UNCALLED FOR

Evening Star, Issue 23682, 16 September 1940, Page 6

UNCALLED FOR

CRITICISM OF WOMEN'S HOME INMATES WELL FED AND HAPPY LENIENT TREATMENT OF COURT CASES “ It’s all prayers and nothing to eat but dry crusts.” Addressing these derogatory words to the magistrate, a woman, charged in the Police Court on Saturday with drunkenness and with escaping from the Salvation Army Women’s Home at Caversham, stirred up a small hornets’ nest. She aroused indignation in the hearts of women who have been paying guests at the home for periods up to 20 years, and indignation greatly increased when yesterday the allegations were thrown up at them by people outside. They approached the matron (Major Fletcher), who wrote to the ‘Star’ outlining the situation and issuing an invitation. “ Since many people of Dunedin and district,” she wrote, “ have been discussing the statement made in court, any citizen is invited to come to the home, any day, at meal times, and see for himself or herself just what is provided and how it is dished up. Dinner is at 12 (noon), tea at 5 p.m., and breakfast at 7.30.” A reporter was the first citizen to accept the invitation, and he arrived, without giving advance warning, as dinner was being served. There were no signs of dried crusts on the table, instead there was a very attractive dinner of roast beef, roast and boiled potatoes, and cabbage; followed hy ! milk rice pudding. The pudding was genuinely made from milk and looked rich and appetising. This was no dinner specially put on on the off-chance of any inquiries being made to-day, as the menu book, open for inspection, revealed. Every day the midday meal is on similar lines, comprising meat, vegetables, and pucldiim. Tea has usually one principal course of soup, bacon, eggs, or meat in some form, backed hy plenty of bread and butter, and scones. The bread is fresh. Breakfast consists of porridge, bread, butter, and marmalade, bo tar as possible all vegetables and dairy produce are obtained from the grounds of the home, always fresh. The 21 women dining did not know who or what the reporter represented, but they sensed this ivas some form of inspection following the statement made in court. One after another they hastened to assure that they were perfectly happy, that the meals were first class, and that the remarks which had been, made were uttered with malice aforethought. Most of the women have been paying guests for from nine to 2U years, and people do not voluntarily stay in any one place all that time if they are being fed on dry crusts. _ As for the allegations concerning prayers, grace is said before meals,_ and who can cavil about that? Each night, as a family might, everyone gathers for a 10-minute service conducted by the matron. That is the extent of a weekday “ all-prayer ” observance. An inspection was made of the home. It was brief, for there seemed to be no point in making it extended or detailed. Everything was spotlessly clean, there was plenty of fresh air, lio-ht, and sunshine permeating the building. It was neatly furnished, and floral decorations were frequent. One woman troubled with a cold was in bed, in a brilliantly sunny room. She was having the same meal as the women in the dining rooms, and there were oranges beside her. It was, in fact, all very comfortable and reassuring. There may be some who have read so far who will say, “ Yes, that is all very well for the paying guests. But what about women sent there by the Police Court?” That point did not escape the reporter. “ Every woman committed by the court receives exactly - the same meals and the same treatment,’ the Matron replied. “She becomes one of us, and we are like a big family. No windows or doors are locked here, and she is free to roam the grounds as she likes. There is only one restriction placed on her movements; she cannot leave the grounds without having an escort. That is the only distinction made between her and the others. ’

At the same time it is a simple matter for any one of the committed women (and during a year there are very few) to walk out of the grounds, for there are no guards and the gates are flung wide open. The woman who caused the inquiries to be made realised that.

This might seem very lenient treatment of court cases, but it is nevertheless the truth. It brings results, for the matron remarked that quite a number who had been committed by the court had, after a few weeks’ decent living with respectable people, turned ever a new leaf on leaving and tried to mould their lives along the lines followed by the inmates of the home. The home really deserves the description “ A home from home.” Apart from its internal comforts, it is situated in a sheltered position, has extensive, well-cared-for grounds, and commands a magnificent view of sea, city, and Peninsula.