JUVENILE CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND.
An influential deputation at Dunedin waited on the Premier on the 16th of February, and urged the necessity of establishing a reformitory to sever the criminal class from neglected children. The Hon. F. Whitaker promised that the Government should favorably consider the views of the deputation, the only difficulty being a want of money. Archdeacon Edwards, in urging on the Premier the necessity for a reformatory, said he thought one was requisite for boys and another for girls. After giving instances of boya who were almost irreclaimably bad, and for whom the only fit place was such an institution, he said he was sorry to say that a reformatory was as much wanted for girls as for boys. Not long ago a girl of fourteen was brought before the Magistrate, who could do nothing but send her to the Industrial School. Was that a fit place to send a girl of that stamp, where she would contaminate other girls there? There was something worse than that, and perhaps it would be as well to speak out plainly. It was something so startling that he would not mention it at all were he not assured by the head of the police that was a positive fact. He was informed that girls of twelve or thirteen actually offered themselves to women who kept brothels, and were rejected because they were too young. It seemed almost incredible that girls of that age should go to brothels without being enticed into them. There was a member of the House of Representatives, a magistrate, living in the province, who stated that there was a girl about fourteen, a prostitute, living in his neighbourhood, and that she led the boys astray. In this respect the state of morality waf not worse in Dunedin than in other par s of New Zealand. It would be found tbit in other large towns similar things existed, and from this it was abundantly clear that the establishment of reformatories was a matter of urgency.
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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1281, 23 February 1883, Page 2
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339JUVENILE CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND. Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1281, 23 February 1883, Page 2
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