THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 291, 29 March 1877, Page 2

THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1877.

A TEt,F,r;RA\t from ottr Bttncdin corrrspondetvt, published by us yesterday, in reference to. th<? turning adrift of two tittle hornless children, because there was Rot room in the Industuid School to receive them, discloses anything but a satisfactory state of affairs. The proceedings recorded t>v our correspondent wore of 3'» inhuman i a nature that we have turned to our Dunedin hies for the pttrpos- of seeing how far our correspondent'.* statements are ■ home out by facts. The result of our tusimply *h"W.* that all our correspondent telegraphed WW true. The t;„.,wli«it. of Tuesday contains the following in reference to the appearance of the poor, homeless children before the Dunklin Police Court :-" Two tittle branches of humanity. whose combined ages did not exceed I- years, were taken for refuge to Che Potiee Court yesterday, ami charged under the Neglected ami Criminal Children's Act with being at large without ! protection. No mention was made about I their parents or guardians <if thcy had any), and the police merely stated that they were wandering about I the streets* at night, and had ijoj where to. go. Mr. Watt said he had received a tetter from the master of the Industrial S-hool to theetlfjct that the institution «:u full, and had at-<o put hhn- ■ self in communication with the Oovenihwpl regarding the state of matters. Nothing could be done f<>r the children, and they were sent into the streets to hattte with fate." We have little hesitation in saying that the conduct of the Hetu-h, in thtts turning adrift two little helpless, homeless, and supperless children, t.: without parallel in cruelty. It is a lasting disgrace and reproach to the cominanity of Dunediu—a community whicln not without some grounds for so doing, boasts of the excellence of its charitable institutions. The fact that the Industrial School was too full to receive the little toddlers can scarcely be urged in palliation of the inhuman conduct of the Bench. No excuse KvouUl be snthdent for turning a coup!-j of tiny children out into the street', f > oeg or steal sufficient food to keep them Ltve.withtheatternative of starvation and death in some obscure hole or gutter. Onr contemporary, the (.iwwlUm, truly sa ,y ß : „'>S.jffte provision should have been made for them, even though'it were : a vacant cell in the watch-house, a stall in j the polio* stable, nay, a box in the corner j of the barrack yard, with bread and water j for diet r if nothing better could be procured without instructions from Welling- j ton. To turn two babi:s adrift in the j manner that the children in question have been is an iniquity that no wonte are

powerful enough to condemn." The whole thing is a monstrous outrage upon civilisation and Christianity. The needy and helpless have, at all times, a claim upon their more prosperous fellow-creatures, and one of the first dictates of the human heart should be to offer succour to the suffering. But how much more so should it he the case in regard to little outcast children I The man who would willingly turn such as these forth into the streets, must have a heart of stone. We do not wish to say that Mr. Watt is a hard-hearted and cruel man—nay, he may be a generous man for aught wc know ; hut wc clo say that in his Magisterial capacity he has been guilty of most inhuman conduct. It was his duty to have devised some means, if only temporary, for having care taken of the children. We arc pleased to see that one at least of our contemporaries has proved itself willing to do batMc for the cause of humanity. The Gmtnlhra, in the article from which iwc have already quoted, says :—" If the | Industrial Home is full, let other build- ' im;s be utilised—anything, even a cowshed ; but let it not be said that we turn I our outcast children abroad, just as we ; would a mangy dog. At this present ! moment we believe these two poor helpless children are roaming the streets in ' search of shelter and food, and that the ! only instructions the police have are to | report occasionally to the Inspector as to | their whereabouts, and to lift them out of I a gutter if they fall into.one." We should 1 like to have writfen more upon the snbI jeet : but we feel that no language we \ c >uld use would be powerful enough to ; express our feeling upon such a " barbarous outrage upon decency, morals, and i Christianity."