AVONDALE WOMEN’S CLUB

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 755, 30 August 1929, Page 4

AVONDALE WOMEN’S CLUB

LECTURE ON CHILD WELFARE BY MR. E. C. CUTTEN, S.M. Under the auspices of the Avondale Women's Ciub a lecture on "Chilcl 'Welfare” was delivered in Blockhouse Bay Picture Hall on Wednesday evening by Mr. K. C. Cutten, S.M. Mrs. Kealy, president of the club, presided. ill'. Cutten opened his remarks bystatins that the Welfare Act and the Children’s Court were only a very small part of child welfare, which was attended to in the home, the school, and in such movements as the Plunket Society, Boy' Scouts, Girl Guides, and various churches and institutions. Of these the homo was of paramount importance. Preventive work was of much greater importance than reformative treatment. Children’s courts were not for punishment, but for reformation and prevention, he said. Good work was being done among boys by the Y.M.C.A. in providing “big brothers” to help and guide young delinquents. In extreme cases the superintendent of child welfare becomes the guardian, and the child is placed in a suitable home where he is brought up as one of the family. The speaker’s personal opinion was that all that happens in the Juvenile Court should be reported in the newspapers, names, of course, being omitted. Only in this way could the full interest and sympathy of the public be enlisted. Education of the young was the highest form of prevention. More attention should be paid, to the .spiritual side. Children should be taught there is no progress without sacrifice, and that through righteousness on the part of individuals and nations will come peace and material prosperity, he said. At the close of the lecture a hearty vote of thanks to Air. Cutten was carried by acclamation.