INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1779, 18 June 1913, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

AND BOARDED-OUT CHILDREN. SYSTEM REVIEWED. ADDRESS BY MR. R. H. POPE. An address was delivered to the Eugenics Society last night by Mr. R. H. Pope, tho officer who is in chargo of tho special schools under tho Education Department, on the subject of "Thirty Years of Industrial School Administration in New Zealand." Professor Kirk presided. Mr. Popo said that tho Industrial Schools Act had been in force sinco 18S3, so that it was now possiblo to review 30 years of the administration of it. Ho outlined the outstanding provisions of the Act. In spite of the fact that parents were oontinually appealing to have their children removed from tho guardianship of the State, and Riven back to them, tho Education Department had discovered very few cases in which tho removal of the children from their home environment could have been avoided with advantage. Tho boarding-out system had also been a proncuuced success. The family was a social unit, and if they had succeeded in securing family life for the unfortunate children under SUitp wardship, a great work had been done for. New Zealand. But had they succeeded? Had the children taken from their natural homes been provided in their 'foster homes with tho care and consideration essential to their development? The answer of all the officers was that tho success of the system as a means of fitting children to take a responsible place in society was beyond question. The great majority of tho homes found for the children wero good. A few, a very few, were not, but these were soon discovered, and the children removed from them. Ho described the later developments in the schools, the classification of inmates, and the apportioning of them to institutions of different character. This had already proved bcneficial, and would prove increasingly more so.

The Dangers of Freedom. It was not claimed that the. boys and girls were turned out of the schools thor-' oughly well trained to'earn their living, and industrial school boys and girls did not always readily adapt themselves to new control when they were placed out nt service. Th'o boarded-out children were not handicapped by "this sudden change of surroundings and plan of life. They were used to a homo life, and a certain amount of freedom, and they did not feel the change much when they went out to cam their living. With the boy going out from the industrial school it was different. Certain restrictions were necessary in a school, which would be absent in the new life outside of it, and a boy or girl occasionally misused his or her liberty, fail ing partly to appreciate the changed conditions. For this reason the superintendent of the school wus always more or less anxious for a time after a boy or girl went out to a situation.

Time after time the return of children to parents from whom they were taken wa9 attended with disastrous results and disappointment. Very often the reasons why parents, previously proved to be unfit to control their children, asked to have them back again, were sordid or vile. Such was the case when, for instance, the parents suddenly made a display of affection .when their children reached a'wage-earn-ing age,- or when a mother .of loose morals asked to have her daughter of 18 or 17 years of age returned-to-her. There were, it' was true, cases- in which the parents had really reformed while their children were' in the 1 schools, and in most of .these eases the reform 'of. both children and parents had been permanent. In other cases, however, the boys were allowed to get into trouble again, and they had to .bo brought back to the school; more difficult to handle than before. Tor these reasons the Department had made tho standard required for a license highi-r, and had consistently refused, in the face of agitation often by influential people, to allow boys to retua-n to pawntsof. doubtful, fitness. A very treat deaPof goo'd'was-being done by private societies in providing the magistrates with information as to whether boys -coming before the Children's Court were proper cases for probation or commitmont.

* The Absconder. Absconding from industrial school^,and from licensed service .was a constant source of anxiety. Of course, walls and locks could bo made to hold boys, but_the difhciilty.was that the boys had to bo allowed as many of tho conditions .of home life as possible. The cause of Absconding -was in most cases an impenetrable mystery. Probably tho chief, rea-son-was that the boys found the discipline and regular routine of the school irksome, ,but when they were brought back again thev most often had no reason to offer for their oonduct. The chief danger In boys running away wa3 that sooner or later hunger drove them to theft, and. this not infrequently ended in their being brought before a police court. The dangers which met a girl who ran away from on institution were infinitely greater, but fortunately girls were not nearly so prono to run away as boys were.- In view of tho amount of liberty given to the inmates at' schools, it was really surprising that more of them did not run awaj. Ho spoke of Burnham School, the only properly so-called reformatory institution in New Zealand, pointing out that the boys were not treated 1 with' the severity that was commonly supposed. To go through tho dormitory at Burnham and to see so many boysi sleeping peacefully ,was a sight to which he could never get ,uscd. He could not help thinking- that if all thoso boys had had a proper upbringing things would never nave gone wrong. Of course boys woro'never sent to Burnham for their first lapse; only the worst boys ever went tliero. This boing so, tho percentago of failures was naturally higher than _in the other schools. Burnham boys, did sometimes become criminals, but ho did not think it was fair tg say that Burnham was n breeding-ground* for criminals. Afterwards Mr. .Pope answered somo questions, and tho subject was declared open for discussion.

George' Junior' Republics. Sir Robert Stout said he wished to say a word or two about Burnham, ;and Che statement sometimes mado that it was a breeding-ground for criminals. It certainly was truo that a number of criminals came from Burnham. The Prisons Board lmd recently had befbro it seven who cDuld not oven bo admitted to probation. Ho did not know whether tho Goveijnment had considered the" advisability oii adopting tho system of the "George Junior Republics." In this (republic and in others modelled upon its plan the mottjo was: "Nothing without labour." He thought it might bo wise to try this system oven with the Burnham boys. It was true that when Burnham 'boys got out they usually got into trouble for thcift, but it was not correct to say that th<;y v;ero driven to this by hunger. Two youths" who had recently been before him had actually been in work, but they had ruai away and deliberately embarked upon a career of crime. There was no doubt t'hat tho knowledge that nothing could boobtained without labour, as in the Georgo Jiiinior Republic, had a good ciffect on tho characters of boys. Ho would also very much like to see a proper record of tho parentage of all inmates of Burnham kept. It would bo interesting to know whether these young ,-peoplo who subsequently went wrong inherited criminal tendencies. Mr, Pope said there was certainly an incorrigiblo section' at Burnham, and theso boys no doubt inherited a criminal taint from thoir parents. As complete a record as could bo obtained ~of tho parentage of boys entering Burnham iras obtained, and the record of the boy's ' character.was kept until.three years after the boy wa3 liberated. So foj as ho could sco. there wero Burnham boys, and j a l S o girls in tho Te Oranga Home, who were not fit to go out. How; to deal with ttee young people, who were growing older, was a problem facing'the'Department. To liberate them was certain to lead to thoir getting into trouble, and when they committed crimes it was almost a farco them beforo t.lie Court, because' they wero not really. »tosponsiblo for their actions. He would not caro to pass an opinion on the Goor;e> Junior Republic, simply becauso lie did not know enough about the scheme. The only proper way to investigate tho working of tho in'st.itutf.ou would bo to send 0110 of our own experienced managers to live for a time in ono of tho republics. A voto of thanks was accorded to Mr. Fopo for bis address.