The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-07-19
ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM.

1t looks very much as il some profitable
lessons concerning charitable institutions
-ss we'll as ballot reforms-might be
learned from the land formerly dele
gated to the kangaroo and the boomerang.
1t is evident that the present inhabitants
of that giant island or dwarf continen t.
whichever you may choose to call it
have great many excellent and progress
sive ideas on great variety of subjects.
| Our attention was lately drawn to their
manner of dealing with foundlings and
orphans, and II was something OF sur
prise TO learn that in Australia such an
unknown. But in no country are un-
fortunate children better cared for, and
that by a system as unique as it is
humane.
Every child whose support is not pro-
vided by the parents is 'looked upon as
the ward OF the State. The State, accord
ingly, pays him pension for his main
tenance and makes home for him in
some private family where he is to re-
main until he reaches the age of IA
board aud clothing being supplied mean
while. Upon the arrival OF his fourteenth
birthday II he is fitted to go to work he
does so, but his State pension is con-
tinued until he is IS, being placed on
deposit and credited to him during the
four years At the end of this time he
enters upon the duties Of citizenship, not
empty handed. but with a definite sum
due him from the State and ready for
payment.
This solution OF the problem of pro-
viding for destitute children strikes us
as almost ideal; il has in ii flavor of
the millennium. 1t set us TO thinking,
and as thinking is simply an Hct of
comparison" we were led at once to
place our own charitable reforms in the
shape OF orphanages and kindred institu-
tions, beside this Australian system
and the result was a series OF questions.
1t is to be regretted that along with
this attractive picture OF the State as a
foster-mother we found no statistics
given. We would like to know the per-
centage Of orphans in Australia. We are
imbued, somewhat, with the "equal
rights" doctrine, so we would much like
to know also whether a girl, left an
orphan, becomes, upon reaching adult
years, "a citizen with balance due her
from the State 10 begin life with.
1t would seem as IL Australia must be
Paradise for orphans. Are all parents
there so civilized and conscientious as
never to take advantage OF the States
philanthrophy and impose upon it? Is
there never a surplus in the orphan
market that cannot be comfortably dis
posed of, or dearth OF families in which
to set the solitary?
Suppose that upon a family OF limited
means, where there were already several
brothers and sisters, II should be deemed
advisa BILE by those In authority to engraft
an orphan. The situation is accepted, and
the child, OF perhaps four or six years,
enters the family. He shares the home
and is one Of its carefully guarded MEM
bers Upon reaching the age of II the
boy leaves and goes to work; his pen
sion is deposited regularly for him, and
when he is Is, he finds himself man
with check in his hand endorsed by
the State. Meanwhile the eldest brother
in the home that sheltered the orphan has |
also attained the age of citizenship. He |
has received as good an education as his |
parents can afford to give, but so far as |
ready money goes he must begin with |
hOht' ID MS suuCallOu supposed 10 COM |
pensate in his case for his ter-brother's |
four years apprenticeship at some
trade and the State money as well?
We have seen states in which lived fam
lies whose members might be n ,lined
toward something like envy OF the adopted |
brother thus so well started in life. But
Of course we are ready to condemn all
as unholy and to admit the pos
sibility Of households in Australia being
less prone to such weakness than families
elsewhere.
But we do not ask these questions in
my hypercritical spirit. The authority
whence comes the report OF the Australian
System is an excellent one and
does not SO much as hint at friction or
failure in the scheme as il is in practice