DEFAULTING HUSBANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18518, 1 October 1923, Page 5

DEFAULTING HUSBANDS.

i WELLINGTON BOARD'S VIEW. "I do not see why a man who deserts his wife, and especially his children, should be given special preference in the matter of employment. The man < who deserts his children deserves the *■ very worst the State can do for him. He is a law-breaker of the worst kind, and why he should be specially provided i for I cannot understand." This remark was made by Mr. G. Petherick, chairman of the Social Wei- * faro Committee, at a meeting of the 1 Wellington Hospital Board; regarding a; J request for support of a resolution by • the South Canterbury Hospital Board i "that the Government should provide a ' special institution for the detention and * enforced employment of defaulting bus- ] bands and fathers." ■ . ( The board decided, on the rccccnmen- J dation of the committee, to inform the j South Canterbury Board that while it was entirely sympathetic as to the de- « sired ends, it feared I that the practical J difficulties involved in the suggested { means would be' insuperable. '.'. < The committee , reported. that it had guaranteed the costs; of extradition fnm Australia of the < deserting husband of a wife and five children who were left | wholly dependent upon the board at a cost of from £3 to £3 10s per week. Commenting upon this case, Mr. Peth- , erick said the police had undertaken to , bring the man back to New: Zealand if < the committee would finance the cost, j which would be about £25. '■;■'■■ •