HOW CHILDREN ARE SOLD IN HUNGARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3, 3 January 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

HOW CHILDREN ARE SOLD IN HUNGARY.

The Hungarian authorities are taking decisive steps to put a stop to an extraordinary system of selling children which" prevails to a large extent in the central provinces. Once a month childless parents appear in a large foundling hospital in Temesvar, where they seek out the children that suit them and depart, after paying a sum of money for their purchases. On a recent occasion 30 children, ranging from one to nine years, were disposed of in this way without sufficient guarantee being given that the purchasers were respectable people who would treat the children properly. The most beautiful children were those most sought after, especially fair-haired girls, as these in Hungary are rare. In three cases circus people bought six children to bring up as acrobats. Tn e»» caso & millionaire sought a boy to bring up al his heir, as he had disinherited his owa son. The authorities now insist on the most careful investigations into the status and mc-tives of the purchasers. Thtt news has got abroad in Hungary that there is a ready market for children IH Temesvar, and the mothers of illegitimate children are eager in many cases to send their unhappy offspring to an institution where they have such prospects. The most curious incident in connection with the Temesvar institution was that of a mother who sent her child there to be disposed of, and who, after the little one had been sold, obtained the address of its purchasers and, as the results of considerable negotiation with the fosterparents, actually bought It b&ofc