CHILD WELFARE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 205, 18 November 1927, Page 12

CHILD WELFARE

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT RETAINS CONTROL MINISTER BELIEVES IN ROD (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Figures show that during the past year there has not been an abnormal increase in the number of children who have become a charge upon the State. During that period however the child welfare branch of the Education Department spent over £93,000 on the 6,000 children who come under its supervision. The Hon. R. A. Wright, Minister of Education, who recited these figures to the House of Representatives to-day, when moving the committal of the Child Welfare Bill, said that he had at first thought that the proposed amendments to the Act had the approval of the orphanages, but he subsequently discovered that Auckland alone had agreed to the clause governing the registration of these institutions, and other centres had protested. He accordingly altered his Bill, and now understood that there was nothing contentious in it. Mr. H. E. Holland: Have you cut out the whipping? Mr. Wright: Yes; that is out. The Minister made it clear that the Government appreciated the work that was being done for child welfare by private and denominational institutions, and the authorities did not wish to interfere with the functions of these establishments. Debate on the Bill was carried on in such desultory and uninteresting manner that members could be suspected of talking to the galleries, which had been filled by expectant visitors, who wished to see the continuation of the Licensing Bill debate, and who retired early disappointed. In his reply Mr. Wright discounted a suggestion made by Mr. W. J. Jordan, Manunkau, that child welfare should bo a separate department, because it had been proved that too many State departments could operate. Nothing would b© gained by the separation of child welfare from education. On the contrary, it would be uneconomic. Mr. Wright did not agree with the contentions of some members, who felt that punishments inflicted on delinquent children were too severe. “I can’t help saying that in my young days boys and girls were brought up under different methods and sterner discipline than the children of to-day,” said Mr. Wright. “They may have been severe, but they turned out good people.” Mr. Jordan: Were you turned out? Mr. Wright: I got many a good hiding. (Laughter.) Continuing, Mr. Wright said that it would be advisable for magistrates in children’s courts to direct that reports of proceedings should not be published. He agreed that there was too much publicity given these cases. After a short discussion in the committee stage, the Minister moved to report progress, and further consideration of the Bill was deferred.