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Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12437, 9 April 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY] THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1908. TE ORANGA HOME.

The report of Commissioner Bishop, S.M., into the management of the Te Oranga Home bears out a good deal of what has •tetu charged ogainst the methods which the Departmout lays down for the conduct of such institutions. When statements were made alleging that the inmates had been harshly treated and that barbarous methods of punishment were at times resorted to, the Minister for Education, the Hon. G. Fcvlds repudiated the charges, and it was only when the Press demanded an inquiry that the Government, somewhat reluctantly, acceded to the request. As it waa they complained about the expense attached to such inquiry, and refused to accede to the application that counsel should be engaged by the Crown to present the "evidence to the Commission,. The order of reference of >he Commission enjoined an inquiry into the management of the school, having regard to the suitability of j the classification of inmates, their general treatment, particularly as regards punishment, the duties of the members of the staff, and the relations between the manager and the staff. The Commissioner finds in effect that the classification was bad, and that this was responsible for much of the trouble that arose. He suggests that the additions now being made to the Home will improve the whole system, and enable the management to do away entirely with a great deal dl* the punishment that she feels called upon at. present to inflict to ensure proper discipline. Whether or not ♦he punishment which the matron meted out to some of the inmates was justified by circumstances, fend which was leally one of the main points the putolic were interested in, the Commissioner does not definitely say, though ho infers that the mode of punishment it-sorted to at times — the use of the strap — should be abolished. He goes further than this, however, for he regards as an admission of weakness the assertion which has been made, that it would be impossible to run the institution at all if corporal punishment were abolished. Bared of all verbiage, the plain fact is the report of the Te Oranga Home inquiry discloses a lamentable* defect in the methods pursued in our industrial institutions, and one that calls for immediate attention. If in the case of the most hardened criminals the old savage punishments can be displaced by the humanitarian treatment of bffenders — treating with a view to curing rather than punishing — whfct possible justification can there be for resorting to such out-of-date and barbarous methods as have been in vogue at Te Oranga in the treatment of young people. Doubtless what the Commissioner says is true, that the patience and tr-raper of the attendants is frequently strained to breaking point, but that is due to our effete methods of treatment. The matron may. have been quite within her rights, as laid down by the ruks governing such institutions, in ordering recalcitrant inmates close confinement in cells on a diet of soaked dry bread, in addition to punishment inflicted with a strap, but such treatment nevertheless is monstrous in the light of iatter day treatment of unfortunates. At the inquiry one of the witnesses, 18 years of age, alleged that she had frequently been put in the cells — once for not knowing her catechism, and once for trying to escape. On the latter occasion she spent the whole Sunday there, her three meals consisting of dry bread. In addition she had six cuts with a strap over her nightgown, her ears had been boxed, and she had contracted chilblains through having to scrub with cold water in the winter time. Another girl of 20 said she, too, had often been put in the cells, and once had been kept there for two or three days and nights, being fed on staked dry rir-?a«l. Sho also nad her pars boxed and had received six cuts with a strap. A third girl, who had had her hair cut short, said she had been further punished with ten strokes of the strap and been compelled to cat dvy broad and water. Several

girls stated that they had been strapped ty the matron and confined in the cells and detention yard for a month after attempting to abscond. One witness stated that when ehe was returned to the Home after absconding she was strapped and put in the cells. She complained to an attend ant that she had a sore throat. She was afterwards strapped again for refusing to eat her food. Some days later a doctor saw her and orde-.'3-.l her removal to the hospital, wiiere she was in bed ior a month. Several witnoases accused the matron of boxing the cars of the girls and all objected to hard outside work, such as sawing wood, chopping trees, and digging out roots of trees. One girl said the food was bad and insufficient, and at times the girls were so hungry that they were tempted to cat the grease they put on the saws. She had gone out with her bare feet on a wintry morning, when snow was on the ground, to hang out clothes. One witness said she %ad spent two days in a eell — one day without breakfast or dinner. Miss Harrison, one of the teachers at the Home, stated that the matron had no sympathy with the work of the school and kept the girls away on the slightest pretext. The girls who attended the afternoon school were frequently tired out with the morning's work. Nurse Morris, formerly of the Samaritan Home, referred to the girls having a horror of Te Oranga. A school teacher (a Miss Stewart) alleged that the girls were put in the cells for trivial offences. Such, in brief, was the substance of some of the evidence tendered. On tho other hand, many of the statements made by the girls were denied by other inmates and by the management, and the matron herself and her treatment of the girls were highly spoken of by several who had visited the Home. But even if a very large portion of the evidence is discounted, there is sufficient to prove that the Department's methods of ti eating the irmates of our industrial hones savour more of mediaeval barbarism than of the enlightened methods which ought to be pursued in the twentieth oentury. The responsibility lies with the Department under whose control these Homes are, and we will be 'surprised if public opinion does not demand a decided change in the methods pursued for the reformation of the outcasts of society.