The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. FRIDAY. DECEMBER 5, 1384.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4530, 5 December 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo.

FRIDAY. DECEMBER 5, 1384.

For the cause that looks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance For the future in tho distance, And the geod that we can do.

Now that Mr Tole is in Auckland, we . should like to hear that the need of better accommodation for the aged poor is again brought to his notice. Mr Moss has already done a good deal in that direction, and the matter ought to be pushed until we l^ave suitable buildings erected here. The rotten and worn-out edifice which did duty in its early days as a Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, and which now, in its decay, is appropriated as an Old Men's Refuge, ought to be replaced by a more suit- , able and more wholesome structure. ! For some time it was incapable of receiving all who ought to have been taken to it, and old people, guiltless of crime, but in their dotage, have been sent to gaol as the most merciful and only way of dealing with them. The case of Margaret Kairn, which Mr Moss brought before Parliament on the 2nd October, was a hard one. She had never been in gaol before, but was, at 63 years of age, sentenced to three months' imprisonment as a vagrant. During her sentence, the gaol surgeon directed her removal to the Auckland Hospital. She was sent there, but could not be admitted, as there was no room. Again, at the end of her sentence, the attempt to get her into the Hospital was made, but equally without success. She had to be kept in gaol after her sentence had expired, and was kindly attended upon by the female prisoners till she died. Another case mentioned by Mr Moss at the same time was that of Ellen Doeherty, 83 years old and in her dotage, turned out of the Old Women's Refuge for misconduct, and sentenced to a month's imprisonment as a vagraat. At the end of her sentence she was returned by the police to the Refuge, but could not get admission, and was again sent to gaol. Mr Moss, in bringing forward her case, said that as far as he had been able to learn, there had been no other convictions against her. The last case is that of Benjamin West, who was in a dying condition when sent.to.gaol, and who died there on the third day after his admission. Eemarking on the two first Cases, in reply to Mr Moss, Mr Tole, as Minister of Justice, said that he had before him, \ reports somewhat* similar to those the' j horn gentleman hadttnentioned. v Ap-' , parently. thore .was not sufficient fac- \ I ?.°? lt*?o<J a,t!°i"<.'••ftw; .cases of tbi# kj.nd .

in Auckland. This being admitted, the duty of the Government is clear, and no time should be lost in doing it. We hear that attempts are being made to stave the matter offby giving the use of other portions of the old building used as an immigration depot since the dep&t in -the Albert Barracks was pulled down. This may get over the difficulty in a muddling kind ot way for a time, but it is unfair to the community, and especially unfair to the ladies and gentlemen who devote so much time and trouble to the management of these institutions, to treat them in this way. The Government are solely responsible, and they should lose no time in seeing that proper accommodation is provided. The gaol is no place for such cases, and its officers ought not to have them forced upon them. We trust that Mr Tole will take the matter vigorously up, and not lose the opportunity of showing that the interests of Auckland are in good hands with him as its representative in the Ministry. To allow the present old buildings to be patched up can only defer the difficulty, which may reappear at a time when money is not so easily obtained by the General Government as it seems to be just now.