THE COURT OF GOOD HOPE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 10, 7 October 1907, Page 3

THE COURT OF GOOD HOPE.

'A VISIT TO THE SYDNEY CHILDDREN'S. COURT. ' When we setiout to visit the children's court in Sydney wo had- the vaguest ideas as to what wo were likely to see. Wb know . that the court was held in,tho room of. a building',, belonging to the, Stato Children's Relief Board, that it wns.mado to look as little:- like an ordinary Police Court as' possible, .and. that jtho attending constables were not allowed to appear in uniform, while a courso of reading on the subject of tlicso courts in America had prepared us hot only for ■ an utter absencb of formality and pub- . licity.' but for a fatherly affcctionatehesa, to be shown by the Magistrato towards tho' small culprits. 'Wo wondered how, if this court followed tho example of Judge Lindsay 's in the pri vacy of its proceedings wo were to gain admission to its walls,; but we went in hope-' On arrival at the building the , first thing wo noticed-was' that there was nobody abbut the ; place except thosb'who had como on business con- • nccted ■' with tho Court. The children waiting with tlieir - attendant adults on the verandah and in'tho hall, I .the : women sitting in' the waiting-room and talking in - hushed tones, were' evidently waiting: for' their turn; there wero no ,loiterers. l We waited with , them.- and' tho first timo tho usher camo out to call a witness ,wo asked . leavo to enter. -..This tho Magistrate, kindly granted' at once, and we wore tokf that' had wo be^n.-;'earlier' ,wo should havo seen- somd .interesting 'cases ' tried. -A. large .. well-lighted room, furnished' entirely with chairs and tables, a table on tho low platform ;where tho Magistrate' sits, a long table running down the centre of tho room at which the other, chief' parties in the ceremony take their places, this : '-;is tlio Children's Court. , We, 1 , tho only; visitors, had; . chairs by ". the Magistrate's platform, and at tho. sido of the room was a bench for tho witnesses in tho case, or the guardians of tho ■ small accused. It was all more formal , than we had expected. _ True the two constables, were in plain- clothes, and , not : to bo identified as police officials, but .there was the ordinary witness-box, the: usual formalities " connected' with 'taking evidence, a'clork 'with a 'typowriter .taking,notes;.,and, separated from the' Magistrate by what .seemed .'like miles of table, was the small boy on trial, who'except for the time that He ' himself was m; the witness-box,, stood there during-tlie hour, that the case-lasted. Wo only heard this one '/case that.'first day,' and'it: interested ■ ns, more , than anything else wo had Been in Sydney. The charge had been read : and tho' firstV evidence • given' be-' fbro'we weiit in, so that wo. had ho idea what it was.about'; and it worked itself out like a puzzle beforb our eyes till -#e • learned from. the * various witnesses that the owner of a factory had ■'for, months', been':, annoyetl .by petty, • pilferers'whoso thefts mounted up to a great-value, that on' mornings ho. frequently -'arrived ;at his .business; place to find , the stairway, win(lows broken, and more things' stolen, that :tli'e little ' hoy : now - - beforo\tho (jourt-had been seen'^.bne.'' Sunday ■ to . $mc: - stairs!' with' alarge bhndle wliich lie hid under an oil-drum ii the', yard, and that lie. 3iad 'sold to «Vme' woman. a ' pair of' scissors identi- . Jed by'one of, the factory girls' as ' 'jers: ' ''" V''' The story was; sifted as carefully 'as "if rit had been.a capital'charge, and in tlie sifting camo'all the elements of a grown-up court. ' The prosecuting ser..g'eant: asked searching -questions, the boy's counsel jumped; to his feet in : 'protest, the. Court gravely discriminated, upholding now the sergeant, now the counsel. By'the way tho presence . of a ,lawyer" is not , usual,''nor'is it approved of.:! ,Whbri thd c owner ;of i the scissors had given her evidence "in a very jaunty manner, the employer was recalled and asked whether ho had iii his yard an'oil-drum) or anything that might from \a distance "of fifteen yards be mistaken for ono. .His answer was very decided. There was nothing that looked in the least liko that/ nothing but kerosene tins j and no one could mistake thorn . for oildrums. Then the. boy'was put in the witnessTbox and sworn. He , was a : good-looking wiry youngster ' with bright dark eyes, and a nervous thinlipped mouth. And .he was liervous. • Be, had been standing at the.table all' this; while, very ..erect..and still, and, he, stood very erect now as he told his .story clearly, not. to. say fluently, but ho moistened his lips every minute, and his thin little brown liaiid opened and shlit .tho guilty scissors nervbusly all tho time: His story sounded in-nocent-enough. He had not boon into the factory, but ho had sold the. scissors on commission for a'boy ho had met in the street. He had sold tliejn for threepence, and received a penny -for his trouble.' The boy from whom he got . them was now in gaol on a charge of theft., Truancy, the Court finds is the beginning of all ovil. The boy was very closely questioned as to his'attendance at school, and became rather badly tangled up in his, answers, but this might havo been due 'to his nervousness, and a letter from his teacher stated that he was honest ;and truthful. Then t-ho witness who •had said that froth a balcony fifteen yards away he had watched tho boy conie down the factory stairs with *a parcel Which lie hid under an oil-drum, was recalled' and asked with the utmost; solemnity whether lie would swear positively that this youngster • in' the sailor blouse was the one he had scon on the factory stairs; Ho hesitated. He was almost certain, but, no, he would not stake his life on' it. ' 'And the proprietor had stated there

was 110 oil-drum to hide anything Beneath. It was. very hard not tp apphiud when the. Magistrate declared that the boy was discharged.' The nil'r official-looking ; usher laid a , kindly hand on the boy's shoulder, and put him back in the witness-box to listen ■ to a .little, kindly advice from his "Worship, on the danger of associating with' hoys who got into. gaol. Then the lioor hoy's courage vanished, ami lie, broke down and sobbed as ho declared that every, word he had said was true.' Wo'did not think lie would feel very much like a hero, as he went out of tho room with, his mother, or 'that he would find much fascination in tiic idea of pursuing wild ways that might lead him back again. That, is one chief virtuo of: the Children's Court, that it takes away all suggestion af anything heroic in boyish wickedness, and makes it stem simply childish naughtiness, to be dealt with seriously enough, but not as a matter of villainy and the law. Wo were very much impressed' with the wholo proceeding, the careful enquiries of the Magistrate, the alertness of the h&y's,counsel, cvon the persistence of the constablo in charge, in putting the ease , for tho prosecution, the general sense of responsibility, and the feeling that one knew was shared by all that this was a much more important alfair than an adult prosecution, that an hour of their

very best consideration givon to a boy now, might nuike all tho difference to his futuro lifo, and while this particular boy was discharged his experiences in the Court, narrated to his companions might well act as a deterrent to them. Tho next morning wo spent at tho Court was crowded with cases muclj less fortunnato than this, cases which rovealcd shocking stories of parontal irresponsibility and criminal neglect. In tho time that had been givon to tho one boy's case we heard half a dozen rapidly put through that day. There are/ of course, many uucoutrollablo children whose wild ways aro well known to the polico for some time boforo they bring thomselves within reach of the law, and then, what seoms to tho casual observer a very trivial piece of naughtiness may be mado : tho occasion of a wcll-camcd reprimand, or tho excuse for chango of guardianship. One lady who gavo, ovidonco that two shock-headed forlorn looking lads had stolen some articlo worth a few pence, told us that she would nover have brought tho case had not the police assured her that it was for the boys' best interest, and as we listened to the stories told by tho depraved father and mother who cared 'nothing for .their children oxcept as weapons of spite to use against each other, wo know that' tho polico were right. The limit of age for this Court is sixteen years, and one boy who came' up had narrowly escaped 'trial in an adult court. Ho was charged . with burglary and theft, and his companion -.being sixteen years old had been tried, in the Police Court and sent, to gaol. This lad being several months youngor, ,camo before the children's'court, and for tho,same,offenco with equal guilt was sent to a reformatory -where tliero was good prospect that lie would bo trained to becomo a useful citizen. A .reformatory is tho last resort. If possible on first conviction of an;oft'onco the culprit is admitted to probation and left with his parents or guardians, 'aiid failing that he is probably boarded out with; responsible people. Many and conflicting were the opinions I heard expressed with regard to the Court. Ono' of the/women who had agitated for its institution said .she was entirely satisfied that ,it was. run'-on-right lines, and'quoted the opinion of \an expert from another state to. the samo effect, while n teacher who had made a special study of children complained bitterly of tho formalities that made the Court so much like an ordinary police ,court; and so unlike the American court ,whoro overy effort was made to.got in touch with the child's . mind. She Would have done away with constables, the oath, and the witness, box,' and urged that the measure of its resemblance to a police court did servo to brand the child who came before this ■ Court as a .criminal. , She -had t>een present, she told us, when a. little girl had had to givo evidence in. a very painful/case, and she said that'in tho circumstances th,e . Magistrate, should have taken that evidence with a great deal more \privacy than was possible in'that' Court, and.from that wit-ness-box. Wo wer'c assured on tho other hand that American methods would not suit • Australian , children, that a certain amount ;of foi-mality was 1 necessary to make tliQjn .ir.espect the law. Tho position was" probably summed up' 'accurately by S the. man, •the friend, of many children-who had had' ample oportunity of observing tho workings of the' Court and its result, ■who, told us that the Australian-Child-ren's Court Iwas at .present in g .state iof transition.') Necessarily so'sinco the Act was so new; and that ultimately it' would probably bo established on now lines, following-those familiar in America,' but' probably in some: rospccts ' evbn - improving on American methods.' Such a court would, ho thought, be fonnd quite adapted to Australian children, and the polico, . olemont would probably in time be entirely eliminated. '.