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Under Hall's leadership, the Benevolent Society quickly moved
into the area of social welfare , determined to bring before the notice of
the Public, and especially the Parliament , the worst social evils
undermining the strength and stability of the community. On March 4 1863 ,
Hall requested he Colonial Secretary to take measures to prevent parents
from dserting their children so that they might get them into the Orphan
Asylum, and husbands from leaving the colony without making provision for
the support of their families ;
this led to the passing of the "Deserted
Wives and Families Act of 186311 under the provisions of which Ne\'1 Zealand
volunteers were also brought.
Again , on May 15 of the same year ,. he urged
upon the Government the need for a lying-in hospital for unmarried women ,
as a result of \'l'hich satisfactory financial arrangements were made with
the Society for the care of these cases. 4
An even greater problem vexing
the city was the large number of vagrant and neglected children who roamed
the streets, "street Arabs 11, they were called.
girls was particularly acute:
The situation of the
if convicted of an offence, they were sent
to the prison at the Cas cades where they came into contact with hardened
criminals, with little hope of any improvement in their demoralisation .
So great was this nuisance that on August 20, 1861, a petition carrying
the ignatures of 835 citizens was presented to the House of Assemb ly
requesting the establishment of Industrial and Reformatory Schools. 5
As nothing was done, the Benevolent Society took up the matter, petitioning
Parliament along the same lines on July 24 , 1862 , and once more before the
session in 1864. 6
In spite of persistent effort to induce the Legislature
to take steps to remedy this evil, the Society' s report for 1866 declared:
No public measures have been taken to rescue the vagrant and
eglected children on whose behalf we have so earnestly
pleaded in every annual report. Greatly has this evil
increased during the last tl'lelve months , and the idle,
vicious and unruly conduct of great m-sses of the children
and youths in Hob art is a matter of the deepest sorrow and
apprehension to every reflecting citizen.7
Of all the cases seeking charitable assistance, none distressed Hall more
than the ill-treatment of children apprenticed out from the Orphan Asylum ;
for instance , in one case, a girl for three weeks was never allm'led
4 CSD 4/39/500, 4/43/B578.
5 H.A.P. 1861/22.
6
H.A.P. 1862/19 ;
7 H.A.P. 1867/15 .
L.C.J. 1863 S2/31.