DESTITUTE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8880, 17 May 1892, Page 5

DESTITUTE CHILDREN.

the; boarding-out system. SHOCKING REVELATIONS. STRONG REPORT FROM DR. MACGREGOR. While Dr. Macgregor was in Auckland, he visited the homes of the children who, having fallen under the care of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Boird because they were destitute, have been boarded out under the charge of people who receive On or 7s per week to take care of them. The result of his visit to one of these homes is stated in the following letter, which was lead to the Board yesterday : —

Auckland, 11th May, 1892. Sir,—l regret to inform you that, in the course of my visitation of the children boarded out by your Board, I found such a state of things in one of the houses I called at to-day, that I dare not hesitate to state officially what I have already told you privately. Mr. Stratheni, your visiting officer, accompanied me. At Mr. Stiekiey's house. Mount Eden, eight children are boarded. Four of these children are paid for by their mothers or friends. The other four arc paid for by the Auckland Charitable Aid Board. The surroundings and interior of this house are squalid and dirty in the extreme The wife, Mrs. Stickley, tried to excuse the confusion by saying that they were cleaning up, and were caught at their worst; but it was evident that the normal condition of the place was filthy beyond measure. It was only by persisting in seeing everything for myself that I found my way into a side-room, where two girls—Mabel and Alice Edgecuinbe, agod respectively ten and seven years— The bed occupied by these children was unspeakably filthy. The bedding was very scanty, and so dirty as to be unlit for a dog kennel. The mattresses were wet and rotting, and clearly had not been attended to in any way for a very long time. I called Mr. Strathern's attention to these facts, and asked why he had never reported these things. Hesnid he had never seen this room, and did not know of its existence, and he agreed that never in all his life had lie seen anything so bad; and indeed, I can understand how & man by himself would hesitate before making such an examination as I found it necessary to make. After completing my investigation at Mr. Stiekley's house, I resolved to see the two children, who were at school. I called out the two girls, whom I found fairlv clean in their dress at first sigiit; hilt on a closer ex.. .dilation 1 found them very insufficiently clad for this cold weather, and tile boots worn by the elder one were completely useless. The soles were entirely gone, and the child would have been better barefooted. The most distressing thing of all, however, waif to hear these children, in reply to my questions about their bed, say, " We have a nice, clean, warm bed." When I told them that 1 had just seen their bed. and tried to find out why they told me what was not true, they looked at me and were evidently too terrified to say a word more. All I could discover was that sometimes they were beaten by a big boy named Cecil, with a stick. The girls have a pinched look, and are very thin. 1 believe they are not sufficiently fed.

The Chairman (Mr. Atkin) said that when Dr. Macgregor had told him of the condition of this house, he asked Mr. Strathern, the inspecting officer of the Board, what he had to say. Mr. Strathern replied that Dr. had found a room that he had never seen. As to the condition of the house, Mr. Strathern used a phrase that was very brief but very telling ; he said that it was " simply damnable." He (Mr. Atkin) at once took the children away to a place near Kooky Nook, a house which was extremely clean and well-kept, and in which the children were well looked after. He was strongly in favour of the boarding-out system, and believed that the children should be sent into the country when the tune came to give them employment; but he was heartily glad that the children mentioned in Dr. Macgregor's letter had been removed from a homo where it was wrong to keep them. Mr. Garratt moved, " That a committee comprising the chairman and Messrs. Mays and Kidd, be appointed to report 011 the complaint of Dr. Macgregor, and on all matters relating to the boarding out of children."

Mr. Mays seconded the motion. lie opposed the boarding-out of children in the towns, and said that they should all be sent to homes in the country. Mr. Gordon thought that the Board had been very negligent in their duties when it fell to a gentleman living in Wellington to find out this case of neglect. He spoke strongly of the conduct of the officer of the Board who had allowed the matter to go undiscovered. Mr. Is.idi> pointed out that of 34 children boarded out at different home;, all were well treated except those at this house. The motion was agreed to.