AN ADOPTED BABY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14110, 12 July 1909, Page 8

AN ADOPTED BABY.

MAI ATE' STRICTURES.

Some little time ago a resident of Devonport, named Elizabeth Aldcrton, was prosecuted in the Police Court, before "Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M.,\for neglect of a child adopted by her when it was a few- weeks old. At the hearing the defendant stated that she had adopted an illegitimate child out of pity for its mother, without

receiving any consideration. The charge was held to be proved by the magistrate, and an order was made that the child bo committed to the Industrial School.

On Saturday morning the defendant again appeared before the Court for sentence. The parents of the child were summoned to appear, and the mother (Agnes Racham) appeared in person, while Mr. W. E. Hackett appeared for Wm. Yelverton Fraquinho, who signed the adoption papers as the father of the child. . :~-

When the matter was mentioned on Saturday morning Mr. Hackett proceeded to explain that Fraquinho, though he -had signed the adoption papers, was not the father of tho child at all; lie had simply done so to oblige the mother. Mr. Kettle : If that is so, I will havo something to say to him. Mr. Hackett: Well, he has placed himself in a very invidious position. Mr. Hackett suggested that Mrs. Alderton and her husband should still be responsible for the maintenance of the child, but with this view the magistrate did not- agree. He asked the natural mother if she had anything to say against cancellation of the order of adoption. The Mother : Yes, I am going to object. The child went, into Mrs. Alderton's hands.

Mr. Kettle : I do not think it lies wrth women who give away their children as you did to object. You offered your child for sale. There are hundreds of girls who shirk their responsibilities in this way, paying a premium of a few pounds, and giving their , children away. They give their children away with less feeling than one gives away an animal. I have convicted the woman who adopted the child of neglect, and she now stands for sentence. The order of adoption is cancelled. The Mother : What about the £5 they Si,. Kettle : What £5 The Mother : Mrs. Alderton got £5 for the adoption of the child. _ Mr. Kettle : She swore she did not receive a penny. The mother then stated that she paid Mrs. Alderton £5 before she took the child, and also paid the adoption fees. After Mr. Pullen (who appeared for Sirs. Alderton) had objected to the magistrate accepting an ex-parte statement of this nature, Mrs. Alderton was permitted to go into the box, • and stated that she received £5. not as an adoption premium, but for the board of the mother, who had stayed with her for come time, and -to whom she had given two dresses and a pair of boots. • Mr. Kettle said that he was glad that the probation officer's report was favourable in respect to Mrs. Alderton. Had it not been for her inexperience, and the fact that she had a child requiring attention, he would have felt it. his duty to punish her.. She was like many women who married and did not know how to treat children. She would be adfnitted to probation for 12 months.

: • Mr. Hackett said ho would • like to inform the Court that he had not been concerned in the adoption of the child ; he had just come into the case. His client had been a fool, but he had done what he did to help the woman in a spirit of ultrachivalry.

Mr. Kettle said lie would instruct SubInspector Hendrey to make the fullest inquiry into the case. . In replv to the magistrate, the mother of the child stilted that Fraquinho was the father. *