TE ORANGA HOME

Otago Witness, Issue 3400, 14 May 1919, Page 30

TE ORANGA HOME

RELEASE OF ALL INMATES. For some time past it has been known in the city that the departmental authorities in charge of Te Oranga Home for fallen girls have been quietly discharging the inmates, until recently the home was completely closed. It is understood that the most emphatic protests have been made against this course by persons intimately connected with reformatory work; but the Education -Department has ignored the protests, and in consequence some very interesting developments are expected in the matter. A gentlsiiran connected with reformatory work told a Lyttelton Times reporter .on Wednesday that words were inadequate to condemn the action of the authorities. The young women from Te Qranga were mostly sexual degenerates, but they had been gradually liberated until the institution, which once contained 80 inmates, was now emp'y. Girls had been sent out to service, and many of them had been convicted :'n the courts since their discharge. The policy was absolutely wrong. A police officer expressed the view, that the liberation of Te Oranga girls was one of vhe worst pieces of work perpetrated in Christchurch for many years. He added that none of the girls should be admitted to domestic service, and mistresses would not have them in the house if they knew their records _ • Further inquiries on the subject elicited the allegation that over 40 girls who were under the ago of 21 years had been put out to domestic scrv;ce_ or otherwise liberated from the institution. It was stated that the authorities had power to detain women over the ago of 21 years in certain cases, but this power was not being exercised. It is understood that the matter has been brought to the notice of Hon. J. A. Hanan, Minister of Education, but no action has been taken by him so far to alter the department's policy on the subject. Meanwhile To Oranga is said to be closed as a girls' reformatory*