POLICE COURTS PAEROA.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 26, 11 June 1892, Page 5

POLICE COURTS PAEROA.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE Bth, 1892.

(Before H.'W.:Siorthcroft, Esq., R.M.) Charles Clewes and George Burgess were charged with that they, being indentured apprentices of 0. F. Mitchell absented themselves from, their employment on the 22nd May,last. Prisoners" pleaded guilty to. absconding, but justified their action on the grounds of ill-treatment. Charles Featherstone Mitchell, journalist, sworn, declared:' The allegations of thef boys as to their ill-treatment was a wilful and deliberate lie, inspired by some evil-disposed person. My reply to the allegation of unwholesome food being supplied is that they got the same kind of food as was cooked and .supplied, to myself.: As.to the couat pi having to go to the bu?h and make ditches, etc., instead of having holidays, that is simply in accordance with the.indentures which I held in my hand. The hours of the boys are short and reasonable. On Mondays (which is our day of publication) the boys work from 7 a.m. till 6, 7, or 8 p.m. as required. On Tuesdays, they are employed in the office till 12.30 p.m., when they have their dinner,.and afterwards go to the farm and cut firewood or make ditches until 5 p.m. Wednesdays, in the office from 8 a.nu till 4 p.m. Thursdays, same as Mondays! Fridays, same as Tuesdays. Saturdays, same as :Tuesdays and Fridays.'On Sundays they had their Sunday clothes 1 and went to church, —the only work done on that day was milking cows, when that wa9 done they were excused from all other work. As to having no holiday on St. Patrick^ Day, it was quite within my rights as a newspaper proprietor in refusing a holiday, and as to giving them only 4d each as pocket moneys I used to deal liberally with them until they proved themselves untrustworthy. On the 22nd May, these two boys, being my indentured apprentices,, absconded from my service without my knowledge or consent, and took with them two suits of clothes and two blankets and a rug, my property. Uross-examed ,by C. Clewes : I do not know that the meat supplied you was bad. Youv had to work in the bush. You are not entitled to any holiday. You had to walk or ride I^miles and milk two or three cows, a> d directly you returned you hid to commence work in the office. You had to bring back all the milk you did not steal, sell, or make away with to Boden.

Charles Edwin Olewes, sworn, deposed : I never had a new shirt or an undershirt since I have been with Mr Mitchell; only his worn-out clothing. They would be torn almost as soon as I put them on, and Mrs Mitchell would pitch into me for wearing out my clothes so soon. The food supplied to us was inferior in quality and insufficient in quantity. For breakfast |we generally had some cold [potatoes warmed up, and a piece of dry bread with a cup of tea. For dinner we had. meat and potatoes, and sometimes pumpkin. The meat was nearly always of Buch a nature that we had to throw it out to the dog. For tea we had sometimes bread and dripping, occasionally bread and butter, and sometimes we would have porridge and'one cup "of tea. ' We had always to go to -work in the bush after we finished in the office. The only holidays we ever had were Gbod Friday, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and half of St. Patrick's Day. We ran away because of our ill-treatment. We had to do our own washing and mend* ing. I had two paira of socks given me about 18. months ago; they wore about six . months, and I had to go without socks of any kind for. nearly a year. When I - asked Mrs Mitchell for socks she said, " Why do you wear them out so soon ?" I have only had two suits since I was apprenticed two years ago last January. I have had | two pairs of boots during the same period. In addition I have had three pairs of moleskin trousers and two 1 pairs of Mr Mitchell's cast-off trousers. By Mr. Mitchell: When the meat is

good you take it yourself, but when it goes bad it is handed out to us. I sometimes had porridge for breakfast. I have had treacle to my porridge, but then I had to dispense with milk. I have had insufficient food on many occasions. The meat given us is fre- - quently fly-blown, and then we have to go without, I had jam on one- or two occasions when you had visitors. George Burgess, sworn,"deposed : Mr Mitchell only bought one pair of moleskin trousers for me since I have been with him. He gave George Neal some of his own cast-off clothes, and I got Neal's, and I had to patch them the best way I could with my own old ones. All that Olewes has said aboufc the insufficiency and quality of the food is quite correct. "When Mrs Mitchell killed a hen I would only get the ' 1 foot and a spoonf ull of gravy, or sometimes she would give me.the head. I never had enough to, eat. In addition , to my work in the office I had all, the ;,_ work to do about, the house, such' as , cleaning boots and pots, splitting wood, • carrying water from the river,, and; , anything else -I was told. I had three shirts, but they were so thin I could see through them. I then got an old . flannel of Olewes', which I wore for , , about a month, until an abscess broke out in my neck. I then got another. shirt. I was kept at work all the time the abscess was on my neck. All the washing and mending I had to do ', myself. I had two pairs of cotton" socks when I came to Paeroa, but I lost one when I was washing them in the-, creek. I then had only three socks, and when they wore out 1 ifad to tie a rag round my toes until March ! last, when I had the abscess. My' boots were too small, and ray foot was through the side. On one occasion . my mother sent me a letter with a money order in it. Mr Mitchell detained this, and I never got it. All letters for me were opened before I received them. We have made up our, 1 minds to clear again and again until we get back to the school; we were fairly well treated there. George Neal (the third apprentice in the service of complainant) was called as a witness for the boys. He corroborated the evidence of .both • Glewes and Burgess as to fche inferior quality of some of the food, insufficiency of clothing (more particularly as regarded socks), and the extreme length of the hours' they, were called' I on to work.

In reply to a question from Burgess, witness stated that' he had no desire to be returned to the Industrial School.

Aftei a patient hearing, extending, over 5^- hours, His Worship remanded for eight days. The boys meanwhile to be detained in custody in Shortland Gaol, and to be brought up at the Thames..