The Press. MONDAY, JULY 9. 1866.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1144, 9 July 1866, Page 2

The Press. MONDAY, JULY 9. 1866.

Some remarks made by the Resident Magistrate on a case which came before him last Friday deserve especial notice. A boy named Thomas Hayton, aged 13, was brought up charged with stabbing with intent to do grievous bodily harm. As it happened no great harm had actually been done, but it was clear that the boy had used his knife ; it was also proved that he had for some time led an idle vagabond life, that he had refused to stay with relations who had provided him a home, and that his continued ill-conduct had so disgusted all his friends that they refused to have anything more to do with him. It was a question with the Magistrate what ought to be done in such a case. On the one hand, the boy had committed an offence for which he deserved severe punishment ; on the other, to send him to gaol would be to throw him into company whence, his proclivities being so bad, he would certainly return ten times worse, and in all probability render him a criminal for life. Upon consideration of all the circumstances of the case the Magistrate determined on dismissing it. He at the same time expressed a strong opinion that the time had come when a Eeformatory waa necessary, and added that he should propose to the Government to institute one, where boys like Hayton, several of whom had lately been brought before him, might be sent, made to work and kept under control. A similar difficulty has long been felt in England. There are scores of children in London brought up from their earliest years to a life of crime. Fagin and his pupils, so graphically described in Oliver Twist, are no exaggerated pictures of real life. One- of these boys is apprehended for picking a pocket or some other juvenile offence, and is sent to prison. The inevitable result is that on the expiration of his sentence he returns to his former haunts, known to and an object of suspicion among the police, but welcomed with open arms by his old associates, and then re-enters on his former career. His committal has been the means of introducing him to some old hands, men of experience in every kind of crime, who take a pleasure in imparting lessons of vice, which he receives with willing ears and treasures up for future practice. Another arrest and another committal follow. The result is again the same, but in an aggravated degree. Every fresh imprisonment throws him into closer contact with the lowest and worst Bociety, till having passed through every grade of vice he emerges an irreclaimable hardened criminal, to end his days perhaps on the scaffold. Nor is it only boys of the Fagin school that start in life on this downward road and come to this miserable end. In every large town there are many boys born of respectable but poor parents, whose vagrant disposition leads them to wander from home and frequent bad company, whose example they are not long in following. Others again, not naturally vicious, are by the early death of parents left without any one to look after them, and also fall among bad companions by whose example they are led astray. It is something surprising, on examining into the history of notorious offenders, to find how large a proportion of their lives has been passed in gaol, proving most conclusively how little imprisonment operates as a means of reformation, or rather, how much ft tends to corrupt and demoralise. It was this consideration that led to the establishment of reformatories. Some institutions of the kind had been carried on with great success on the Continent, and we believe it is to Mr. Baker, a gentleman ot Gloucestershire, that the credit is due of their first introduction, not many years ago, into England. The object of the founders of these reformatories is to take in youthful criminals, who would otherwise be sent to the common gaol, with what effect we have just pointed out, and to endeavor by kind but firm treatment, by regular work and strict discipline with such means as appear best adapted to each individual case, to reclaim them from evil courses and bring them up to lead honest useful lives. Supposing this plan to be generally in use, and to be tolerably successful, one important advantage would, be gained, because the criminal classes are principally recruited from children trained up in the manner we have already described, and if that supply could be cut off, their numbers, and therefore the amount of crime in the country, would be materially diminished. We need not now go infjp the question of the practical working of reformatories j information on such points if required can readily be obtained. We need, only say that their success has been very great, and that j under proper management they have ; proved of special value as a means of i dealing satisfactorily with such cases j as those with which the Resident j Magistrate has found himself per-; plexed. '

Mr. Bowen wishes a reformatory of this kind established in Canterbury. Ho says that ho has boys brought beforo him whom he does not know how to deal with. They are too young to be sent to gaol, and he wishes to have some place where he can send them with the hope that punishment for the past will be combined with the means of reformation for the future. We entirely agree with Mr. Bowen that ifc is highly desirable some such institution was begun here, on however small a scale. This is but a young community; the number of criminals is not very large, and by beginning in time to stop the source whence they draw their main supplies we may prevent their increasing to anything like the extent they have in the old country. Even as a matter of economy, it is cheaper to stop a boy from devoloping into a thief than to catch, commit and imprison him time after time when he has become one. The latter is a most unremunerative process. Besides, the reformatory would not be altogether without funds of its own. In the case of a boy like Hayton, for instance, his friends might fairly be required to pay so much a week for his maintenance. That is the rule in England, and a similar rule might be enforced here. "We hope that after the recommendation of the Eesident Magistrate, the G-overnment will take the matter up. An application to the General Assembly will, we suppose, be necessary for power to commit juveniles to the reformatory, but if any of the Canterbury members would interest themselves in the question, a Bill to that effect might be obtained this session. We think that in a work of such obvious utility the Provincial Council might then be relied on to provide for the necessary outlay,