to rear his family a burden, and a nuisance, and a danger to the community. He has no more right to rear wild men and wild women, and let them loose among us, than to rear tigers and wolves, and send them abroad in our streets. What four-footed animal is so dangerous to the community as that animal which unites the uncultivated intellect of a man to the uncontrollable passions of a beast?" As there was no law of compulsion that could reach such parents, the Legislature passed a law which deprived them of the dangerous power they possessed; and hence the establishment of the Industrial School.
The first step towards meeting the necessities of the children of the very poor in Dunedin, was the passing of a vote by the Provincial Council in 1863, for the maintenance of Free Schools; but the honour of initiating such schools seems to be due to a lady named Mrs. O'Rafferty. Pitying the children she noticed running wild in the streets, at her own cost, and on her own responsibility, she rented a small apartment in St. Andrew street, and engaged and paid a competent female teacher, Mrs. O'Rafferty herself holding the position of superintendent. She also visited the homes of the poor, and in a short time the necessity for some such provision was made manifest by the class-room, capable of accommodating between 50 and 60, being found to be too small for the number of applicants for admission and for the proper discipline of the children. Owing to the urgent need for a larger room, and the additional expense being beyond her resources, Mrs. O'Rafferty brought her scheme under the notice of the authorities, and Mr. (now Dr.) Hislop, secretary to the Education Board, having inspected her school, and reported of it very favourably, the Government granted from the amount voted by the Provincial Council a liberal allowance in aid of her philanthropic effort. Her movement also won the approval of a number of gentlemen, who formed themselves into a committee to co-operate with the Government and with her, and with other ladies disposed to join in the work; with the result that the Government leased a piece of ground in Bath street, and placed on it one of the large buildings that formed the military barracks, vacated by the withdrawal of the Imperial troops. The daily average attendance then rose to about 80. The marked success of that mission, and the call for similar measures in other
