CRUELTY TO A CHILD.
WAS BERTHA BASHED OR
BANGED?
She Seeks Protection m a
Salvarmy Home.
"Truth" _ has received information of the alleged ill-treatment of an orphan girl of thirteen years m the family of a Wellington resident, and feels bound to ventilate the matter, if only to induce the authorities to make "a thorough investigation of the facts, .It. is .always hard to obtain | the exact details of a' case of this description, but allowing for natural exaggeration, this paper is satisfied that advantage has been taken of an unfortunate child who has no lawful protector to take her part. Very little sunshine lias entered into the life of Bertha since the death of her I I. parents, and she certainly suffered much misery m the home of one WilI son, ah upholsterer, who lives at Kelburne. A household drudge of thirteen who had to look after young, j children and was given no remuneration save an unhappy home, it is al- , leged that she was periodically as- ? I saulted by Mrs Wilson. This paper received .a highly-colored account of j the state of the young girl when she ran away from the. Wilson people, but owing to the .oyster-like silence of the Salvation Army Home matron on the subject, we are unable to learn the exact condition of the girl when she was admitted to the home. During her stay with Wilson, it' is alleged, Bertha didn't go to- school. &nd "Truth" desires to know if this is correct. .If it is correct this [newspaper wants to know
WHY WILSON WASN'T PROr . SECUTED.
for depriving the girl of needful edu-* cation ? It would also like to» know if there is any truth m the statement that the girl's body showed marks of physical violence when she ran away. For she did run away, which is m itself an indication, that she liad been treated with cruelty. She want to the house of a friend, and that humane woman, directed her to the Children's Home, at Newtown, which is one of . Booth's cx r | traordinary establishments. The account heard by "Truth" of the girl's condition was so circumstantial and horrifying that a representative of .this .paper resolved to inter-, view the matron of the Home, with the Object of, finding out the exact state of the girl when she was admitted. But one might as well seek inforniation from the Sphinx, or get water out of Karori rock during the late drought. The matron couldn't understand why the matter should be published at this late date, when the child had recovered and was now happy and. contented. "Truth's" representative specified the injuries said to have been sustained by the {?irl, but all the matron would say was that somebody had been guilty of gross exaggeration. She charitably hazarded the opinion that the girl might have been actuated by a spirit of adventure when she ran away, blit the miere fact of preferring the COLD AND BITTER DISCIPLINE of the religious shelter to a dreadful life with the Wilsons is sufficient indication that love of adventure wasn't the mainspring of the youngster's desertion of the Kelburne house. "Why should you seek to publish matters of this descrip.tion ?"' asked the matron, and our reporter was obliged to enlighten her with regard to the methods of the daily press, which suppress material facts if it is found that their publication will give offence to some influential person. "Truth" doesn't know if the Wibons are influential-, but it has T. \en informed that there is a piano and organ - m the house, and the
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTR19080314.2.19
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NZ Truth, Issue 143, 14 March 1908, Page 4
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601CRUELTY TO A CHILD. NZ Truth, Issue 143, 14 March 1908, Page 4
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