and ordered Jones to contribute 8s per week towards his support.