The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, MAY 8th, 1925. CRIME PREVENTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, MAY Bth, 1925. CRIME PREVENTION.

Crime in port* of Australia, and especially in Melbourne, shown an alarming increase during the last year. Lawlessness, says the Lyttelton “Times”, has become an epidemic. Burglaries, hold-up cases by armed individuals and gangs, and a number of other offences that can be classified as crimes are of daily occurrence. The uneasiness of the community concerning this development was voiced at a recent sitting of the Melbourne Court of General Sessions. The Judge said that a number of young people, often from respectable families, committed offences either because they thought the punishment inflicted on others was not severe, or because they were started on a criminal career. It- was a problem to all the Judges, who had only one way of dealing with it. So far leniency had produced only a crop of young criminals, and for the future punishment would be of a nature that would be an example to others. As a deterrent this course may be more or less effective, but as a cure it is futile. Crime can only

be considered as a recognised disease of the body social. But as well might the physician devote hi- wlmlo attention to c.-n-li sej.arate pustule it, an eruptive lover, a- the Indue or logisl.i tor to criminals .dole-. Symptoms of It malady are valuable m diagnosis, tail the prevention of crime, like the prevention of anything else, ean be effeeied oiilv by attacking the etiuses. We do not !e,.| ended upon to stale l lie eti.se for heredity or mu irotnnieiit as fat-tors jiroviding the key for the understanding of criminal actions but that they do play the chief part is beyond doubt. It is generally recognised that there is one great preventive of crime, one great antidote, and that, is education. This is not. education bounded by the narrow view of schooling, but- from the .standpoint ot all those social forces that tend to mould the individual into'a harmonious member of society. Attbmpts have boon made in the schools to tench this citizenship as an abstract subject. We feel that such attempts tiro doomed to failure. The child is incapable of grasping the idea of society at large, but lie can realise bis duty and responsibility to bis little school community. There is one ot the best training grounds for the l*v,-abiding citizen cl the future, tin the teachers of the Dominion a large measure of responsibility rests. We have no hesitation in saying that one of the I (actors enabling New /.calami to look with justifiable satisfaction on tiefavourable comparison that can be made with other countries in the matter of crime is the fine teaching service of this Dominion. One of the explanations commonly put fmvnrd In explanation of crime among the young is the diminishing influence of parental control. That this .should lie so is regrettable. That it is a fact is oi|Ually regrettable. But too often parental control is interpreted as an arbitrary tbou-sliaU-imt policy enforced with rigour and austerity. Such a method gives point to the gibe that many children grow up to be useful members of society in spite of their parents. It may act c.s a temporary deterrent to wrong-doing, buf when the restraining influence of parents is thrown off. if no other influences are at work, the impulses towards criminal actions are unrestrained. .Fortunately many other agencies entile into action. Religion, law, social institutions, healthy sport, ambition and the community feeling towards right-doing are powerful crime preventives. Deteriorating influences of congested cities, that come as the result of poverty, insufficient housing and luck of open spaces have fortunately not, assumed serious proportions in this Dominion at present. But they do exist, and if ignored and not counterticted will assuredly result in :m increase of crime. Warning should Intaken from the bitter experience of other countries. New Zealand has hud a more advantageous foundation than most other British colonial communities. The first- settlers were of tin especially lino typo, strong of character, courageous, able and industrious. and almost entirely British. The stock of these original settlers leavens the whole community of to-day, so that iu purity of race, anil in such matters as a low percentage of ffliteracy and degeneracy the record of the country is an enviable one. These advantages cannot be retained entirely without conscious effort. There are times when one is tempted tu wish that New Zealanders had a little more of tlmt. intense patriotic pride that characterises the Australians. and a It i tie keener realisation of the exceptional advantages their country possesses. Insularity is not. as a rule, productive of modesty, but New Zealand provides an exception to the rule, and there seems sometimes a danger that our most precious national possessions-—we speak ot things of the spirit- may he lost because of a naive unconsciousness that there is anything of value to conserve. The unfortunate trend of affairs across the Tasman Sea is an object lesson that ought not to pass unnoticed.