BOYS' INSTITUTE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1094, 5 April 1911, Page 6

BOYS' INSTITUTE.

ANNUAL MEETING OF SUBSCRIBERS. The annual meeting of subscribers to tho Wellington Boys' Institute was held at the institute last evening. Mr. Justice Chapman presided, and there was an attendance of about 30. Tho annual report and balance-sheet (published in The Dominion yesterday), were read and adopted. In the course of an interesting address, Mr. Justice Chapman remarked that the report was the most satisfactory in tho history of the institution. If he might use an unconventional phrase, tho instituto had struck a streak of good luck on several occasions, with the result that the whole basis; of its energies had been revolutionised. He referred to tho gift to the institute of a valuable, site, and the public support which had been manifested in the recent campaign for funds. The best feeling and the maximum of enthusiasm —such as was evidenced in the management of the institute—might be present, but their efforts would bo minimised if the machinery was defective. From the point of view of one who had the honour to represent the judiciary, it was, continued the speaker, a happy circumstance that the Supreme Court had verv little to do with juvenile crimiualitv. That responsibility fell for tho most part or. the magistrates. Tho Dominion was remarkably free from this species of crime, a species, he pointed out, which was primarily the manifestation cf tho latest savagery of the human race. This manifestation was largely preventable, he continued, and this rosponsibility should form part of the communal duties of citizenship—not the curing of the criminal, but the dealing with him at a time when prevention was a possible, a probable, and a pleasing task; to cut off the sources of temptation unavoidable in those of criminal instincts, but not so to those, free from such instincts, who might otherwise be exposed .to the dangers of contamination; to lead into such channels as were beneficial. Everything lay in the training. The bulk of the population was wellinclined, end the opportunity should bo given of strengthening that, inclination at the period nf life when the mind was most susceptible to the influence of environment and associations. The whole ideal of altruism was misdirected if it were not mainly influenced by a proper understanding between youth and experienced eiders. The speaker referred in terms of approval to the general work of the institution, which, he said, was progressing on sound lines, tinder a proper system of supervision, and having for its objective the development of a sane mind in a healthy body. (Applause.) Mr. C. P. Colonens. secretary of the Institute, in presenting the annual report, said that the Institute was not a r-jfoiKiilcry in (he sense that juvenile criminals were diverted to a better wav of living; at the sirme time there was no doubt that a great many boys who might otherwise have yielded to the tendency created by environment to go wrong had been rescued from that tendency. ~\]p might say that intemperance and gambling were the most prolific sources of criminality, and the inlluencc of the institute in those respects was a healthy corrective—clean sports inculcated the lessons to be drawn from victories and defeats—and that inlluencc was farreaching in its effects. The following honorary officers wert elected for the ensuing term:—President, Mr. G. A. Troup; vice-presidents, Messrs M. D. Meuelaus, C. S. Moore, and Dr. M'baurin; treasurer, Mr. W. Crawford Young; secretary, Mr. D. Patterson; auditor. Mr. R. Wilbcrfes; physician, Dr. Hogg; management committee, Messrs. J. ITislop. D. R. Mcnzics, R. Y. Walls, C. Haycock, and 11. Pearson. Votes' of thanks to the chairman, to tho press for its support, nud to the instruc--1 lot* cnnriurlfirt, the. .proceedinssi