A HARD CASE.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1713, 30 June 1874, Page 2

A HARD CASE.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star )

Sib, —There is a case of great hardship amongst us just now, of.which I feel the public should know something. Mrs. Colclougb, the teacher of Kauaeranga Girl's School, has been for many years in this province, haying landed in Auckland in December, 1857. Her coming here was most disastrous, as she lost her only protector, a brother who came from England with her, on the voyage. Her talents as a teacher stood her in good stead, and things went smoothly till her marriage. This was followed by heavy losses on the part of her husband, whose health suffered, severely from these trials, and Mrs 'Colclough. again took up the burden of breadwinner, and has from that period, as wife and widow, been the sole stay of the: family—working against fearful odds, but keeping herself respectable and respected throughout. Although writing" occasionally for Mr. Varty and the proprietors of the Weekly Argus, Mrs. Colclough was not much known to the literary world till after the death of her husband, when she published a number of articles in tho Southern Cross under the nqm deplume of ". Polly .Plum," a title sportively given her by Southwell of the Examiner some years before. These brought her some of that i fame and notice which she .has since

always received. Meantime she had thought out for he rself a gooddeal concerning the social and political disadvantages under which women labor. Her own experience would bias her mind in this direction, and the reading of Stuart Mill's " Subjection of Women" worked her complete conversion to what is called the women's rights notions. I am nq£ going to. discuss the -truth or falsity of these views here, but of Mrs. Colclough's earnestness and sincerity in the advancement of a cause which she believes to be that of truth and right no one could doubt who once heard her lecture. Her own firm conviction of the truth of what she advances cannot be doubted. But it is as the untiring helper of the lost, the wretched, and the miserable, that Mrs. Colclough is most respected in her "own city," Auckland. Through her instrumentality great and needed changes, were made in the women's department of Mount Eden Stockade, and the door of well-doing opened to any poor wretch, willing to do well, so long as she was able to help them. She found, as most philanthropists do, that, without a long private purse, continuous work in this field of labor was impossible, and she reluctantly abandoned it and accepted employment under the Board of Education in the Waikato; choosing to go a long distance to break effectually the links that would bind her to " prison work " if she remained within reach. • " Teaching and gaol work cannot go on together," she said ; and, for her children's sake, she had to abandon the latter. Up to this time, to use her own words " I have been often in trouble and distress of mind, frequently short of money, and, during my period of prison work, much straightened and almost dependent on the kindness of the friends of the cause for support. But I was always respected and treated with kindness and confidence, and I managed to get along." In an evil hour the unfortunate lady acceded to the repeated requests of the Kauaeranga Committee to come to take charge of ,> the Girls' School of that district, and came to the Thames. Through some of the delays of officialism she was here nearly four months before she received more than £12 10s from the Board of Education ; nor was she completely paid up, even at the time she was thrown into her present difficulties. Meanwhile her need of money was urgent; nearly everything she had brought from Waikato was more or less destroyed ; the expense of bringing them was very heavy; and, as she was not receiving her pay she had to live entirely on credit; and, as she characteristically said in Court, the creditors" put it on." Still, eventually, in the end of February, and not Booner, it was decided that her salary should for the present be a fairly good one, £230 per annum. And now, -secure" of a certain amount, for a time, she set to work to conquer her troubles. Composition or arrangements to pay are almost impossible for teachers, in the present unsettled state of educational matters, and as it was" quite "on the cards" that the Education Act might fall through on the Council meeting in May, anything like a definite arrangement was impossible, and, at all times, would be difficult where the salary is uncertain and paid by average. At length a draper in Siiortland summoned the lady for a debt of £11 some odd shillings. She confessed judgment and wrote to him imploring his mercy; subsequently, a few days afterwards, sending him £5. It will, perhaps, hardly be believed that within a few weeks (not more than three) I am informed, this man threatened the lady with the extreme terrors of the law—even imprisonment— for the balance, and did her what injury he could by speaking unkindly and unfavorably of her to other creditors; thus bringing an avalanche down on the unfortunate lady she was powerless to ,meet, and forcing her to sign a declaration of insolvency. After signing she firmly resisted all idea of compromise. She said, and justly, that the step she had been driven to take had injured her position, and consequently her chance of payment. All that opposition could do was done against her, in Court and out of Court, by her Thames creditors, but without effect. Not a single fact proved could be against her. There was not one jot of evidence to justify the opposition, and Mrs. Colclough received her discharge, the judge making' no order on her salary. And now we come to, perhaps, the most cruel and disgraceful part of the whole proceedings. Her salary for the months of April and May has been sequestered by the Trustee in Bankruptcy without a, judge's order, and the munificent sum of £5 19s allowed Mm. Colclough out of the whole amount for the support of herself and family for two months, something like ten shillings per week for the entire support of a family. If this is not barbarous, I certainly doa't know what is, and it is to be hoped that it is also illegal. I certainly thought that such a thing could not be done, and I am suprised that the Provincial Accountant gave up the money. I understand, nowever, that it has been strongly represented to the judge, the Superintendent and others high in office, and that the money has been redemanded of the Board of Education, as ii was given up without due authority. The last month's sequestration was specially noticeable, as. it became payable four days after Mrs. Colclough had received her discharge, and she had authorised an agent to receive it for her. The whole thing is not very creditable. There is a certain old-fashioned book that enjoins." mercy to widows " under penalty of "_ damnation," and I confess to a prejudice in favor of its teachings, a prejudice that I presume is not shareel by those who have engaged in '\ tho case I have, set before, the public, because I feel it right this thing should be known. I may add that I derive my information

partly from what is\ publicly known concerning- Mrs. Colclough, and partly from Mrs. Colclough herself, and as the case seems one of great hardship, I hope you will insert this, and oblige yours, &c, A Fbiend.