TO SAVE THE BABES.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 270, 12 November 1909, Page 6

TO SAVE THE BABES.

CATHOLIC FOUNDLING HOSPITAL.

It is expected that in the course of a few weeks a Foundling Home will be established by the Catholic community in Auckland. A splendid building, with grounds comprising 14 acres, close to the city, is under offer, and it rests only with Mother Aubert, Superior of the order of the Sisters of Compassion, who will have charge of the new home, to approve of the site, which is favourably regarded by the principals of the movement here.

The Foundling Home will take in and care for infants, irrespective of creed, who have nobody to look after them, and babes just born who under other circumstances might be lost to the community. The chief object of the institution is to provide for the infants of unfortunate mothers, the idea being that when the home is established mothers will have no excuse for hiding their shame by doing away with their offspring before or. after birth, a practice which it is feared is only too frequently adopted by certain classes. For a few weeks past the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, a charitable organisation, has been collecting in a small way, with the object of raising funds to keep the institution going for a while after it is opened, and until it is established on a firm footing, and already the sum of £200 has been subscribed by weekly contributions, ranging from one penny to threepence. In a day or two subscription lists will be circulated to raise money for the purchase of the building and grounds. The good work being done by Mother Aubert and her Sisters at the Home of Compassion, Wellington, is well known. There the poor suffering from incurable disease are taken in and attended to. Although the establishment of a similar institution in Auckland has not so far been decided on, it is quite possible that in the near future it will be an accomplished fact.