CARE OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14511, 27 October 1910, Page 6

CARE OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED

»' ; - A PROBLEM FOR THE STATE. A problem in connection with the work of such organisations as St. Mary's Homes at Otahuhu was referred to in the annual report on the homes, presented to the Auckland Anglican Synod yesterday by the chairman of the Committee of Management, the Rev. Canon Mac Murray. The report stated : " The future of the feeble-minded girls of the community who drift into our homes, and who provide almost all our cases of failure, is a very serious problem which is greatly exercising the minds of the authorities in England at the present time, and deserves the thoughtful attention of all interested in the well-being of national life in this Dominion. A feeble-minded woman may have six or eight feeble-minded illegitimate children, quite incapable of taking care of themselves, and who, in turn, become the Darents of a. new generation of degenerate and feeble-minded offspring each one a burden on the State. What are we to do with such girls when their six months' probation is over? We know they are unfit to go out into the world unguarded, and yet we cannot keep them permanently in St. Mary's. Surely the State ought to provide a home for such —the net cost for maintenance would not be very great, as such girls could be usefully and profitably employed in laundry work. It is to the neglect of such people through many generations that England is burdened with a vast army of feeble-minded paupers who are incapable of rising out of pauperism—a result which may be prevented in a young country like New Zealand if the problem is dealt with without delay." • .