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BURNHAM INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
THE COMMISSIONER'S BEPOET. TJHS MANAGEMENT I I'LOGISED, Per Z'ress Association. Wellington Octobor 25 Die ropnrt of Mr Bishop, S.M., upon tho Bnriibam Industrial Suliool was presented to Parliament to-day. The Commissioner reports: " Look mg to tho material with which tho manager has to deal, to tho extreme dilhculties of his position, to the want ot sy,i.p,uhy and help in his work, and to tho lack of up-to-date arrangemcnts m the buildings and consequent facilities for proper carrying out of his duties, I am astonished as a result h of this long and searching enquiry that there is so little real fault to be found with the institution and its management. I consider that it constitutes a great record for Mr Arohev It would of course, be quite easy to i i t W , P an y Bmall details, and the effect of these might easily be magnified and made capital of against the institution, but viewing the whole question broadly, I consider the result wonderfully good. I can giye do moro convincing proof of the sincerity tllls opinion than my stating that as a result of this enquiry, I havo totally changed my opinion of Burnham and its work and management. I shall be much more charitable m my critioism in. future than. I have been in the - 4 past.
As to classification," Mr Bishop says, I hold wry strongly to the opinion that so long as certain boys are allowed to remain at Burnham, the State is not doing its duty by those other children in the Institution, whose care and reform it has undertaken, and whom it is morally bound to do its very best to turn into good and decent citizens. One weak spot at Burnham is the absolute impossibility of carry !f g ,. ou '' an effeetiye system of classification, owing to the presence of a large number of hopelessly bad boys whoiare a constant source of oontamination to the others, and who, havine shown themselves to be absolutely incapable of being reformed, are retained there only to become an ever-present menace to the safety of the institution. cn boys as these have no right to be in Burnham. They have ceased by their conduct to be entitled to s»oh hu. mane treatment as that; they are moral lepers, and must be treated as such °y number about 12 per cent, of the present inmates, who total 112. They should be removed without delay to a separate institution, which should be a sort of disciplinary reformatory as distinguished from a first-class reform, jtory, such as Burnham ought to be. E know of no place that would be better suited for such a purpose than the present Tiinaru gaol. It is very little wed-now for its original purpose, and f obtainable, could be rery easily idapted for use as a disciplinary reEormatory. I strongly recommend ;hu suggestion to the favorable consideration of the Government. 1 In addition to the inherently vicious boys that I haye referred to, there are it least ten per cent of others who are mental defects, and who on no account should be allowed to remain at Burnbam. These are boys who by their lack of mental development are inoapible of being benefited by ordinary reformatory methods. In a sense they ire just as vicious as the others and luite as fruitful sources of contamina--ion, but their sense of responsibility ig lot of course so great. They are not lubjects for a mental hospital, Uut Aey are equally not subjects for Jurnham. They should he separately ind specially treated I see no reasoi i they could not be adequately proln " disciplinary reP aS , ? u ggest Timaru gaol hould be made int Qv " The Commtsoner found that :k, general treatment r the inmates was distinctly good."
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81874, 26 October 1906, Page 2
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636LATEST TELEGRAMS. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81874, 26 October 1906, Page 2
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