The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1912. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 75, 15 August 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1912. JUVENILE DELINQUENCY.

Even the most casual reader of the daily papers must have noticed the increasing prevalence of- juvenile delinquency as illustrated in the courts of the Dominion. During the last few years the number of hoys and girls between the ages of ten and sixteen who have been sent to industrial schools ha.s increased out of all proportion to the population, This is bad enough in itself, but the reason for it is even fiioi'c unsatisfactory. A c-afcfill investigation of the particulars Respecting children of this ago who were ■under the operations of the Industrial Schools Act on account of vagrancy, want of control, or being charged with punishable offences, shows that in no less than 77.3 per cent, of the cases either ODe or both of the parents is of good character. This, of course, suggests at once a laxity or inability on the part of parents in performing their duties. As further showing that the fault is mainly in the improper upbringing of the children, authentic information gathered by the Government after the children have been years discharged from control shows that only 8.1 per cent, of the young people who have passed through industrial schools can be classed afterwards as of bad character. The attention of the Government has been drawn to this subject, and it is the intention of the Ministry to bring down legislation this session to deal with it. Briefly, the scheme is that when a boy is first brought before the Court for delinquency and the magistrate is satisfied that the moral influence of the parents' home is not detrimental but that the control is not strong enough to prevent further trouble, the magistrate, on being satisfied also that the case is not one necessitating such a, serious step as the actual admission of a boy to an industrial school, should at his discretion make an order formally j attaching him to an industrial school. Th-st lia ving been done, he, by arrangein out with the Education Department, would ho allowed to remain with his parents. but would be under the friendly direction of an officer of that Department. Such officers would be chosen for ■ their special experience and qualifications in dealing with boys, and the objective would be, of course, to supplement weak parental control, and by doing this to

avoid committal to industrial schools, which implies the breaking of the 'amily tie, the lessening of direct parental responsibility, and an upbringing in conditions that can never take the place of a good home, 110 matter how high a level of sympathetic and enlightened administration is attained by the officers of these schools. If a youth, after being placed on probation in this way, failed to behave satisfactorily, the order for his admission to the school wouli by direction of the Minister for Education become operative without need of further Court proceedings. The same renr.Hcs apply, of course, to girls also. This is a much more satisfactory method of pro-, cedure than the coftimittal of the children at once for ,a definite period 1o homes of correction, where their herding together is not, of necessity, always satisfactory or tending for their 'iltimate welfare. But while the new scheme, | which should have the unaqualifled support of the Hon.se, will undoubtedly net for the welfare of children who are T.ot hardened criminals, it will not remove the cause of the evil. The conditions of / life in the colonies are so much fieer than in the older countries tlia; any child which is pre-disposed to viciousness of any sort has much greater opportunities for its expression and cultivation | than children have elsewhere. The * moral remedy, of course, is the cultivation of a stronger sense of parental responsibility. Freedom of action among the children is not necessarily coincident with moral laxity, but it is apt ta regenerate into this unless home surroundings are good and home authority is judiciously exercised. The matter is one for prevention rather than cure, and parents would be better erring on the s'de of strictness .rather than that of indulgence. Solomon's old philosophy of spar-* ing the rod and spoiling the child, pven in a literal acceptance, embodies just as j much wisdom to-day as it did thousands of years ago,* , t , •