ORPHANAGE SCANDAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1634, 23 December 1905, Page 2

ORPHANAGE SCANDAL.

SERIOUS CHARGES.

(Pet Press Association.) Christchurch, last night.

In the Magistrate's Court this morniDg Mr H. W. Bishop. S.M., the Commissioner appointed, opened the enquiry into the charges that have been made regarding the management of the Waltham Orphan* age, which is under the jurisdiction of the North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board,. The main charges were that the Charitable.' Aid Orphanage is and has been improperly managed aud onntrolled; that the matron of the Orphanage has' been unduly harsh in (he treatment of certain of the inmates of such Orphanage ; that she hasY dressed Orphanage children in grotesque ’ costumes with the intention of holding them up to ridicule and merriment; that she has taunted childreu with the fact of their relatives belonging to the unfortunate class of the community, and called them mockingly by the names of such relatives, and made flippant references to them ; that the person or persons responsible for the internal arrangements and economy of such Orphanage have been incompetent, inasmuch as there has been no proper feeding and no proper dietary arrangement; that the children were improperly punished, and for trifling offences, by long periods of- silence ; that the matron had used bad language and objectionable names to children; that the children Gettie Andrew, Emma 4“* drews, May Burbury, Eva Bashford, atid Ellen Attwood have been ill-treated by those in charge at the Orphanage; that neglect and inattention have bean manifest in the case of the boy Percy VVhittle daring his illness and antecedent thereto by thohe in charge of such lad at thß Orphanage. ' Goorge Soott, ex-member of the Charitable Aid Board, stated that on August 30th the boy Whittle was removed from the Orphanage to the hospital, and wai then praotically a skeleton. At this stage, at the request o! counsel for Mrs Carpenter, matron of the Orphanage, the enquiry was adjourned till January lO.b.