THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

Evening Star, Issue 3491, 1 May 1874, Page 2

THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.

The other day we paid a visit to the Reformatory at Look-out Point, and were much pleased with the condition of the establishment and the appearance of its inmates, each of which speaks volumes for the excellent management of the master (Mr Britton) and his worthy better-half. The buildings, and any improvements or additions to them have been noticed from time to time in these columns, so that we are now left little or nothing to say on that head. Consideration for his visitors, who, strange to say, are not many, though the visits of Hie public are encouraged in every way, has induced Mr Britton to make a pathway from the road to the thereby saving pedestrians much of the hill,: which so sorely triedtheir patience before. In one of the large dormitories, in the wooden building at the back, an additional means of egress—a highly necessary thing in case of fire—has been provided. In passing through the kitchen we noticed the introduction of a- labor-saving machine in the shape of a peculiarly constructed bread-outter, which gets through in less than twenty minutes the work that formerly occupied an hour and a-half. It was certainly an inventive mind that suggested the utilisation of an old sword blade as the cutter.

Let us examine the position of the Institution at the end of the financial year. At the beginning of this month there were located at the Reformatory fifty.seren boys and thirty-mne girls, against fifty-five boys and forty-one girls last year. The admissions during the twelve months were eighteen boys and ten girls, During the same period there have been placed at service seventeen boys and eleven girls, while one boy has been discharged, so that there are now ninety-six children in the establishment. The economy which has always characterised Mr Bntton a management continues to be exercised, without the -efficiency: of the Institution being in any way impaired. Last year ■ a vote under all heads was L 2,018. the actual expenditure only L 1,453, inoludmg an outlay of L 52. for s new bath-house and necessary repairs to buildings. 7 The average cost of maintenance was 5s per. head per week. The master-again reports that he has more applications for the services of both

hoya and girls than he nan supply, owing to their being too young, and' hot educated; while the aopountaof the treatment and conduct of those' who are placed oht have been highly satisfactory. We have before explained?,the manner in which Mr Bntton encourages habits of thrift on the part of his young charges - we ! will let him speak for himself as to the results’;— -The amount of wages received during the vear by those who have been placed out has been L12317s 11. This, added to the L 212 Is 6d mentioned in my last year’s report, will make a total of L 335 19s fid, exclusive of interest. This amount is deposited in the Post Uflice Savings Bank, to the credit of 47 ohildren, viz., 26 boys and 21 girls. 13 boys and 12 girls have under L 5 each to their credit: 7 boys and 2 girls have between L 5 and LlO eaoh; 3 boys and 4 girls between LIO and Lls each • 1 boy and 3 girls between*’ LIS and L2O each, and 2 boys over L2O each. In only one instance have the earnings of the children been given up to their parents ; and that was the case of a boy—the son of respectable parents—who had been committed for incorrigibility, and the oost of whose maintenance while in thesohoqlhad been defrayed, by his father. The which the children have information before they go oat to service—is that the money, with accrued interest, will be paid tothe young people on attaining their, ipjsjority, or at such other times as may bo deemed ad.visable,. good conduct being in «»v«rj «... k condition of such payment being made. " The Reformatory has now been in existence five years; and Mr Hislop, its in«pt»otor has rightly assumed the present to^Wthe; proper time for considering whavhave - been the fruits of its operation. He tellsus that , •; v, r ■ ■ ; • vr' In the course of my visits to the rural distrusts I have been , able, .to* procure, reliable .information, respecting a number of the children who have been, boarded out.As .a - rule,,such information .has been. satisfactory both ns regards the conduct of the young people; treatment, of them by thbse undtr whose charge they have been placed.' : The ' rep&ts furnished by members of the police force-on both of. these points are also for the mtwjfcpart of a satisfactory nature. There are, as might befexpeoted, some exceptions ; but; on the whole, they are wonderfully tare. Bat he prefers tbe more emphatic iidstimony of tho children themselves as to their treatment by their employers - and the testiraony of the employers as to the obhanct and disposition of the children. Ah examination of the fifteen Mr hislop.mentions is both interesting and .instructive. Each child s antecedents are first set but; then an account is { given of his or her present oondilon* *. m ver y litile, difference in? the narratives—they are pretty much one storyof mothers, most abandoned characters, whose pn!y aim, appeared ;tp ( ’tb spring down to their fearful; - *pd of fathers (where they could W fbdnd) either incorrigible drunkards: or convicted 'thipVes or vvorse. The waifs of humaUityof thr&4nd four years ago, who, bad they been allowed to continue the lifethey /were then leading, would have developed into greater, fcbral pests than their parents; are nW on the high road to becoming useful and respectable members of the community. ’ Let two instances —though many such could be adduced—of the change that has been Wrought in thPin, suffice. Of a girl, Whose antecedents williiet bear being mentioned, her employer, whenhe parted with ( her only beoaape ;he bad no farther need of her services, wrote;—' , She is a good and clever girl, and, above-all. she is extremely honest; in fact all I can sayis that she is a credit to you, and thejnanner that the children are brought up in the Industrial School The girl was with me nine months, and I cannot give her too good a character. I am certain she is a girl that 4 Vill keep her chatacter good. As is very often the ease with former inmates ‘‘this girl (Mr Hislop adds) spent her last holiday with Mr and Mrs Britton, whom she consults on all her little affairs;- as any rightly brought up child would Cpi&ult her Own parents. Although she is now beyond Mr Britton’s legal control,, she takes or sends, her spare wages to him t# be deposited in tbe darings Bank,” The instance is— ' ~■■■ . P*s«. of youngs G——, whose committal to the Industrial, School about seven wnwth« ago excited, some degree ot attehtioh. and whose case wu regawied even by Mr Britton as hopelessly bad. ’ Through , the interest of his Honor the Superintendent, when at Wellimtton •“‘JW 0~- was discharged fromthcsXool and taken as an ihe vesaer has since been twice at Pdrt Otidmere, and on both of these occasions G—— went to see Mr and? Mrs Britton hud his old schoolmates, though he did not go near his worthless parents. He expressed as qute pleased with his new position, and at his last visit; he informed Mr Britton . that his wages had been raised to L2 per month. Tho least satisfactory of: all the reports that have been made concerning the children plhped out, were that one boy had Vlasy habitsand that a girl was “slow to learn «qw to become useful It even appears that the conduct and habits of the parents of children committed to the Reformatory have been so influenced as to lead to ; reformation.: Mr Hislop is not prepared to.offera pwitivo, opinion as to*the cause of the, reformation in the oases he cites, but observes : , . .

pie idea has, however, begun < to impress itself upon Mr Bntton; and myself that the visible .improvement effected through the instmoentahty of the institution upon the conduct and condition of their children may have been exercising in some cases, a powerful rifle* influence upon the parents, even to. such an extentasto create xnthein a strong yearning after good, and thus to bring about that amendment of life so manifestly exhibited by them. unprobable v that the shook produced ° f Parents by the forcible removal of their children from their control f av ®* 111 “Oiae instances, contributed towards the results referred .to! Even long before the expiry of the term for which the children have been committed, it sometimes happens that the conduct of the parents has so much unproved, and they express so strong a them 0 *K > f b a yo their little ones restored to to place their children Out with them. Of coursethe children remain under the legal control of the instiiu»3d. tll « parents knowing this, are usually avoid euch a course of . uote ’*&»' instancies of parents reformTwo years after Jemima was admitted,' her "Penrod'a strongly pressed by her employers lo S wHi them after the expiry other term, JeSa went home to her parents. She, paid i a , visit Mely to Mr and Mrs Britton, ats described with much apparent satisfaction, how plea* Catherine .ad Edward/‘«P“hoMe vS med nWU -.a ß ®! “*4 she pleadedhard to have hj er 1 'After 1 SrSlI factory probation her request was granted,

She is still persevering in her good habits, aid not only is she maintaining, herself- and - hjer child respectably, but she keeps her at a good school, and is gradually paying off the cost of the girl’s maintenance at the Industrial School, which could not by any means be got from hter at the time. There are. at present three other cases of a somewhat similar nature. t Of the conduct of the children generally, Mr Hislop says:—" Although, a very large proportion of the children of the school . hits undoubtedly turned out well, it must' be admitted that some must have acquitted themselves only moderately well.” He and Mr Britton only know of one boy and girl who proved thoroughly bad, and they are certainly bad, notwithstanding the many good influences that were unremittingly brought to bear upon them for several years. These two oases deserve more than passing notice, because they raise a question which seriously affeote the success of a the Institution. The idea seems to exist in the minds, of seme magistrates that there is no necessity to keep within 1 proper limits the number6f children to be provided for at the public bx-. pens©. Hence we have' some committals which, while clearly in excess of the powers conferred by, the Act, are a'positive injustice to the officials of the ißstitution, whose hardest task has been 'to / prevent the children, properly so called, from being contaminated by boys arid : girls who wore irreclaimable, and have since become inmates of a gaol, where they should, .have been sent in the first instance. For example, in February last there was committed from Naseby a girl who is returned as fourteen years, and who, when her term is up, will be eighteen. In the saine month the Dunedin' Bench committed for three years a girl who was then fourteen years and six months, and only last bionth the Resident Magistrate committed for two years agirl wh6 had just' turned fourteen. The Act says " Every boy and girl under the age of fifteen years shall be deemed to be * a child’within the meaning and for the purposes ©f the Act. ” It is manifest; then, that no person who has attained the age of fifteen is a neglected child!; and therefore cannot be detained. : " V j * Finally, there is a matter which should at once receive the serious attention of the Goyemment. Two years ago, or a little more, it was settled that future, additions to extensions of the Reformatory, should be of: a permanent character, and in beeping Vrftb the main building, but a want of funds led to the abandonment of that idea. The consequence is that there is at the Reformatory a number of old wooden buildings, which, while doingdutyasdormitories very wfell.cost a great deal to keep in repair, are- far from suitable, and lead to much inconvenience and losa of tirae; but,.as Mr Hislop. points out, are mostly objectionable'on account of the risk arising from fire, for, if a fire broke out,* i the consequences might be very serious inideed. Mow that-the money can be spared; the Government should lose no time in cal; ling for tenders for extensions of the; main building. ' \y'\ I