A NOVEL COMMUNITY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1954, 10 January 1914, Page 11

A NOVEL COMMUNITY.

RUN BY CHILDREN. (i There is a most intferesting' little Commonwealth at' Flowers Farm, Batcombe, where among the hills of* Dorsetshire a unique community of young people are making and enforcing their own laws (writes the London correspondent of the Sydney "Telegraph ). Mr. H. T. Lane, the nominal director of the little Commonwealth, who submits to its laws and oniy offers suggestions when invited to do so,_ js permitting these young citizens a wide freedom to pursue their own courses. _ Ho lias been connected with similar t institutions in America, but it is his opinion that the English children are decidedly more responsive to the system, and although the experiment is in its early stages he is very satisfied with the progress which the citizens are making of their own will. In this community a number of cniWfrom various juvenile courts throughout tbo country—are framing their own laws, administering their own punislijshed, they having been sent to the farm ren —whose characters are not unblemmouts, devising their owe standards of

SOME MORNING CAPS. conduct, and evolving a system of lifo unchccked I. y any authority boyond that exerted by their'own public opinion. They havo a judge—a girl of 13—and tho Commonwealth constable, is by no means physically the most powerful inmate of the. farm. Tho court, which assembles twice a week, crystallises the development of social consciousness amongst the citizens. Here are specimens of the charges and complaints adjudicated. Deceit, defamation of character, breaking " close bounds, keeping bedroom window .shut-,, breakfasting without washing, face, smoking, water taps left running in bathroom, leaving out new chopper and other tools, burning oil on tho tire, ctc. The youthful judge, who is a very dignified person, sentences tho offenders in various ways. For instance, the boys 'who wero careless in tho matter of tho tools were sentenced to cleaning ovory speck'of rust from all theytodls owned by tho Commonwealth. *' Somo of its Laws. In this little Commonwealth publio opinion' is the chief constable, and among tho laws promulgated in tho legislature are tho following:—No matches to bo wasted. Girls aro not allowed to talk to boys during work. No citizen allowed to smoke. Citizens to go without breakfast on occasions of not washing. Boys whoso rooms are not clean will loso a day's wagos and bo fined 6d., and so oh. Tho only placo in tho Commonwealth that, is locked is tho shop,-whore citizens can purchase such luxuries as boiled sweets, or such necessities as boots, tooth brushes, and gloves. Each citizen can earn lis. weekly by consistent work, and thoy have to pay 7s. for their board. They havo a special coinage, but certain of tho citizens aro so constantly in scrapes as to havo no capital at all, and are a burden upon tho community, who havo had to purchase clothes aud pay laundry bills for two delinquents. The knowlcdgo that misbehaviour means a charge upon tho community's -taxes causes every citizen to bo critical of his neighbour. _ $ There is a common dining-room and a play-room, and olio of the girls, with pretensions' to cooking, prepares wholesome and satisfactory meals. Each citizen has a sleeping cubiclo of roomy proportions, and tho law of personal cleanliness is ruthlessly enforced by popular .voto. Two other cottages aro being erected as well as a bank, a shop, and a room for studious purposes—tho citizen having expressed a desiro to be instructed in various sciences. In a short time the strength of tho community will bo raised to -10, and tlieso youngsters who otherwise might have been consigned to a reformatory aud ultimately a prison, will, it is hosed, develop into useful sitizom.