THE OHIRO HOME.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3448, 1 June 1898, Page 3

THE OHIRO HOME.

MONSTER SUEPBISB PASTIES TO BE PUP AN END TO. “it appears to me that tho Benevolent Home is being turned into a dancing saloon,” said Mr Bradey at a meeting of tbe Trustees yesterday. And iu confirmation of this view he quoted a paragraph from Saturday’s issue of The Times, recording the fact that on the previous evening 150 couples had visited the Ohiro Home as a “ surprise party,” and had danced till midnight! Mr Bradey went on to say that it appeared that nearly every week visits of this kind were made to the institution, ostensibly for the purpose of " cheering the inmates,” but, really, it seemed to him as an excuse for getting up a dance. He asked the Trustees to think what a disorganising effect upon the Home the invasion of 300 people on such a mission would have. He wondered how the building contained them, considering that,there were already 100 inmates there. A visit of this kind extending till midnight must do the old people a great deal more harm than good, aa it kept them out of bed—a positive hardship in oases where the inmates were, as many of them were known to be, in delicate health. Nobody could possibly object to small musical parties going up for a couple of hours to amuse the inmates, but that 300 persons should invade the place in this way was preposterous. The other Trustees warmly supplemented and concurred in Mr Braday’s remarks, and it was decided to ask the master of tho Home for an explanation of the circumstances.

Later on Mr McCleary, master of the Home, appeared before the Board, in connection with another matter, and a number of questions put to him elicited the fact that it had become quite a custom for crowds of merrymakers to \ iaifc the Home. They always asked his permission beforehand. He supposed it was his duty to tell them to leave if their presence was inconvenient, but he had never done so. It was not his wish that these people visited the Home, but it had become a custom. A general discussion followed this explanation; and it was decided that a by-law be passed and placed in a prominent position in the Home setting forth that in future no party of entertainers j shall exceed 50, or be allowed to remain in the Home after 10 p.m.,5 and that the master h ive power at any time to refuse to admit them.