The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1946 INCIDENCE OF CRIME

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 40, 21 October 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1946 INCIDENCE OF CRIME

THE analysis of prison statistics presented to Parliament by the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr B. L. Dallard, will reassure many who held the opinion that the incidence of crime in New Zealand had increased substantially of late. In the year that ended last March there was a further decline at least in the number of crimes detected and punished by imprisonment. There is reassurance also in the statement that fewer Maoris were sent to prison during the year, although the number of serious sexual crimes by Maoris increased. One development which was obvious from reading of the newspapers was the increase of the number of crimes against the person and against property. These figures, unhappily, were symptomatic of the “drift that appeared to havq set in,” said Mr Dallard. Whatever this drift may be, one of its manifestations is a loss of respect for both persons and property, and it is these very crimes of violence which have been so disturbing in recent months. In the earlier months of the present year, statistics will probably show, there occurred a minor wave of violence which fortunately seems to have subsided. Comment by the superintendent on the Borstal Institution at Invercargill is interesting. High wages and easy money are cited as among the causes contributing to delinquency among boys. There is little doubt that the sudden acquisition of comparative wealth and a great increase in leisure time found thousands of young people morally unprepared, and. any looseness in character and training was quickly exposed. Mr Dallard observes that nowhere more than in prison does mischief follow in the wake of idleness. The same applies to everyday life. Increased leisure, where no adequate steps have been taken to provide for it, has uhdoubtedly led many young people into mischief.