PROTECTING CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 14

PROTECTING CHILDREN.

GOOD WORK OF SOCIETY. TOMORROWS PUBLIC APPEAL. To obtain funds to carry on its important social activities the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children will hold a street collection tomorrow. The society is doing a splendid work unobtrusively. When a breach occurs between husband and wife every effort is made to reconcile the couple and the husband is always invited to state his side of the, trouble. Efforts toward reconciliation are often successful; in cases where it is not advisable legal help is given to obtain separation with maintenance.

There are wives who need protecting from themselves, and many expressions of gratitude have been received from husbands who owe the happiness of their home life to the unfailing patience and tact of the society's officers. Sons who neglect to support aged mothers, wives and children who have been forsaken and left destitute, cases where children are neglected and crueilv treated, punished severely or beaten, and cases in which young motherless children arc cruelly treated by drunken fathers—instances like these are dealt with daily. Quietly and unobtrusively the work goes on, all cases receiving ready sympathy, tactful help and sound advice. Last year the society's officers dealt with 529 cases. This indicates tho value of their work to the community.

The society is maintained by voluntary subscriptions. Unfortunately tho financial support received during tho past year has not corresponded with tho considerable increase in work, and therefore the need of an appeal is urgent. The committee is confident that the public will assist generously to-morrow to make this collection the society's most successful effort ■