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Session 11. 1906. NEW ZEALAND.

WALTHAM ORPHANAGE. (COMMISSIONER'S REPORT.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

REPORT. To His Excellency the Right Honourable William Lee, Baron Plunket, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies. May it please Your Excellency,— I the Commissioner appointed by Your Excellency's Letters Patent of the 27th November, 1905, which Letters Patent were extended on the 22nd December, 1905, and further extended on the 23rd January, 1906, and by which I was to inquire into any complaints or charges which might be duly formulated and laid or preferred before me by any person touching the management and working of the Waltham Orphanage, an institution under the control of the Ashburton and North Canterbury United Charitable Aid Board, with a view also to throw light on "the working of the existing law with respect to the management and administration of Orphanages and similar institutions by the governing bodies thereof, have to report as follows : — • Throughout the inquiry Mr. Cassidy appeared as solicitor for Mr. George Scott, Mr. Lane for the Charitable Aid Board, and Mr. George Harper for Mrs. Carpenter, the Matron of the Orphanage. Mr. Cassidy formulated the following charges and complaints : — CHARGES AND ALLEGATIONS. Made pursuant to an Order of H. W. Bishop, Esq., S.M., Commissioner, on the Bth day of December, 1905. 1. That the Charitable Aid Orphanage is and has been improperly managed and controlled. 2. That the Charitable Aid Board has in its management and control of the Orphanage departed from the real purpose of such Orphanage, inasmuch as instead of it being used entirely as a home for orphan children it has been made in very many cases a receiving-home to pass them along to other institutions and places. 3. That there is and has been an absence of sound moral training and teaching, apart from controversial doctrines, in the bringing-up of the orphan children in such Orphanage, and no effort is made or has been made to form and strengthen the character and develop the intelligence of the children placed therein. 4. That the example and influence of those responsible for the children do not tend to implant in the children such foundations of conduct as are essential to make them good and upright and useful members of the community.

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