CARE OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 41

CARE OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED.

A SOCIAL PROBLEM. AUCKLAND, October 26. The problem in connection with the work of such organisations as St. Mary's Home at Otahuhu was referred to in the annual report on the homes presented to the Auckland Anglican Synod this afternoon by the chairman of the Committee of Management, the Rev. Canon MacMurray. The report stated : " The future of the feeble-minded girls of the community who drift into our homes, and who provide almost nil our cases of failure, is a very serious problem, which is greatly exercising the minds of the authorities in England at the present time, and deserves the thoughtful attention of all interested in the well-being of national life in this Dominion. A feeble-minded woman may have six or eight feebleminded illegitimate children, nuite incapable of taking care of themselves, and who in turn become the parents of a new generation of degenerate and feebleminded offspring, each one a burden on the State. What are we to do with such girls when their six months' probation is over ? We know they, are unfit to go out into the world unguarded, and yet we cannot keen them permanently 'n St. Mary's. Surely the State ought to provide a home for such cases. The net coet for maintenance would not be very great, as such girls could be usefully and profitably employed in 'aundry work. It is to the neglect of such people through many generations that England is burdened with a vast army of feeble-minded paupers, who are incapable of rising out of pauperism, a result which may be prevented in a young countrv like New Zealand >J. the problem is dealt with without delav."