PATHETIC STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1086, 19 April 1913, Page 4

PATHETIC STORY.

HOW A MOTHER FOUND AND LOST HER SON.

A MATTER FOR ENQUIRY

AUCKLAND, April, 17. A case that recalls Eliza in “Uncle Tom’s Callin’’ was hoard at the Magistrate’s Court at Tamnarunui this week (writes the Herald correspondent). Extricated from the mass of legal details, the story as told in Court is as follows. A married couple with their three children lived in Auckland some eighteen months ago. The eldest child was a boy of seven ; the others were two. little girls of two years and one year respectively. The family had . fallen into trouble; the mother was sick, and the, father was so circumstanced as to be unable to look after or provide for those dependent on him. The boy fell in with two evil companions older than himself, and all three were detected in a petty theft, for which the boy was committed to an industrial school. The mother having recovered and the father having got on his feet again, they began to long for the boy. The mother fretted, grew thin and ailing, and the doctor ordered her to leave town. She had saved up a few pounds, intending to go to sec the boy, and they realised a little more money by selling up some furniture which they possessed. Not long ago they left Auckland for Wellington, and called at the office of Mrs Dick, who is matron over industrial homes and inspects them periodically. They had learned previously that their son bad been some nine months before put out to board with a certain woman, from whom they had letters about him. Their address had not been given. They obtained the address from Mrs Dick, and sot out to visit the boy. It was alter seven in the evening when they got to the station, and it was quite dusk when they reached the woman’s home, a small farm a mile out of a’ certain township. When nearing it the father stooped to make enquiries at a house, but the mother pushed on and encountered the boy himself on the roadside gathering sticks. According to the mother, she was shocked at what she described his utterly neglected-looking condition: long, unkempt hair, ragged, ill-fitting clothes of the coarsest and dirtiest kind, hare feet, and arms sticking out of a skimpy jacket. Continuing lier story, the mother said the hoy ran to her and begged to he taken home, as he said the woman was unkind both to him and to tour other children of whom she had charge from the same institution. He gave a' harrowing description. of his life the farm, and said their only periods of comfort were when Mrs Dick arrived on her monthly inspection, for they were then bedded indoors instead of in an outhouse, and they got proper food instead of the boiled pollard which was their usual diet. The mother then decided to take, the boy away, though she had not previously intended to do so. The father knew this was an illegal steps, but agreed to risk the consequence. They waited two hours at the railway station for the return train, no enquiries being made for the hoy meanwhile. The guard of the train to whom they showed the hoy was stated to have said he would testify whenever wanted l as to his condition. The hoarding-house keeper with whom they stayed at Palmerston North was said to have made the same offer and to have expressed indignation at the state of the child. Next morning (Sunday) they bought a new suit of clothes for him and set out on Monday morning for Taumarumii. Before leaving the station a detective entered the carriage and asked the mother if she were Mrs . She said “No,” and the man passed on. On arrival the motther and one or two friends examined the child’s head and it is said found it full of vermin. They also discovered that he had forgotten all that he had formerly learned and they sent him to school at once. They also sent a telegram to the woman who, had charge of the boy, telling her that he was well and was going to Sydney with his mother. The boy had been with his parents, however, only a fortnight when a constable heard of the matter and the boy was sent hack in custody to the place where he was taken 'from. The mother was prosecuted for a breach of the In--1 dustrial Schools Act in removing the hoy. The father is at present in steady work at Tanmarnnui. He and his wife and two children Avere present in Court and told in their evidence the story outlined above. Counsel! or defendant urged that under the circumstances the mother did what any mother would have done, and that even if she Avas guilty of a technical breach of the IaAV she was not deserving of puriishmepf. He also urged that an enquiry be held iiito the circumstances related in evidence, and said that as the parents Avere now able and willing to look after the chilli it (should be restored to them. The Bench said that the circumstance were quite peculiar. While the. alleged neglect at the home rested chiefly on the child’s statement the clothing (produced in Court) and the evidence of the parents afforded some corroboration. The mpthpr jpif| only (fopp Avhqt any other mother Ayoidd do, and Avhde he had to convict her of a technical breach of the law he would discharge her. He Avould make representation hi the proper quarter regarding an enquiry.