CRIME DECREASING.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1925, Page 4

CRIME DECREASING.

t lilt'.!' .it si It !•'. KM I’D A ! It . AVKI.LINDTHN, Nov. Ad. Dis"!|s-ing the ekaoge- wliieh have taken phn > ditriag to- twenty-six yen is a-. Cliiet d list i, e. Kir Bohert Kmui v. aempliatie tli.it New Zealand's pupuhit !..11 to-day i . less eriiniua! than when he lii- I 1 era me in ten -ted in 1h • side ice! . "I remember sixty years ago ilietc would lie thirty or tony trials at the Dunedin quarterly sittings." lie said, "when the whole population ol the colony was only tiOOJUIt). There has been a great change for the better." Kir Hubert attributes New Zealand’s low percentage of crime to Die sueee.-s ,d the probation and relormalive systems. New Zealand commenced to break away from Knglish prison methods in IBBli, lie said, when the lion. J. A. Tide introduced the lirst I’rohal ion Act .

■Sir Robert :hlvoeal<ml open-air employment tor prisoners when he was un active I’artiamentnrian. ‘'but' lie said, "(hoy would not listen to me. Of course. though probation nml improved emu litin ns here s/ived many from returning in a life ol crime, we must remember that unfold umilely. aboul nue-(|uarter of the people in gaol are mental delect ires and this phase <d prison reform reijnires tar graver consideration than we have yet given it. Our pi'*.port ion ot retermat ions is huger than in any other part oi the world. i>u( we have still to deal with tin* mental defectives ami to help them to eoii<|!ier their defects.” When Sir Robert was reminded ol the large increase in divorce during the period lm h,ad been associated with New /calami Courts, he replied that llii/ conditions for divorce were very dillieult until ISO”. Divorce was only allowed after tin' hearing of the ease I,v three judges. sitting in Wellington, hut the iSO: Act was far wider titan die Kin-dish law and tin* conditions continued to he made easier. “What is my opinion about it r I think it has had rather a pood Ilian a had effect.. because if they do not pet the courts to grant a • separation the conditions would go on without legal soparai ion.”