SOCIAL HORRORS IN CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6053, 12 April 1881, Page 5

SOCIAL HORRORS IN CHRISTCHURCH.

[BT TELEGRAPH.— OW.V CORRESPONDENT.] Christchuilcii, Monday. Attention has been forcibly drawn of late to the alarming increase of the social , evil in Cliristchurch. The place literally swarms with women of the lowest class, and the' police "have taken the matter seriously in hand. Last week four girls, all of tender age, were sent to gaol for three months. One of them had £103 in her possession, and was about to buy the house in which she was living. To-day revelations were made at Court which are a perfect eye-opener, and make one wonder whether we are living in a Chrisvian community. Three more young girls, their ages ranging from 14£ to 15 years, were brought up under the provisions of the Vagrant Act, and the mother of two was included in the charge.

In a fonr-roomed house in George-street, there were living a mau and his wife, two grown-up daughters, two younger children, and a girl of 16, whose parents were addicted to drink; and according to the evidence given by the police, they have been living on the proceeds of the prostitution: of their daughters. There was scarcely any furniture in the house, the interior of which had the general appearance, of squalor.' The younger children slept upon, what appeared to be a bundle of filthy rags,. and the stench was sickening. Nevertheless this. place was much frequented, and a witness stated that during Sunday some 20 larrikins went there, the ages of these visitors ranging from 12 to 20 years. On Saturday night, and early on Sunday morning, there wereseveralfreefights, and these disturbances led to the arrest of the occupants. ■ The father, it appeared; left Christehurch a week ago. . The mother; her two daughters, and the other girl were each sentenced to ■ three months' imprison: ment. The younger children, aged 10 and 6 years, were sent to the Industrial School, at Burnham, until they attain the age of 15 years. The Bench, after hearing the sickening story, characterised it as a perfectly horrible life. This woman was leading her children in a life of prostitution, and their career, judging from the past, would be one of perpetual imprisonment, with death in a ditch, perhaps. Nothing more strikingly illustrated the deep-seated nature of the depravity than the fact that the Bench had to severely censure one of the girls for the levity displayed by her in Court.