THE JUBILEE HOME.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9945, 22 January 1900, Page 2

THE JUBILEE HOME.

T5 THE EDITOB. Sir,— The fact that you have so cour-" ageously and persistently advocated the cause ot the unfortunates at the Jubilee , ; Home encourages me to request "spate i?~' note and comment on the astounding ' Belf-confidcuco witlj w^ich.Cr Gatenby, , a^tpr "two" visits to the Home, assertsthat everything, there is as it should be'; { and that statements to' tho contraryare "absolutely -without foundation !" "'Why, sir, it took Mrs Stewart - (whom. Mr Gatenby will remember commending so, highly on her second election) nearly a year to find out that things wore' not , what they seemed to her, at first. 111-"" health has prevented mo -from -visiting, tho Home for some time, imt.^rbeg^to assure Cr Gatenby that my statements" at a public meeting and" w the Preß&'_ wero the result not of "two" visits bnfc of <■ "two years'" visi ting, 'during 1 which, r, used a woman's eyes, and received with! due allowance all statement* made ,by inmates. If everything at the" Home ur as it' should be now, the conditions JfrjKr vailing thoroi are very different 'from? what they were twq years ago when^in.-' the R.M. Court, I obtained judg_meiiff* against the wardsmSn 'fop assaultingj-ar • dying man. Has Cr Gatenby the temerity \ to' publicly defend the'retention in officai of a man so convicted? ' But I have very? good reason 1 , to believe that ._the. ; old "■ tyranny is still exercised. Who could ex- J pect otherwise, seeing that every time * ill-treatment lias been exposed theCharitable Aid Board has publicly commended .the perpetrators? This is not. tho jjlace to go into details. jbut-Ll— promise Mr Gatenby. that if >my health.' will only allow be shall have enough to prove, even to him, present staff at the Home does not consist pi the. "right people in the right placed', Ai j for Cr Liffiton, I took — with surpjridd'< and sorrow—the measure both of\hia~_ heart and judgment some; two years |gof • when, being obliged to wait in 'afe dd^ joining room, I plainly heard hiflnte;^ view with a public official.- He sdysTheJ is not hard-liearteur"Thi8 s wa.T bsl-true/T for the couvjetion I came to ou tEab-apEr'.!j casion was that he was hearWess\ Wbije.* ■- a man who could so commit; t nimselt'i proved by the act hia utter incapacity* for calm or correct judgment,. . Siry't^he/" Ethiopian may have changed fiis-'sMrfi and the leopard her ap'otap difringitKe]; past two years, but Mrs Stewart^lujMjri eulogised by both" Cra" Gatenby mi fhim-[f him-[ ton as c\ woman of sound judgiinen<ran<t; capacity), would, I think, speak ijo'the? contrary; indeed, v her farewell repo\r,ftOL-S tho Charitable Aid Board, " after l '4tw6^ years-s ervice, and continuous visijin'gi^ all hours, gives- the lie to"blatant asftsiS; tions that "everything is as 'it' shWldV be." L'etTne-herß-say that.l always found tho Homo a model of cliatfliness-jtisiolf, one iota of the cleaning, however,-. ■feaS' done by the staff (three).- The. old -men did all the work; and, till I got then? slippers, the old (fellows, sick, and -riellA had, in the depth of winter, t<? takeoff' their boots at the back dp_or and traverse? those long cold corridors and staircase lbarefoot, for fear of soiling the- spotless, purity which must be- maintained 'for the?' edification and delight ol idsitors -Jike" ,Mr Gatenby. The food materfale^BUP?' plied We, I, believe, of the best'Wualt%> of their kind; but let me ask Mr Cfaten;by how he would like,, if he -were.o'ld^ fqeble, and toothless, ,to be served^Tvith' a hunk of hard beef/.or.a slice- of Juftdi' or worse-s till, new bredd?" Does'reason suggest that -the ioothlesl'shoujd? be supplied with .food, they .can^digestiand is there any sense in letting aged M-^ fortunates starve in the midst of pleairy?,} My. etperience of the present matron and her father, the wardsman (I jdp \-jjjplf; speak of the assistant — her niece), is lh"at' they are by nature and „ ,teinperameirj;> utterly unfit for.t he right disoharg'e" r orv the responsible and difficult duties' bS} their .position. The men, however,- who can work and do so with-alacritjrgetjm' .fairly well, and have not much.", to ioii-x plain of, thanks to certain reforms forced by Mrs Williamson , and, ' myself .'i-Bu£ with the sick and bedridden -ihe matter is very different, and I here "once; moid" urge upon the Board my suggestionj-^ two years ago, made again by Mrs Stew^ art recently, that a sick ward ,be; prof Vided with a proper attendant, wliereinr the last days of these wrecks of men may.' be passed in peace and something like comfort. Sir, wo have been'tdld^ a 4' nauseuin, that the men up there are of aV 1 bad type and not worth troubling about.i But I find men of bad type everywhere-^-sonie of them, alaa! in res'ponnbro'pbsitions. Their character, "hbweTpK'woij]^ be no justification of theii ill.pr rough? treatment when sick. You do notkioßadying dog, however 'vicious a brute 'lei may have been. If, then, a home' "is" offered to incurable and broken-down, men, they should be treated a little better than dogs. Sir, there are men in' this district who have left the institution, finding it intolerable; there are some,, decent men, who-^say they would rather go to gaol than return. Is this reconcileable with 'the assertion that everything is as it should be? I cpuld write a thrilling chapter on Jubilee Home affairs' of the past, but space and time forbids. Mrs Stewart has, at last, spoken with no uncertain sound of her expertence. No doubt when the publio eye ia" on the institution things are for tho nonco 0.X., but let me advise Mr Gatenby, if he, has observant eyes and really wants to use them, to pay his surprise' visits at any unexpected moment- between 6 and 8 r in the morning. Perhaps after two yeara of it he may see fit, tor modify hjs opinion, and be less chary of insulting respectable members of the* community by giving them tho He, direct upon very brief and superficial exanunav, tion.— l am', etc., ./. * J MARGARET BUMjOCK/7? Wauganui, January 17th, 19CK).