BORSTAL SYSTEM

Hokitika Guardian, 13 October 1933, Page 5

BORSTAL SYSTEM

MINISTER’S ATTACK

SYNOD APPOINTS COMMISSION. : (Per Press issodation~~ Copyright J ■ DUNEDIN,, October 13. - The Hey. Andrews Baxter, of Gladstone,- referred at the, Anglican Synod to the. treatment, of inmates of the Borstal' at Invercargill. He said that the institution was under- the wrong department, ■ and that the officers were prison trained .men.

Whereas a man . was sentenced to three months’ for the;theft_of a- match, a boy for the same offence was sentenced to tln;ee-years! Borstal,-because magistrates thought it was a 1 training school, but really, they were sentencing boys to, three years in prison. In the easo'of a boy given solitary confinement, everything : was taken from the cell "in ,t,hc morning except tile wire ~ mattress'and.-Bible. That was all •he had till 10 p.in. He couhl not help but- learn to- hate the Bible, ; .. ,- -

: The cells .were: .badlylventilated,, with no wiriter ’heating,' and /this form of punishment might last from one to six days.. It was a barbarous way to treat boys,, -the speaker stated.

. Ho had beoii; plainly" told that a chaplain, would, not .be appointed. It was-re«plyed toj'ft|"f’b.in|: a. commission to report- ,-QhP the need for better spiritual ministration in Government institutions;