TE ORANGI HOME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3787, 11 February 1908, Page 4

TE ORANGI HOME.

Further Charges of Mismanagement. “More trouble,” says the Lyttelton Times, “has arisen at Te Orangi Home, and more charges of mismanagement are made against the manageress, Mrs Branting. It is stated that the girls complain bitterly of harsh and unsympathetic treatment, and that the manageress shows no disposition to remedy their grievances. The subject has been brought up again by the fact that one of the girls, who was strapped while in ill-health, had to be taken ito the Christchurch Hospital. She remained there for some time, but she has now been discharged and is back in the Home. From the statement made it seems that the girls complain of the food, they are given, of the work they are compelled to xt°» 'of the nature of the punishments, and favouritism. It is stated that favouritism is rampant in the institution; and that it leads to much injustice. Girls who are not favourites of the manageress say that it is useless to try and please. According to statements circulated, harshness is displayed in the punishments. Some of the girls say that they carry the marks of the manageress’ strap on their bodies for days. The method seems to be to make the delinquent lie on her bed while the strap is brought down with the full force of the manageress’ arm, as many as twelve strokes being given at a time. Girls who have listened to others being punished, it is stated, have cried to hear the groans and sobs. There are two cells in the institution. They are used for solitary confinement. In one case, according to information supplied, a girl was placed in a cell for two days for no offence except what one of the assistants termed insubordination, or because the assistant had been annoyed by the girl. Offenders had been kept in the cells for several weeks without seeing anyone except the attendant who took the iood. Another charge is that the manageress does not give the girls a chance to defend themselves. They are not allowed to talk at meal times, and are punished for this minor offence by being sent away from the table. If it is' thought that a girl has net done a fair day’s work, she may be given dry bread. It is quite usual for many of the girls to be on short rations. They rise at 6.30 a.m., and are out of the dormitories at 7, when they immediately start work. Some do household work, and others milk cows, clean the fowl runs, tidy the yards, and so on. They have breakfast at 8 a.m., and after that more work is found for them. They fell trees, cut all the firewood (using the axe and the crosscut saw), plant and dig potatoes, grub gorse and broom, and do other manual work, including the painting of the fences.”