POVERTY AND CRIME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 18 March 1913, Page 3

POVERTY AND CRIME.

HEMABKABLE STATEMENTS BY | prison loctok.. I POLICE COUitTS "ABOMINABLE." "1 do not thLiK Unit poor people i are .any worse tha-n.. rich people: J. do not think any of them ;u" j any bettor, but poor people, in our cities fit 1 any rate, hare a ;;:roat vL-al mon* to put u-n with than those who arc betto,' oC." So said l>r Jam™ P ■.".-<"% ni:dical officer, H.M. Prions, Gla.\'iow, at the (•[i:n?.i.:u-:'r.:fM:t of hi-; address c/a "Poverty and Crime." in the New Cafe, St. Andrew Squniv. Edinburgh. The meeting was ui'd"" the auspiceof the Edinburgh University Fabian Society. ■INCITEMENT TO CHIME. Here are -son; ■ of. the points ma do in the course of a :nr st interesting address: — To suggest that ni! the evils in the world are due to pn-vndy is «in:ply tn Milk nonsense. Oin-e in my view i\ not wholly duo to povrty. In cities where the people ar' crowding together you -have a direct incitement to crime. Ih"vuis:- the m'M'-e you have peonle crowded together the mere rvJ,ir< will yrv have to mak? for flood conduct. T know thnt everybody agrees tli.it poverty, when enm bined with destitution, may be the ciHiSe of off:-nee against poverty. Anybody can understand tlmt if a m-an is starving ho is likely to steal, and ova" the most stupid of magistrates i<s not so obsessed by the law that lie refiw.-.s to lot that man off. PRISON" SYSTEM A FAILURE. It is the common ■ man that counts in the long run, and the common m:ui is a compound, of virtue and vice, of kindliness and passion, just as well' as we are. The great majority of people in prison are poor people, and about half of bhem are there because they cannot pay their fines. Women are far more censorious of one another than men are of one another or of women. The poor man does not find prison a bad place as a rale, but is he going to be any better,when he comes out? Prison is a fad hi re because it is prison, and it does not matter how y,o,u guild the bar, increase the diet, or give better recreation, he is compelled to live in an institution, to become a. .slave; he will be a helpless slave 'when he eom?s out. All ha.bitual offenders are made by u,s; there is no exception. If *wo treated th? person j who first goes wrong in a rational way he never' could become a habitual offender, never. The matter is entirely in outown hands if w*e chose to 'recognise it, but at present we have not only got to tWe stage otf accepting excuses. "LATEST PATENT HUMBUG."

The Borstal Institution is the latest patent humbug. It takes as long to know about the lives of the poor as it does to know about horses. Institutions are a. fraud, aJid an expensive one at that. Your police courts are such a.n abomination that no language is strong cncugh to characterise' them. I have .heard tlis-m boast in Glasgow of 30 cases in 'an hour—two in a minute. Justice! I would like to give them a ■ taste of it. ' Children want something more than your ir.fenial education. Feed them and clothe them bv all means, but allow tll-'m to develop; don't twist them into the shape you want.: Give them more chances of recreation and more opportunities for amusement. Prisoners have become quieter :n their demeanour, and we have no outbeaks such as we used to have 15 or 18 years ago. ' . You will never teach a. man salf-re-lianee in an institution; you will teach him to toe the line and.do what he is told. 3n dealing with subject ot theft, Dr Devon characterised, "Orce a. thief, aye a thief," as one of the most silly and untruthful proverbs, but he rather startled his audience the next moment, by exclaiming: "Why, there is not one of you who has not stolen something,at one time or another—whether it was turnips or chocolates or — '■ — (Laughter.) We have ,all done it. Embezzlement! T diirl not know any among my lot who did not in their day embezzle trust funds. Many a halfpenny that was intended to provide suits for the innocent heathen " (Loud laughter rendered inaudible the remainder of this sentence.) "People are not born with the sense of honesty," added the lecturer, "the same as they are born with the desire for food.", ; "INFERNAL EDUCATION." The subject of education, which he ' described as '-infernal," was 'also touched upon by Dr Devon. He referred with scorn to the teaching of the story of Bruce and.the spider, and to the "boy who stood on the burning deck," and remarked that he knew many a kid who never did any good for himself Until he forgot what he had learned. (Laughter.) Bef erring to the treatment of criminals., he said he would, in the case of a first offender, find out why be had committed the crime,' and recommend supervision hy.one of the friends of the criminal. '