A GIRLS’ HOME.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9068, 7 February 1908, Page 5

A GIRLS’ HOME.

CHARGES AGAINST TE ORANGI. Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. “More trouble,” says the Lyttelton Times, “has arisen at Te Orangi Home, and more charges of mismanagement are made against the manager, Mrs Branting. It is stated that the girls complain bitterly of harsh and unsympathetic treatment, and that the manager 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 illhealth, had to be taken to 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 do, and of the nature of the punishments and of favoritism. It is stated that favoritism is rampant in the institution, and that it leads to much injustice. According to the statements circulated, harshness is displayed in the punishments. Some of the girls say that they carry the marks of the manager’s strap on their bodies for days Girls who have listened to others being punished, it it stated, have cried to hear the groans and sobs. There are two cells in the institution; these 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 have been kept in cells for several weeks without seeing anyone except the attendant who took their food. Another charge is that the manager does not give the girls a chance to defend themselves. They are not allowed to talk at meal times, and are punished for these minor offences by being sent away from the table. If it is thought that a girl has not done a fair day’s work, she may be given dry bread. It is quite usual, it is said, for many of the girls to be on short rations. They rise at 6.30 a.m., are out of the dormitories at seven, and they immediately start work. Some do house-hold work; and others milk the cows, clean the fowl runs, tidy the yards and so on. They haveJbreakfast at 8 a.m. and after that more work is found for them. They fell trees, cut all the firewood, using the axe or the crosscut saw plant, and dig potatoes, grub gorse and broom and do other manual work including the painting of the fences.