EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF NEGLECT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5599, 4 February 1879, Page 5

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF NEGLECT.

A case of neglect, such as, happily, is not of frequent occurrence, was reported to the police on Sunday, on behalf of people who had become acquainted with the circumstances. It appears that a man named M'Grath, who u a well-to-do contractor, and has several horses and cojvs, but only half an acre of land, situated at Bingsland, has systematically employed his daughter, aged about 14, to herd some dozen bead of cattle on the Native Reserve, near the Heathoote Estuary. Thp girl lived in a tent on the re-

serve up to last Thursday, when her miserable shelter was blown away by the strong wind. Food was taken to her at intervals by other members of the family. After the tent had blown away, the girl had to sleep under a flax bush, and on Saturday night she sought shelter at the house of Mr Jerenfiah Appleyard, Dyer’s road. She also asked for food, with which she was at once supplied. Last evening Sergeant Hughes proceeded to the place which had been indicated, taking a lad of Mr Eadcliffe’s with him as a guide, and the girl was found under a flax bush, with no roof save such as oonld be formed by bending down the flax. She was lying upon a sack with same stuffing in it, and had a torn shred of the original tent, together with an old blanket, for bed clothes. Her shoes, wMoh appeared to have been made for a man, were almost soleless, and were tied up with flax. She was in a dirty and much neglected condition. The Sergeant brought her in to the depflt, where she was supplied with a good warm meal, evidently to her great enjoyment, and she was then sent for the night to the Armagh street barracks. She states that she is only 13 years of age. She it to be brought up at the Besident Magistrate’s Court this morning os a neglected child. The police are greatly indebted to the gentleman who so humanely brought the case under their notice, as, from the isolated position in which the cattle were being herded, they had no other chance of becoming acquainted with the 'details.