TE ORANGA HOME ENQUIRY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9094, 13 March 1908, Page 5

TE ORANGA HOME ENQUIRY.

Press Association. Christchurch, March 12. The most important witness in the Te Oranga Home inquiry to-day was Dr Alice Moorhouse, who acts as medical officer of the home. In regard to the tree felling and wood cutting, the witness stated that as long as the work was carried out judiciously and under proper supervision no harm could result. The health of the girls in the home was good, and as far as she had observed the girls were on excellent terms with the matron and staff. The food, which she had examined and tasted, was plain, wholesome, and plentiful. The matron she described as a kind, motherly woman, who entered fully into the troubles of the girls. She expressed a general disapproval of corporal punishment being inflicted on young women, but stated that some of the girls were so depraved that the only way to appeal to them was,by inflicting physical pain. She saw no harm in hair-cutting if it deterred the girls from absconding and saved them from the pains accruing from that offence. There was an urgent need for more accommodation at the home to enable proper classification of the inmates to be carried out.

Miss Wills (attendant) and Miss Hunt (sub-matron) also gave evidence regarding the administration, and denied that any undue severity was practised on the inmates of the Home.