GAOL SENTENCES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1944, Page 6

GAOL SENTENCES

ESCAPE FROM WARD

PUBLIC HOSPITAL CASES

Two girls who, by Court order, were undergoing treatment in the VD cottage at the Auckland Public Hospital, and absented themselves from there on several occasions were this morning sentenced by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Police Court to three months imprisonment each, with hard labour. , Three others, receiving similar ment Act, who had similarly absented themselves, were each toed £5 and ordered to make immediate payment in default 10 days' imprisonment.. Venus Dean, Helen Smith and Ina Wellington, who faced charges under the Statutes Amendment Act of absenting themselves from a place of isolation, were the first to be dealt with, each pleading guilty. Statute's Limitation Mr Luxford, addressing the accused said that on a number of occasions he had drawn attention to the fact that girls such as them were sent to the hospital to "get themselves clean." For that to be done Satisfactorily it was necessary that they should co-operate. Under the particular statute under which they were charged he could not send them to prison without first inflicting a line Because of the serious nature of fhrir offence he would make the fine £5 and order immediate payment, m default 10 days' imprisonment. "We were hungry," said two of the girls, Smith and Wellington, when asked for an explanation of their escapades. Two Maori girls, Rosie Waiparata and Elizabeth Epere. who were charged under the Police Offences Emergency Regulations with leaving a place of isolation, after having been placed there by Court order, also pleaded guilty. Shocking State Of Affairs "Each of you have been before the Court charged with being idle and disorderly, as have a large number of other Maori girls," said Mr. Luxford. "It is a shocking state of affairs that Maori womanhood has so fallen. Doubtless remedial measures will be taken with these girls to whom cities and towns have become a refuge for leading lives of immorality and, indeed, in some cases, lives of crime. "You girls, who have been sent to the hospital to get yourselves clean, have taken matters into your own hands with almost a truculence that is becoming common among Maori girls. 1 am going to give you what I will give to any one of you who break out from "the hospital—three months' imprisonment with hard labour."