H.—2l

IJ p——.

124. Have you been punished at all, then, during the last two years?—l have been sent to bed. 125. Nothing more serious than being sent to bed?— Not that I know of. 126. You have not had this coloured garment on?— No. 127. You have seen other girls to them? —Yes. 128. When you see a girl with this garment on, do you make any remark about it?- —We ask her where she was going to. 129. Nothing else?— No. H M examined on oath. 1. Mr. Salter.] How old are you? —I am nineteen in June. 2. How long have you been in the Home? —Four years next August. 3. And you, in common with the other girls, do work amongst the trees —splitting and so forth? —Yes. 4. Do you object to that work ?—I do not think it is nice work for any young woman to do. 5. Do you work amongst the lupins?— Yes. 6. What do you say about the want of water?—We have gone over there on several occasions, and. we have not had water, and we have asked if we could take it over, and the staff has told us we should have had a drink before we went over. 7. You are not allowed to take it?— Sometimes we are. 8. How often have you been allowed to take it?— One day when we were over there the Matron sent us over a drink of tea, and on another occasion we took over a bucket of oatmeal water, and on another day we took over a bucket of clean water. Other days we have gone over without water, and have asked for it, and the staff has told us we should have had a drink before we left. 9. Have you anything to say about the food you get here?— Yes; T do not think we get substantial food for the work we do. 10. Is there enough?— Sometimes 1 have felt hungry after dinner-time, and have told Miss Simpson and the Matron. I told the Matron I was hungry one day and she gave me some toast and butter. 11. Was that after dinner? —Yes; one Saturday. 12. What do you usually have with your tea, say? —Four pieces of bread—two with dripping and two with jam. 13. Is there plenty of jam on it?— No. 14. Have you any complaint to make about the tea you get to drink?— Yes; we do not get very good tea. On Tuesday nights we always say we get a decent cup of tea; on other nights the tea is poured out from the staff's pot into a jug, and if it is not sufficient other tea is added to it, and it is put into the big teapot and sweetened, and we have that. 15. You have been to service?— Yes. 16. When did you go?---The 10th August last year. 17. Where did you go to? —Mrs. M 's, at Opawa, 18. How long were you there?— Until the 6th October following. 19. Why did you leave there?—l did not know I was going to leave. The Matron said she would not bring me back unless I had been misbehaving myself or carrying on with boys. I did not know I was going back until the Friday morning, when I was taken back unawares, and I had not been carrying on with boys. 20. You would not do such a thing?— No. 21. Do you remember going to town one Sunday with E S ?—Yes. 22. What happened then?—We were told that we were to go to church. We did not go to church; we went on into town, disobeying the Matron on that point; and when we got into town we did not go to church at all, and we met some of the other service girls. 23. The fact is you did not go to church?— No. 24. You went back to your place that night?—No: we stayed in town, and I went home by the twenty past 8 car instead of going to church. 25. What happened in the following week?—-I was back in my situation the following week, and on Friday morning I was brought back to the Home. I did not know I was going back! When I came back the Matron said to me, on Friday night, what she had brought me back for in front of all the girls, and she said some very disagreeable things to me. 26. Do you mind telling us one or two of the things she said : it does not matter: we only want to get at the truth ?—She said"'Mrs. M told her I had men in the house, and she said Mrs. M—— gave a sigh of relief when I left her house. She said some other very nasty things to me, which I would not like to mention. 27. What happened then? What did you tell the Matron?— That was on Friday night. I told the girls when I came back I intended to behave myself. C A said " Behave yourself, and you will get back, again." Miss Hunt told me if I behaved myself I would get out 'again to service. After the Matron said these things to me I told the girls I would not stop in the Home. That was Sunday night. Some of the girls had not got their correct marks, and they said they would not. stop in the Home, and I said I would not stop here. I told them I would abscond, and I asked one of the girls to go with me. I asked several girls to go with me. 28. Did you get away?—No; we were going to go, but we did not get away. 29. Tell me the real reason why you wanted to get away from the Home? Because the Matron said these things to me, and because T did not think I should have been brought back to the Home for the reasons for which I had been blamed, as they were not true. 30. Did you tell any of the girls you intended to go to an evil house when you got away«—l did not say that at all. All I said was that I was going to S H 's sister—where she worked. She is not a very good girl, S H 's sister.

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