The Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2694, 5 October 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1871.

One of chief of the collateral branches of what may be considered the ques tion of the cliy—the Education’ question—is the problem How are the children of the criminal classes to be prevented from being trained up in the way of life of their parents 1 And this problem is by no means one of the easiest of its class. The great difficulties connected with it are that vicious habits and frailties are hereditary —that they are handed down from sire to son, much in the same way as a scrofulous, a gouty, or a maniacal tendency is handed down; and secondly, that even when a young scion of the criminal classes has been caught, trained, and nearly cured, there is still the greatest possible reason to fear that the moment he is freed from restraint and again brought into contact with his criminal relatives, he will be in great danger of relapsing into their habits. In Otago we have done at least our share towards advancing the solution of this problem, and as far as the first of the above mentioned difficulties is concerned, our success has been very considerable. The Otago Industrial School has now been in operation for some time, and we have every reason to be satisfied with what has been done. In that institution a large number of children, varying in age from a few months to fourteen years, are being gradually accustomed to habits of order, industry, and temperance; they are receiving the rudiments of a plain English education ; they are taught to reverence the name of God, to look forward to a world to come, and to know that some people at all events hold that there is a difference between right and wrong. In short, if careful training and discipline are of any use in eradicating evil dispositions and tendencies, it would seem highly probable that the children at the Reformatory are in favorable circumstances for getting their moral diseases cured. It is hardly necessary to say what would have been the condition of these children if there had been no institution of this kind to which to send them. They would, of course, in the great majority of instances, have received a thorough initiation into every kind of vice, and would in a few years have been complete rascals, hopelessly beyond the reach of any human remedy. We hold, then, that we have every reason to congratulate ourselves that so much has been done towards . giving these unfortunate children a chance. We think, moreover, that this community owes a very great deal to Mr St. John Branioan for proposing and making the necessary arrangements for establishing this institution ; to his Honor the present Superintendent for warmlyseconding the proposals of Mr Branioan, and giving effect to his recommendations ; and last, but not least, to the master of the Reformatory for the excellent and successful manner in which he has conducted it during the time that it has been opened. * It is, however, with regard to the second of the difficulties mentioned above that we wish more particularly to speak at present—the danger that a considerable proportion of the children under treatment at the Reformatory will relapse on being brought into renewed contact with their criminal relatives. It seems to us that when once a parent has proved himself unworthy of the sacred trust committed to him, when once the care of his children and his .control over them have been taken away from him, because the law of the land has decided that he is unfit to be trusted j with them, the decision should be final;, from that time he should nevermore have any control over them whatever. We should very much like to see an Act passed to this effect. When once the State has taken upon itself the duties of a parent (a thing which of course it would never do without the most urgent need), it should see its, adopted child through all difficulties, i and keep a watchful eye on him till lie is able to take his rank as a responsible agent among his fellow men. For just see what is likely to be the result of our present mode of dealing with these children. A boy is brought into the reformatory at the age of say eight or nine years ; at the end of five or six years, as the oaSe may be, he is discharged from the institution, and goes home to his father. Now, supposing that during the time he has been under training, the most salutary impressions have been made upon him, a well-disposed and tolerably industrious lad, how long is he likely to remain so 1 Every circumstance by which he will be surrounded will have a tendency to

make him think that his life at the Reformatory has been a mistake, that work is a thing quite unworthy of a lad of spirit, and that, on the whole, the best thing he qan do will be to act as he sees others acting around him; in three months, probably, he will be as great a rogue as he would have bee a if he had not gone to the Reformatory at all. Of course there would be exceptions, some—but not many, we fear—the course of events would be in a great majority of cases, as we have sketched it above, and the goal would after all be the gaol. But if this sort of thing is to be deprecated in the case of boys, what shall we say of the girls'? If a boy could scarcely be expected to escape shipwreck, what would become of a girl ? A girl at the age of fourteen or fifteen (of all ages perhaps the most dangerous) coming from a place where strict frugality reigns, where everything is done according to rule, and where every irregularity immediately meets with a decided check and an appropriate punishment, into such a house as is kept by the mothers of these children for the most part, into a place where are to be found luxury, riot, and unbounded license, would have no chance whatever of escaping, and would be forced to leap, willing or unwilling, into the horrible abyss of sin, shame, and ruin. We would most strongly recommend this matter to the attention of the Government, and .we hope that they will see their way to do something in it. In the meantime we would suggest, that if power were granted to the authorities of the Reformatory to apprentice the children for the period of five or seven years to respectable persons, when the time of the original sentence has expired, the difficulty might be satisfactorily met.