THE VANDAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE VANDAL.

A SOCIAL PROBLEM. IMPROVEMENT IN CONDUCT

(By CYRANO.)

From time to time there are reports of vandalism that produce a feeling of depression of the same kind as, though different in degree from, that caused by organised political tyranny in certain countries. "Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers,'' one murmurs for the hundredth time. Ca.i education, on which ve spend so much money and effort, do no better than this? Recent examples are a string of offences enumerated in "Wellington, including the cutting of lifelines 011 beaches, and the desecration of the church at Russell. The latter was a particularly beastly business, though robbing a collection box in a church, judged by its cffects. may be less heinous than damaging a life-saving apparatus. The robbery element in the Russell vandalism is curious, for generally people who behave like barbarians in public places stop short at theft. (Taking away flowers and plants they would not recognise as such). And perhaps some of the damage done to beach lines can be explained by someone's need of a little rope. However that may be, the incidents are sufficiently depressing, especially when one realises that, provided the offenders are 21 years of age, they have a vote. A Cheering View. In such a mood I discussed the matter with a friend whose experience is even longer than my own, and, looking at either of us, as they say in Ireland, it \vi lit be a long time before you thought of a chicken. My friend cheered me up by living he thought conduct in public places was a pood deal better than when we were young, and added that the worst cases of vandalism were the work of a small body of incorrigibles with whom society would always be afflicted. He reminded me of the gangs of larrikins that used to roam round, of removed gates and broken palings, and of the fact that the opening up of parks by the taking away of fences has not been followed by any substantial damage. I think he is right. Apparently fewer men believe to-day that in order to celebrate something adequately it is necessary to destroy or damage something else. It is true that there are curious souls to whom New Year's Eve is an empty occasion if they do not drop loud crackers in a crowd, but I should say that every Xew Year's Eve fewer gates are lifted from their hinges. Social Improvement. When we read of monuments defaced, trees destroyed, and litter left in public places, we are apt to overlook the fact that on every holiday scores of thousands of people —in England the number would run into hundreds of thousands, and even millions —conduct themselves decorously. If they did not, the damage to property aijd the embarrassment and suffering inflicted on others would be enormous. A famous historian, writing a good many years ago, remarked that it was "difficult to measure the change which must have passed over the public mind since the days when the lunatics in Bedlam were constantly spoken of as one of the sights of London; when the maintenance of the African slave trade was a foremost object of English commercial" policy; v.hen men and even women were publicly whipped through the streets; when skulls lined the top of Temple Bar and rotting corpses hung on gibbets along the Edgware Road; when persons exposed in the pillory not infrequently died through the ill-usage of the mob; , and when the procession every six weeks of condemned criminals to Tyburn was one of the great festivals of London." This change in policy and custom has, I think, had its counterpart in improvement 111 manners. There are, of course, dark recesses in human nature, and habit and tradition are potent. It is still considered "the tiling" for a certain class of young men to make donkeys (and worse) of themselves in London on Boat Race night, and in Oxford" and Cambridge Colleges it is a custom to mark similar local occasions by wrecking men's rooms. The newer English universities, which are much nearer to our own model than Oxford and Cambridge, appear to have more sense. The Lesson of the Road. Education in better manners goes on unceasingly, backed in some directions by legislation, and there are visible results. New Zealanders, for example, are showing an increasing respect for their native flora, for which propaganda and an occasional prosecution for rape of clematis must be given the credit. Improvement in conduct, however, is apt to be checked by changes in conditions. Motoring is a conspicuous example; it has probably done more harm to manners than any development of our time. In those discussions of road rules and manners, which have attracted so much attention, Mr. Justice Blair remarks that there are men who would not think of pushing their way inconsiderately into a place of entertainment, yet when they are at the wheel strive to pass everything on the road. The mechanics of motoring have developed faster than man's spiritual adjustment to the new conditions created. Man's brains, as Margot Asquith said of a famous Englishman of her time, have gone to his head. It is all too clear that the process of educating the motorist to a sense of social duty will be long and difficult. Education and Complexes. An expert in education says he is convinced a good deal of vandalism could be prevented by wiser education. Our system, he argues, is too academic and literary, with the result that in many cases latent abilities and embryo inclinations are not developed. Develop the true bent of the young, give them something to interest them and. absorb their energies, and there will be less antisocial behaviour. The psychologist can produce much evidence in support of this thoory, and that is why he so often presses for reform in the treatment of criminals. Crime, he argues, is often the result of complexes and thwarted desire. The adventurous type of boy, for example, if denied an outlet for his spirit, may take to the kind of crime that provides adventure. Here is a case from England. A boy was before a juvenile Court in London for stealing money. They psycho-analysed him and found that he had a passion for bridges. He kept on drawing brifjges. His great desire was to see the Tower Bridge over the Thames, and he had taken the money to pay his bus fare fro it. They took him to see the Tower Bridge and saw that he had a good look at it, and apparently this settled his internal conflict; at latest advices he was a good boy. I wonder whether the persons who leave broken bottles on beaches would be cured by a visit to a glass factory. The experiment might be worth making.