DECREASE IN CRIME.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2153, 20 May 1914, Page 8

DECREASE IN CRIME.

REMARKS i)Y OJIII-3F JUSTICE. (By Telegraph.- -Spr;. c i 0 i Correspondent.) irn , Pa, , mei ' s(on NSnh, M a , ly Mty ti.'i.HioeUa, under W years 0 { age, eamu »p tor sentence iirthe g u . IvH-'S i U v fw tlK ' ft of a- potital packet a£ .iNcwtery, His Hon,mr the Chief Jvsliro (Sir Iwbert Stout) remarked that the accused had counniU«d two crimes, and was ihf.ielore not a li.rsi offender. lie mv . d.ewtood; however, that she, was' undergoing a period of, detention a«, the Salvation Army Home to Wellington, and if frU; H a ®' od r ° I>ort )i« jvould then merely older her to come up tor senlen.ee ivhcn called mron. His HonWr comme'iited thai .\W Zealand was tm 2 GfjiiVe id nii extQiit 1 iieiv" 1 '° any country ho

t _S|ro.akiijg of crime senerafly, lie said: , h "f[ ™' a t a? Wie country gets so'ttlftd Mirt .aH those institutions that make for tie itup rovomont of social iifc arc ioundlil the micist of xj-ur people crime clocreases. Via cannot espect to ho freo . from breakers of opr laws. Wo reeeiye population from couiitries not. accustomed to our social life, and wo have in onr imdsc some people of weak w.iils and weak iiitelfig.Gi.Tfe., a:;d it is not surprising:, tlierSiOre, that we fi.aye ofTciKlcri;; xijo very fact that >v.o huvo crime in our nu'Jst Should show us Vhat wo :a"ro iiot 0 1. equal ») mental, ntoral. and physical aliiiiiy. and thai there mi:si bo an everlasting struck, to- tiain the weak that * they may become rirftng. Just as it has boon said that tlio poor Would 'ahv.ays ])0' found amongst huriinni'ti - ., so if, .may be said that ollemlors will also .aitravy bo found as long as human Mature is "'hat it is. \\\i may roiigfaiulate ourselves that tilling tlio Dominion as a, • whole crime is .not insre.;isi|ig t but is. <Iccicasiiij; relatively to our population, jt. wmtft iiot- lja.vo bmi swrfxrising if it had increased. First our roitntry is getting more closely Settled, cities and towns arc licecniiiijj forger, and it has been found iltat tlas'oi'toi'i tends to an mcioaso of crime. Second., so fur as siimmary olieiices are- ootiC.efited, new ■laws arc . being made with penalties for. their ji)fradtjtfii..j. oii:r police arc. ; (ii<jro native than in tiio early days, and crime?, are iiioro easily detected, Serious crimo has not decreased in all countries. In 1!)12 there was' an. iueiesse in .Scotland, and. in 100!) in England .ijrd Wales. No ; dorAl our .struggles to keep our ideals of KQCtal lifo alid social duty higl's l'ia.vo ! helped as. and out maintenance of our . schools and our many other institutions havo ; be6il of immense service. to o;ir ! people. If crime docs increase in a coijsimi.uity, these is Something wwtfjft which it is .■iho duty of the people to drsratfer' and' remedy. Bui -it tliers is a decrease 1 in offences we may assume tljat things arc.not out of joint."