A BOARDING-OUT CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 22 April 1913, Page 3

A BOARDING-OUT CASE.

A prosecution at Taumaranui for a breach of the industrial Schools Act brought out statements which call for inquiry. It is alleged that the mother of a boy who had been "boarded out," under the provisions of the law, found him in a shockingly neglected looking dirtiest kind, bare feet, and arms ill-fitting clothes of the coarsest and dirtiest kind ,bare foot, arid arms, sticking out of a skimpy jacket. The J boy ran to her and begged to be , taken horns, a<. he said tTie woman, was unkind to him and to ifour other children of whom she had charge. He gave a harrowing description of his life at the farm and said their only periods of comfort were when the matron 'Mrs Dick) arrived on her monthly inspection, for then they were bedded" indoors instead of in an outhousej and they got proper food instead of boiled' pollard, which was their- usual diet. The mother then decided to take the boy away, she knowing thig-was an illegal step, but both parents agreed to risk the consc;nuMie?s. Oh arrival home the mother and one o.r two friends examined th? child and found him to be in a filthy condition, his head being covered with vermin. They also discovered" that he had forgotten all that he had formerly learned, and they sent him to school at once. They had also sent a telegram to the woman who hacV charge of the boy, telling her that lie was well and was going to Sydney with his mother. The boy had beeo; with hip parents only a fortnight when a con.£-.abl3 heard <?f the matter, and the boy was sent back in custody to the place whence he was taken.' The mother was prosecuted for a breach of the Industrial (School Act. in removing the boy. The father, his wife, and two children were present in court, and told in their evidence, the story outlined a.bove. Counsel for defendant urgad that under the . circumstances the mother did what j any mother would have done, and that even if she was guilty of a technical i breach of the law, she was not deserving of punishment. He also urged that an inquiry be held into the circumstances, and since the parents were now able and willing to look after the child, that it should be restored to them. The Bench said that the circumstances were quite peculiar. While the alleged neglect at the home rested chiefly on the child's statements, the clothing produced in Court and the evidence of the parents afforded some corroboration. The mother had onlv clone what any other woman would have done, and while he had to convict her of n technical breach of the law, he would discharge her. He would make representations to the proper .quarter regarding an inquiry.