The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, 6th MAY, 1868.

Southland Times, Issue 946, 6 May 1868, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, 6th MAY, 1868.

AiioNGr the various questions which affect the social well being of a community there is none deserving a more careful consideration than the % disposal of that portion of the juvenile population, which, either as the results of accident or criminal neglect, has been thrown upon "the wide vrorld without culture or supervision. It needs no Bpecial prophetic endowment to predict with a moderate degree of certainty the goal at which youth thns neglected will arrive. The course pursued may and will probably differ in detail, according as the pursuer may he acted, upon by external circumstances repressing or encouraging the tendencies to crime. Circumstances will also lengthen or shorten the career which terminates in a criminal act of which the State is compelled to take i notice and punish. Sooner or later the neglected offshoots of society not only become, moral pests, but place themselves in a position in which regard for the moral and pecuniary interests of the community • demand their effectual restraint, and the prevention of their vicious tendencies. The .question "what shall we do with i our criminals " is one which has been often argued and viewed /rom very many difficult stand points, but so far without arriving any certain conclusion as to the best ueans of effecting -the reclamation of those whom in the interests of society it has been found necessary to punish. The experiments which have been tried with a view to the solution of this difficulty in social economy have been many of them the „ causes of grave dissatisfaction to the portion of the community untainted by and compelled to earn its bread bj the of the brow. With the results beTore^ns) proving that the effectual dis-

posal of this difficulty has baffled the efforts of the ihoat pi ofound theorizera, as well as the most acute reasoners on the causes of crime and the adaptation of punitive treatment to effect a reformation of offenders, the old axiom " prevention is "better than cure" will he readily acknowledged. as a truison, The labours of the ladies of theJnvercargill Benevolent Society have brought to light the fact, published intheir report— that of eighteen destitute families visited and relieved by them, the destitution was in eight casea the direct result of crime. The crime of the head of the family had entailed punishment on the perpetrator, and misery and destitution on his dedependants. . It is needless to raise the question as to the kind of training which the young members of such families ■would probably receive from their head, the fact that the children of these eight families are loose upon the community with, (as may be reasonably inferred, without any breach of charity) criminal tendencies, and the sense of right and wrong materially weakened by the as-. sociations with which they have been ! connected, is enough for the present purpose. In addition to these eight cases above referred to, there are the other cases of destitution arising from the absence or sickness of those whose duty it is to make provision for the household, or from other accidental or unavoidable circumstances. In these cases a number of young children are lefb under the influence of the temptations which inevitably spring out of wretchedness and want. There may be no absolute or necessary connection between poverty and crime, and happily there are very many instances occurring in which the' temptations to crime, arising from extreme poverty are heroically and nobly resisted, but as a rule, it is not so. The want of means, it must be remembered, is not only a positive evil as being the cause of suffering, but is also an evil, inasmuch aa it prevents the employment of many of those agencies which might be successful in inducing a resistance to temptation however painful it might be. Eor instance, the hungry child, without any means of satisfying its hunger, will steal if it have the opportunity. This may be" accepted as almost a moral certainty. The certainty, however, becomes absolute when, in addition to the fact that the child is hungry, we have also the fact that it has not been taught that to steal is wrong. With this before us as a principle which cannot be controverted, +lm-pgf.fl.KHs}iment of an institution which shall take hold of orphans and other destitute or neglected children, with the object, while supplying their bodily wants, of training them in habits of industry and virtue, must be hailed as a social boon.. The fact that destitution among the young exists, from a variety of causes — entails upon the community the necessity of applying a remedy, and in one way or other, of reasonably insuring that , the remedy shall have reference to the future. The relief of present necessity ( alone in no respect meets the case, because in this way .the difficulty will be ever recurring. The maintenance of orphans and other destitute children must in some way or other be borne by the community, and, as a matter of economy, the information which may be gleaned from police and other records as to the cost of the depredations of young thieves, shows that the loss to .society is enormous, as compared with their maintenance in a well regulated establishment. In the latter case there is besides, the reasonable probability of their becoming good and useful members of the community ; while in the former early vagabondage culminates in the perpetration of the higher classes of crime, and ordinarily places the offender beyond hope of recovery. In the establishment of an institution of this class, while its objects should be clearly denned, care should be taken that by its designation no brand or stigma should be affixed to those who from any cause become the objects of its care. At the same time it must be understood that nothing but orphanage — actual or virtual — -.or destitution (with the exception of some peculiar cases which may arise) shall qualify for admission. The models upon which such an institution 'should be framed, are numerous, and the results of many are continued over so long a period as to furnish data which may be relied upon as to their practical efficacy. Generally the objects of these institutions maybestated — to inculcate and form habits of industry, honesty, and self-reliance — to impart such an education as shall qualify the receivers for the sphere of life in which they "will probably be called to move. That the means have been and are adapted to the ends sought to be accomplished, the number of youth trained in Industrial Schools .who are Creditably filling respectable positions in society sufficiently proves, i i