“WELFARE” FARM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20221, 3 February 1934, Page 33 (Supplement)

“WELFARE” FARM.

Inquiry Into Control of Reformatory. “ MOB SAVAGERY " ALLEGED. (Special to the “ Star.’*) SYDNEY, January 23. Some time ago attention was drawn to the demand for an inquiry into the management of the Riverina Welfare Farm at Yanco—a reformatory to which boys are sent to be brought up as decent citizens. The charges were so serious that Major Parsonage, who was in control of the institution, has been suspended, and the Minister in charge has ordered Mr M’Culloch, one of our ablest Magistrates, to conduct a public inquiry into the matters alleged. The inquiry vas opened on Monday, and so far the evidence has been sensational enough to justify amply the Minister’s decision. Parsonage, as superintendent of the Welfare Farm, was charged, according to the order of reference, with “ misconduct and disgraceful and improper conduct in authorising, suffering or permitting excessive and unreasonable punishments ” upon the inmates of the home; and many witnesses have testified to the truth of these charges. Stories of the most circumstantial kind have been told, which have aroused public indignation—of cruel floggings, of “ bashings ” inflicted by members of the staff, or at their bidding by numbers of the boys, ordered to attack and punish with their fists some hapless youth who has been “ court-martialled ” for some offence. Accounts of these “ bashings ” are extremely gruesome, describing fights in which one boy is battered by half a dozen others ordered by the master to attack him, the victim, when knocked unconscious or incapable of movement by many successive assailants, being revived with cold water, so as to be “ beaten up ” again. Tales of Barbarity.

If these tales are only half true they represent a condition of things only to be paralleled among the “ pushes ” of the underworld, and a method of training which, instead of turning out decent citizens, would certainly develop a race of brutal ruffians. Apart from these things, there are tales of absurd an dbarbarous punishments—of bending down and jumping into the air on a pile of stones for hours at a time, and of running round a large field scores of times till the victim is absolutely exhausted. Some boys who described the field as “ not quite so large as the Sydney Cricket Ground,” declared that they had been compelled to run round it on various occasions sixty, eighty and even 150 times. One of these boys had got into serious trouble because he had objected to mowing thistles with bare feet, and had been “ bashed ” accordingly. A Doctor’s Anecdote.

It might seem • quite incredible that such a system could be maintained by presumably rational people such as the officials in control of the home. And, of course, the defendants have not yet been heard in rebuttal of these charges. But a very unfortunate impression was created at the inquiry by Dr Jolley, Government health officer, who paid many official \ l3its to the home. In attempting to justify the punishment inflicted on one of the boys, he explained that when on service he had seen young soldiers treated much more severely. He instanced the case of a lad who had struck a sergeant, and, though he was not court-martialled, he was hung up by a block and tackle and all the men were invited to kick him as they passed by. The doctor further explained that the unfortunate youth was almost kicked to death, and had to be taken down to save his life; and he went on to say that he did not think that such punishments were fit for the boys at Yanco. But the bare fact that the doctor told this anecdote more or less with the object of exculpating Major Parsonage suggests that neither the president nor the medical officer at the Riverina Home takes a strictly humanitarian view of his duties. Suspicions Intensified.

It would be a grave mistake to assume that all these charges and stories represent “ the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” But the suspicions created by the first rumours of illtreatment and brutality have certainly been intensified by the inquiry, and, in justice to Major Parsonage and his subordinates, it is impossible to stop here. The Magistrate, after some hesitation, has now appealed to the Government to extend the scope of the inquiry, and no doubt this course will be adopted. “ Truth ** has not exaggerated in declaring that “ the alleged practice of handing over young offenders to mob savagery ” suggests brutalities “ unequalled since the old convict days,” and public opinion here will not be satisfied with anything less than an exhaustive judicial investigation on Royal Commission lines.