TE ORANGA HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 273, 14 November 1908, Page 7

TE ORANGA HOME.

REPLY TO MRS. NICCOL? jSe following, correspondence has passed ijfaten the" Hon. Geo. Fowlds and Mrs _jjjj Sicol oh the subject of the recent weeting' of women and the Te Oranga. "PonsonD'y. November 7th, To the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister for Educa-ijJjj'L-Sir, I am directed to forward you rte foHotririg resolution passed at a ticked meeting of women electors ot fneklarid, held at St. George's Hall last grening: Resolved—That tliis public meeting 9* women, having heard the re-. vjort '-of the Commissioner in connection -«rith the recent Te Oranga Home scan__s considers that the present matron ;, not a fit and proper person to have charge of Te Oranga Home, and having no confidence in her management of the jjiJ Home, calls upon the Government to aisinUs her.' Carried by a large majority.—l anl > etc - —(Signed) E. Nicol, convener.' - '.

To this Mr. Fowlds sent the following Office of Minister of Education, Auckland, 13th November, 1908. Mrs. Emily jnioi Ponsonby, Auckland. — Dear Madam, —I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, conveying a resolution which you represent as having been passed at a packed meeting of women electors of Auckland j. St. George's Hall on the evening of .flje Bth instant. In the only report of & proceedings of the meeting that 1 jave seen, it is stated "Fully half of flose present voted for it (the amendm ent moved by Mrs. Gibson), while only tjo or three hands were held up in tie negative." For the fair fame of the jomen oi Auckland, I prefer to accept He report referred to as giving the most rthable indication of the feeling of the meeting rather than tbe resolution you live forwarded to mc; but even if there lad been no doubt that your resolution ___ been carried, its value would be discounted by the fact that only one side of the case was presented by you, and Jso that you made some statements, ,j_ich,:l know, conveyed erroneous im"treesions. .In response to an agitation which, with some honourable exceptions, I believe, purely political in iti jjuuacter, the Government appointed a Boyal Commission to inquire into the _4nagement of the Te Oranga Home. __{«• taking exhaustive evidence, which en the whole is highly complimentary to the management, and which, though Minted with the report, few of the public live'read, the Commissioner, Mr. H. W. Bishop, Stipendiary Magistrate at ChristtSnreh, made no recommendation whatever against the manager. On the contrary, the Commissioner highly commended her work, and that of her staff, v is shown in the following extracts front his report: —

"... The marvel is that the results ire as good as they are ..."

" 1 desire also to state here that there h absolutely no fault whatever to iirid tnth the food supplied tor the use of the hnaites. It is good, wholesome, and ample in quantity. The healthy and rofast appearance of the girls generally is ebodusive/prbbf that they thrive well upon the food, supplied. A dietary scale is in use, and, to my mind, it is thoroughly liberai'ani satisfactory. . . .

" it is quite impossible to come in eonr tact with thevstaff; without feeling that their'heart,[is in their -work, "and that tinder most difficult circumstances and conditions iiey are doing refcily good service. ... .'"'

"This:being so, I consider the results distinctly good. Very few of the gen- ] eial puisne can really be aware of the terrible material upon which the management has to work. Many of the giri3 are brought direct from the brothels, from QihiMe dens, from the open streets, from fie company of dissolute parents. Many of them come in with irreparable marks .of disease, of sin, and of degradation. Sane of them have ever had a chance to &w straightly and decently. I could give .instances of youthful depravity that would be thought impossible. These girls, who have never been under control or discipline, who are of an age to find a fatal attractien in various forms of sin, and,who absolutely resent any attempt to" interfere -with their freedom, have to be sorted out, broker! in, and gradually humanised. Can we wonder at the failures in the face' of such enormous difficulties! But I do not require statistics to eaavinee mc that the Home is doing good wptk. Many of these girls have passed tirpßgh my hands when at their very worst. T have spoken with them; I have Itudied them, I have tried to reason with fen. I see them again jafter some months of treatment; at Te Oranga, and I cm scarcely believe them to be the same jerk They are gentle in their manners, tley have a good address, they show undoubted evidence of refinement. In short tkey have become humanised. In addition to my own powers of observation 1 bare had the opportunity of reading a tery large number of letters writen to thernanager at different times by service girl? and by ex-inmates. These letters b»re a genuine ring of spontaneity about fen." -They are remarkable for their expnasions of gratitude to the Institution. iiß'ofaeep attachment to the Manager. Invariably they show a fixed desire to lead a good and pure life, and to avoid thespaths of temptation which are always *pen to them in the world, and which •terns so alluring." •• 9'l may say .that, after a mQ3t careful, /personal inquiry, I am firmly of the opinion that the management deserves even bigher commendation than that given by tbe Commissioner. In this I am supported by the honorary official visitors t° the Institution—Mrs Albert Kaye, wife 'n. one °* ac leading (merchants ot Piristchurch: Mrs. Smith, wife of the Christehureh Town Clerk; and Mr. WilP»m Beece, another leading Christehureh ttercbant— also by Dr. Alice Moorhouse, fs. T. L Smail, the Anglican City MiajMMier, and many other well-known and fPly respected residents of Canterbury. • 'Having accurate knowledge of the finable work being done by Mrs. BrihtM&"ihe manager of Te Oranga, I declare gP emphatically that I would ratkr retire from public life than be guilty oi act of penalising, for the irorpose of political expediency, a woman ?|«e work has been so highly com "faded by a ll "npariial observers, and _£?'* devoting her life to the rescue Hs£pe reform of the girls committed to £* *«Be. In taking up this attitude, Bg|l certain that my action will com«Pd itself to an the right-thinking .._3? n of the Dominion.—Yoars faith.any,

(Signed) GEO. FOWLDS,