STOKE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL INQUIRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11809, 11 August 1900, Page 8

STOKE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL INQUIRY

(Per United Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, August 10,

Nelson papers state that Doan Mahoney nas intimated to Brother Loetus, head master and director of the Stoke Industrial School, that it would be better that he should cease hia connection with- the school, and Brother Loetus, who is at present in Wellington, is unlikely to return to Nelson. This was m furtherance of the request by Brother Loetus himself that he should be relieved of his

NELSON, August 10.

The Stoke Industrial Commission resumed on tho basis of the extension of the inquiry to five years. . George Stanbridg%, aged 18 years, an exinmate, stated that he wns at school about three years. He was kept a week in one cell, never being let out, and was flogged on the bare back with a supplejack. He heard other boys thrashed on the bare skin. He had seen Speed in chains. .

■Mr Fell said that was six.years ago. •Mr Harley said Brother Loetus stated that it was four years ago. . Mr Hogben said if the^boys were in chains long enough it might come within the period. Mi- Wardell said there should be no suggestions of that kind.- , Mr Bush said they should discover how long the boys were in chains.

Witness said the boys were in chains a month. ' ■

The Commission decided that the matter was beyond the five years' limit. Witness continued: He saw the boy Lane kicked by Brother Wibertus, when his head was cut open. Dr Duff dressed the wound. The food was bad. He had been up hill four times in a day. If they failed they had no tea. A boy named Ryan was bacuy treated. There were no fires in the class rooms during his time.

Thomas Walsh'said he left .the school in 1898. Brother Wibertus .did the flogging. The boys had to lean over a bench With their clothes off and hold up their shirts. He had seen boys who could not sit for a fortnight, and who had to hold out their clothes so that they should not stick in the sores. He had seen Lane kicked. The hillwork was- very hard. Ho had been up five times. All liad to go sometimes. Those unable to manage loads had to go without tea. Sometimes the food was worse than described. Sometimes they had enough to eat. Sometimes the'meat was bad. He once had mjist'ard and water, which, made the blood come from his nose and mouth. ■ He had seen boys in a cell, one for six weeks. A majority of the boys did not like the hill work. It was not true they went laughing and shouting.

Hugh Gallagher said he left the school in 1898. He said Speed was in the cellar and in chains (but it appeared this was more than five years ago). Brother Loetus knew of the flogging. ' . Alexander Anderson left the school in 1895, but worked there a year longer. The food was poor. . He saw Ryan illtreated. James O'Connoll stated that he was thrashed by Brother Wibertus on the bare flesh with 10 strokes of a supplejack. When he went to bed the sheots would.stick to the wounds. The food was very bad. Joseph Greer said lie was thrashed, arid bore the marks still. He got 20 or'3o strokes. He could not sit comfortably for two or three months. He never complained to the Dean.

John Roes also gave evidence. •Dean Mahoney explained how £500 had been paid off the debt. The sum of £300 was saved out of the profits, and £200 was from a- bequest. Mr Harley said the evidence by the Charitable Aid Board was closed. He had called the additional evidence only on the understanding that the commission decided to return.

Frank M'Cormick then said lie wished to lodge a complaint re the food'supplied. He said'he left the school four years and a-half ago. He was treated more like a pig than a human being. He ran away, and on his return took a letter from Dean Mahoney. promising forgiveness, but he received 24 strokes oni the bare skin, and was unable to sit for four months. He could not get enough to eat. He had had to carry six loads of posts in a day. He had seen a dead cow fetched out of a gully and given to the boys to cat. It was no use complaining. Thomas Lane, an ex-inmate, deposed that his brother was kicked, and his head was cut. This brother told him the Brothers took him to Dr Duff, saying the cut was the result of a fall.

Mr Fell said the cut was sustained in 1594,

Witness said Brother Kilian struck him on the head and face with a bunch of keys. The bread was sometimes mouldy, and had stinking grease on it. His mother told him she bad left clothes and money with the Brothers, but lie never got them. He had seen boys flogged and marked all over. He had had to go un the hill six and seven times a day. Joseph Greer stated that he saw the carcase of the cow previously mentioned cut up.' He believed Docherfcy was doing the slaughtering at that time. Mr Fell paid Docherty left in 1894. William Ross made a statement not wholly audible, but apparently the substance' was that the boys had spoken among themselves of certain criminal acts.'

The commissioners explained that something specific was required to be alleged. It was not sufficient to fay certain things were spoken of. • After a conversation with Mr Fell, the commissioners asked Mr Fell to have a boy named Lynch, now in the school, produced in the morning. They then adjourned.