THE POLICE MATRON'S WORK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 242, 6 July 1908, Page 5

THE POLICE MATRON'S WORK.

LOOKING AFTER WOMAN OFFENDERS. , ■ Down near 'the end of Lambton Quay there is a big grey . stone building with such a rigid, uncompromising--' look about „it that we : are riiost of us glad it is on ' the other side of tho road. It looks best v from a distance. Inside it is-as bare, grave, and business-like as its exterior prepares ■ . you to believe, and even if . you -do not meet any of the policemen to whom it belongs striding about the passages, there is ■in the air a feeling .of, stern authority that could not bo disguised if ari extravagant Government wero to hang the walls with silken curtains antj cover the floor with gorgeous ;carpets; But uo such: wish -is "1 of anyone. This is a place •?'J.r-;the.idoor of correction,. ■ and ..it is.; well that it should look its part. And yet in one corner of this bleak building ;thero is, to be found a bright cosy little Toom, c&i : oasis in tho desert, 'tho nolice matron's room, where she waits ready for duty whenever she is called upon. .■> It is a furious, life that she has been leading fcfr tho last thirteen years, ever 'f nC i° ii ' :th ° first ' w oinan in New Zealand ; /'to. hold . such v , an appointment, was put in .charge .of the women, prisoners ' who, are

;brought_to the. Lambton Quay Police Station. ' It. is her duty to receive each pri•soner as she is brought in, even if it be ■ 'in the dead 'of-.night, and sometimes when she has been called up: for this purpose throe in ono night, Mrs.'Beck must have ,felt that she', could contentedly change ' JP with the' night-wandering doctor. ' • If it is merely a case, as usual of "drunk ■and disorderly," the prisoner is taken to .her cell .to await the. opening of the court If a more, serio,us charge is preferred it :i? a ? be.ne c essary to search her, and Mrs. lif:CK tolls a story of ono woman arrested on a charge_ of shop-lifting who was found, on .examination, to have no fewer than nino .babies, bonnets,', besides-feathers, flowers ' and a smartly-trimmed liat concealed about her .person. The shop-lifter has in her - ,time occupied a good' deal of Mrs. Beck's attention, and the matron is well . acquainted .. with" her little ways. , A long-lined''cloak .is a favourite, garment,; anc] the stolen ar- . tides are simply \ dropped down ' iifside the stuff and tho lining to wait until the pur- . , J °iner arrives at home- and can unpack nerself., , , j . way of the female transgressor is not at first made hard for her.;. - Mrs. Beck . is. ■( -it ß ' ."P 11 " on , that a; .goodj-mariy. cases of pilfering are hushed up through the disinclination of_ the woman ,who ■ has been robbed to go into court. And a woman is ... \ no * SBn t to gaol for a first;conviction. ' • ii. if f, oom t? r ® TO " female prisoners in .the cell ?t ■ the-.police ' station,'- and sometimes -.the cell is full with women too befuddled to ,mako any outcry. If they do create any dis- , a padded cell to'which'one • SJ n 1,0 removed -' In the morning, ( . Mrs. Beck accompanies them into CouH, and aVher recommendation they may be put in the care of the Salvation Army instead rf being sent to gaol. But her experience does not make her very hopeful about the reclamation .of the old offender, and she urges that an Inebriate Home should: be; stw tcd Jr where'.the female' drunkard may be sent ;td reform.; When the prisoner is sent up. to the Terrace Gaol, Mrsl. Beck>ccompariies her in the prison van, in fact, she takes charge of the woman from the moment sho is brought _ into the-station, until she is discharged or handed over to the care of the gaol authorities. ■ • - •

If she. is sent from Wellington to, a prison at a distance, Mrs. Beck accompanies her on • -her. • travels. The children also, who are brought into the station, are put in the matron's'care, and many a small lost .child has parted with regret from the fascinations of the matron's room when its parents have hurried down to .claim it. There are other children who are brought in for some misand they, too, are put in the matron's charge during their stay thero, though, of-course, these children are gener- ' ally accompanied by guardians; ■ . The work of tho matron has grown very ( much during the thirteen years that she has held her position, »nd the figures that prove this are rather startling. During the first years of her appointment she would have to deal with ten cases a month. There were forty through the station, last'month. Mrs. Beck attributes this increase /to tho growth of Wellington, but surely there must be some other cause at work', for the increase is dis-' proportionate. - .