METHODS SIMPLE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1941, 26 December 1913, Page 7

METHODS SIMPLE.

BABY FARMING INVICTORIA.I| I CORONER'S VERD!CT v ;g||j EASY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH VICTIMS.' '■ By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright Melbourne, December. 24. "V , At the coronial inquiry into the death' ; of Mrs. Newman, and also the deaths of. , the two infants found in a fo'.vlhotise, and a third found buried on tho beach , at C'arruni, a verdict was returned that Mrs. Newman • committed suicide; and j that the infants were murdered by her. ■ 'Clio coroner said it appeared that, [ baby farming iiad been mado easy for this woman, for tho interests of some ' persons in getting rid .of undesirable children made her methods simple, and it was easy by means of advertisements for baby farmers to get in .touch ■■with, their victims. . '; ;-.'■-,'Y./'JV:.*.'■&'■ J It was recently reported by - the. detoc--1 tires in Melbourne that many infants are - murdered in and around Melbourne every - year, and in not one case out of a hiin- ; dred is the culprit discovered. No clue is : ever left. Tho last occasion, when- a woman was arrested, after strangling and . .abandoning her child, was in IS9S. The 1 fact that tho child had been vaccinated 1 enabled tho detectives to trace, the * mother. ''■ Mr. T. Smith, the secretary of tho Staio, F Department for Neglected Children, in- ;i report to the Government, said that the traffic is indicated by the fact that only 20 per cent, of tho illegitimate childre.n born in tho State come under the notice of the Department; also by the, frequency of advertisements in the newspapers asking people to adopt children. ( Ho adds . that -mothers and uur.-ts have on many occasions admitted having mads arrauget ments for the. adoption of babies. In.tho opinion of Mr. Smith, it should he made 5 unlawful for a newspaper to publish any advertisement relating to the adoption'or disposal of a child without tho written' permission of the secretary of the Department for Neglected Children.''"- ■■'■- A detective who investigated the mair ter, said, in his report:—"l am ,-v.tisfied that private maternity homes offer pecu- - liar facilities for children to be seireflv ,• disposed of. and that not necessarily with tho knowledge or connivance of the nurws [ who conduct tho homes.'-'Women conic from (he country, and reside'at ■•-■ ■>ti>r- ' nity homes under fals? names, and a few : days after the birth of their_ children they leave the homes with their babies, ' What in such a case become,--- of the . mother and baby ro one knows, a.'ul it 1 is- not surprising that many babies aie : found murdered. 'When 1 s?kod a nurse recently to toll me what had become, of a certain woman, she replied: "God only. knows, 'When she cftnie she said that she had ira permanent honi". When she left I pave her n few shillings, and, so fnr ,t> T know, she went into tho street homeless." ~.( . .