TWO BURNHAM BOYS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 829, 30 May 1910, Page 11

TWO BURNHAM BOYS.

BURGLARIES IN BLENHEIM DISTRICT.

A CHANCE TO REFORM.

Two lads who had absconded from the Burnham Industrial School came before the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) for sentence on Saturday morning, having pleaded guilty to charges of breaking and entering and theft at Blenheim. Tlio boys we're: Albert William Foote, alias Jennings, alias 'Leighton (two charges of burglary and ono charge of theft), ahd Henry Gordon (two charges of burglary).

After perusing the report of the Probationer Officer, and a statement' handed up by Foote, the elder of the two lads, his Honour remarked that Footo considered that ho would have got on all right, if lie had been loft alone, after he had absconded from the school. But ha had no business to abscond. He had broken away from custody on several occasions, once stealing out of the dormitory, and had repeatedly got into trouble after obtaining his liberty. He had been sent out to service, but had been taken back to the school because he bad said untrue things about his master, and because he had stolen his money. He had been convicted of theft at Kaiapoi, had beon before the Supreme Court at Christchurch in 1908, had absconded later, had broken away from the court at Wairoa, Nelson, had served a term of imprisonment at Auckland, and Had now absconded from the school again.

Foote here interrupted: If I had had n chance, I would have been all right. It is the way I have been treated wliile I have been tliore.

His Honour: You should have worked in tho school, and dono your bsst to prove what you could do. You were well fed and well treated, no doubt, but, if you chose to commit olfonces, you could not expect to have your liberty. Footo replied: One of the officers — who ought to be an example—turned round and said to me, "You ought to be in gaol all your life." His Honour: I caii, if I choose, declare you to be an habitual Criminal, and you would not get out again. Foote: So long as I can get away from the school, f will be all right. His Honour: You have no right to get out of the school. You havo no right, if you commit offences, to dictate, where you shall 20. Is there anyone to lake you?

Footo: Yes, people down in Marlborough. They aro quite willing to take me. His Honour: And look after youP Foote: Yes. His Honour: And you will stop with them ? Footo: Yes. His Honour: T will adjourn your ease, then, to see what can bo done for you. Looking at the papers in regard to the other lad, Gordon, his Honour remarked that his father.had died and his mother was of weak character. His brother had beeir in trouble also, and thorc might bo some hereditary influence upon tho lad. His Honour regretted to see tbat the manager of tho school had stated, in reporting on this case, that it was the first, time iu his dealings with Burnham boys tbat ho was at a loss to know what to do with tho lad.

His Honour: Haye you anybody to take you? Gordon: No. His Honour: 'Well, I don't know: what to do'with you. Would you prefer to go to school, or gn t-o Invorcargill, where they have a reformatory, and where they will look after you? Would you care to try that? Gordon: Yes, I hnve been at carpentering for six years. Hi a Honour: Well, I will give you a cbanco by sending you to Invercargill for-a short period. lam told that boys sent there have been turned out good men. What is to be your future in lifo if you aro E°' n S in and out ol gaol? Tho old saying is perfectly true, that "Honesty is tho best policy." If you continue in tho way yon are' going, you will only have trouble and imprisonment, and all tho evils that follow therefrom.- By sending you to Invereargill for nine months, I shall givo you an opportunity to redeem yourself, and we shall seo if they can do something to turn you out a better man.

"BEGUN LIFE BADLY." A YOUNG MAN'S MISDEEDS. The young man, Percival M'Kernaji Braithwaite, who had been found guilty of stealing a bicycle, had nothing to say when ho was brought up for sentence on Saturday morning. The Chief Justice remarked that tho prisoner was still a young man, and he had begun life badly. Hg had been previously convicted oi tlioft. On this occasion, he had stolen from a fellow lodger, a poor man, who could ill afford to lose £2 10s. Prisoner: After tho case I intended to refund tho money. His Honour: A young man who com'fuits larceny or theft does not always moan to return the money. If you ivant to have any happiness in life, you will have to' so conduct yourself in the future as never to appear before the court again. You will bo sentenced to three months' imprisonment, with hard labour. THE WADESTOWN FIRE CASE. THIRD TRIAL. Mr. W. H. D. Bell, on behalf of the Crown, made application to tho Chief Justice on Saturday morning, for a retrial of . Eberhardt, Ferdinand Ronner upon a chargo of arson. Renner was tried at the February sittings, and again last week, and on each occasion the jury disagreed. Mr. MMlford appeared for tho accused. Tho Chief Justico ordered that tho trial should bo proceeded with at 11 o'clock this morning. Bail was allowed to tho accused.