Marylands faces closing

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33050, 18 October 1972, Page 1

Marylands faces closing

The Saint -John of God Brothers home for t retarded boys at Marylands, Halswell, is on the* verge of financial collapse and may soon have to close.

The home, which at present cares for 100 boys from all parts of New Zealand, has had to rely on large sums of money from Australia to remain open. During the last 12 months, the St John of God Brothers have received more than $20,000 from their Australian order to keep Marylands going. All the money has been spent on day-to-day living expenses. There has been no money available for urgently required maintenance.

The brothers sav there is an urgent need for more than

$lOO,OOO to carry out essential maintenance works. Health and fire authorities have already asked that work be done but the brothers say it is financially impossible. Since thpy arrived in Christchurch 17 years ago the brothers have cared for and trained more than 300 intellectually handicapped boys. Marylands is one of only two such homes in New Zealand and has been highly commended by the Department of Education and the Child Welfare Division for the success of its work.

In 1955 the Department of Health decided to pay 50c a day for the upkeep of each boy at Marylands. That amount has not been increased since.

Of all the boys at Marylands about 15 per cent have been State wards, for which the Government has paid $10.50 a week. The support of the other 85 per cent is

the responsibility of parents, many of whom, say the brothers, are unable to provide the money required for their care. The other home for retarded boys is Campbell Park, near Oamaru, which is run by the State. The Government spends about $BO a week a boy there. The costs at Campbell Paris, are greater because all the staff are paid. None of the six brothers at Marylands receives pay. The principal ’at Marylands, Brother Moloney, said yesterday he regretted that the question of money should ever have to be raised but the situation was now desperate. He said that all the boys attending Marylands had been sent there on the re-

commendation of the Department of Education or the Child Welfare Division.

The problem of meeting day-to-day exnenses had been compounded by the re-

quirements laid down by fire and health authorities. Fire authorities had asked that a sprinkler system be installed but the estimated $40,000 required for this work was not available.

Brother Moloney, an Australian from Sydney who has been with the St John of God Brothers for 14 years, said that the Australian State and Federal Governments had been very generous in meeting capital and day-to-day running expenses of similar homes in Australia.

He said that Marylands was a home for any boy with a special need; although a Roman Catholic order staffed the home only 20 per cent of those who had passed through it had been Roman Catholics.

He said it was unfair to expect homes in Australia to economise on their activities to enable Marylands, which existed in a welfare State, to stay in existence.