THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1908. FURTHER HUMANITARIAN LEGISLATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9059, 7 April 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1908. FURTHER HUMANITARIAN LEGISLATION.

The movements on foot in various 1 parts of the dominion for the preservation of infant life and the protection of women and children, fit in well with the humanitarian policy which was devised by the late Premier, Mr R. J. eney Lady Plunket has been doing ! eood service in regard to infant life preservation,and has earned the gratitude of the people of the dominion for her services in that direction. Incalculable good is certain to result from her efforts. There are other phases of the humanitarian movement which also have a claim to consideration, and two of these have just been brought under the notice of the Premier at Dunedin by representatives of those admirable institutions, the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, and the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. In the first place, the Rev. W. CurzonSiggers, speaking on behalf of a deputation from the societies, explained that the object was to get the Industrial Schools Act, 1882, amended in the following directions — (1) That societies such as those represented should be permitted, through their president and secretary, to lay a complaint under Section 16, dealing with children living in undesirable surroundings, etc., this power at present renting with the police. (2) That a Magistrate may commit a child when he is satisfied that the moral or physical surroundings of the child's life are such a3 to militate against its healthy and moral development. (3) That cn the t)lan of the children's courts in England and America a stipendiary Magistrate be empowered to deal with cases of children brought before them under the Industrial Schools Act by holding inquiry

with the freedom as to evidence of a coroner's court rather than the formal and legal methods of the police court.

These suggestions are of considerable value, but, if embodied in a legislative enactment, care will have to be taken to guard against undue interference with the rights of parents and guardians as well as of children. There are many children who, owing to forte of circumstances, have to live in "undesirable surroundings," who ought not, simply because of that fact, to come under the aogis--. of the law. At present a complaint in the matter has to come through the police, and there is r.o doubt that the societies who make it their special business to care for children should have at least equal power with the police to take action. The other requests, numbered 2 and 3, are reasonable. Stipendiary Magistrates may be relied upon to deal with the matters referred to in the best interests of the children. The deputation further asked that the Destitute Persons Act should be amended to provide -

(1) That a wife, or the society acting for a wife or child, may apply to have a wageearner'3 wages attached for the support of a destitute wife or child. At present only a minister or local authority or trustees can apply, and this meets practicaily no cases of distress till too late.

(2) To insert an additional, definition to make it clear that a wage-earner (that is, a person liable to support a wife or child) shall bs deemed to have deserted one or other if he is provedUo the satisfaction of the Magistrate to waste his money by drinking - or gambling to the detriment of those dependent on him.

The object of proposal No. 1 cannot fail to meet with sympathy, for the woman with a young family is indeed heavily handicapped when the wage-earning husband neglects, or refuses, to contribute to their support. In that case there should be some easy means by which the wage-earning husband and father can be brought to book in a way that will benefit those dependent upon him. It is useless sending a man to gaol for neglect to support his family, because then the law renders it impossible for him to do that which the law punishes him for not doing; but if his wages can be attached by his wife or child, or by an official of a society established for the protection of women and children, then some practical good may result. The Premier frankly admitted that the law required amendment in the directions indicated by the deputation, and said the aims of the societies, a» set forth by Mr Siggers, formed the basis of legislation which would be brought down next session, and of which he personally approved. We may, therefore, look forward to another instalment of the humanitarian legislation which ,vas inaugurated by the predecessor of the present Premier.