FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 64, 16 March 1911, Page 2

FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

A SOCIETY THAT DOES GOOD WORK. % v . [VBOH Otfß CORRESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH, March 15. An organisation that is ' doing a large amount of good work in the; city—and doing;it without the glare' of publicity—la, the Society for tbj& Protection of Women and' Children. The president of the Society, JMrsf A. C., Sandstein, in giving'- a sketch of the year's work, states that ninety' cases have been dealt with. Foi'ty of those were associated with neglect-;, >ed or ill-treated children. It is the children that ■ ■ claim most of 'the ' Society's attention. Some very bad child rases, hardly creditable in a New Zealand city, had been attended to by the ladies of the Society. Arrangements were made for several children to be adopted, and in each instance a comfortable home was found. Love, not is. the consideration that- weighs with the Society in this respect. No premium is involved,/;and if no, person can be found to adobt a,child or. love, then>>it is riot'a^op.ted,at,alii y) ; jOne J9ftthe^Socfety'&--diffi<yalties',is in regard* to the age at wliich children become their own masters. . At present it is 16. It is felt that the age should be raised to 18, and later on perhaps to 21. At sixteen a girl «an Jeaye her home if she earns her own Jiving or has guardians to go to. Mrs Sandstein and other officers of the Society say that that is the very age when a girl should be at home under strict and tactful control. It is the age of egotism- and waywardness, when good advice and just and •wise treatment are most needed. *It is agreed that the age of consent also should be 18, if, the Legislature^ Tvill not'make it 21.- ' The Society sees a great deal of ' the troubles that embitter the days of husbands and wives. It sometimes happens that these quarrels' are owing to the women's faults, and the women err because of ignorance and lack of training. There ar» many mairied women who,need tp be trained both as wives and as mothers, and who, if they had had sound training in that direction, might have saved their families and themselves from disaster. Last year the Society - had to deal with about thirty-five 'cases in which it was' nee-' essary to protect wives or daughters from cruelty. If possible it_ settles these cases quietly and privately. It seeks the intervention of. the Court only as a last' resource. Occasionally both husband ' and wife bring their grievances to the Society. Reconciliation is made by mutual agreement, and the Society finds that the case has disappeared from ita "list. -There are very _ few _ cases _of unhapplness in families in which only the husband and the wife are involved. An unhappy mother makes unhappy children, and they have to bear domestic hardships with her. '

Some of the cases are very extraordinary, and show that cruelty imposed on wives and children is sometimes the result of insanity. The chief cause, however, is drink. Many of the Society's cases may be attributed to it directly, and most, Mrs Sandstein /believes 4, are indirectly associated with the evil. ~...