SHOCKING CONDITIONS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1912, Page 11

SHOCKING CONDITIONS

A PITIFUL CASE. (it TEtESBAAI— SPICIAti TO THE FOIT.) AUCKLAND, This Day. Referring to the death of a child in a camp on the North Auckland railway construction works, a correspondent sends the Star the following statement: "As a juryman at the inquest on the body of an eight-year-old boy who died at one of the camps at Maungaturoto on the Ist inst., I would like to draw attention to the exact state of affairs. A more pitiful case I have never seen. A calico tent full of holes and open to all weathers was where the little one passed away. When the jury went to view the body heavy rain was falling. Consequently the earth floor was wet and rain was dripping through the tent in no small quantity. Saturated flaps of tent were blowing within hnlf an inch of the boy's head, and the sight of the place generally was one that will be in my mind for some time to come. The place on the whole was hardly fit for cattle, let alone human beings, and more especially a sick child. The jury were led by a witness to believe that this camp was a model compared with some, and I know from personal experience that this is truly the case. There is urgent need on the Public Works Department's part to take some stern step and enquire into the state of things. As for the sanitary conditions — well, to say the least, they are really deplorable, and unless something is done immediately I am afraid to state what the consequences might be, more especially as hot weather is coming on."