DETENTION YARD AT BURNHAM.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11535, 18 March 1903, Page 4

DETENTION YARD AT BURNHAM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE _ RES*>. Sir,—lL? Wickes, master in the educational portion uf the Butalwm School, hw done good service m ****"* attention to the proposal of the Govern* ment for the erection of _ yard enclosed by 14ft Kalvanused iron for the purpose of confining what arc culled refractory boys. I trust his effort will have tfce effect ol creating a feeling of indignation at such a proposal. Another correspondent, One Who Know*," is probably. like myself, an ex-attendant, and hi* word may be rebed on. With what he says in regard to U:e necesßttv of the boys being provided with useful emplovmcnt, I and many more c.v attendants co'rdiallv agree. After a peno_ of 24 years I hud "expected many improvements "would have taken place, and I am astonished to find from "One Who knows that the primitive pumping system by hand is still in vogue. Let me describe it Water of any quality is only to be obtained at a deptti of over* 100 feet, and to raise this even to the surface necessitates a pump of duplicated action; but the water Las to be lifted to a height of at least 20 feet above the ground into tank", containing when full over 3000 gallons. The machinery above the ground is a large iron flywheel" with a small crank connected with piston-rod. It takes two strong Lk_ or four small boy.s to turn this wheel, which, as you 111.1 v e__lv see. cannot aeeelerate in speld or force, but is a dead hard push. To supply Ihc requirements «f the institution th". tanks need to be half filled every day, and some four or six of the strongest* lads are told off after breakfast for tuis work. Occasionally others are "sent to the wheel" during tho day for puni. hment; thus as y ou se0 > •-*-•--.' nearly equivalent to tlie olden-time treadmill. I had the curiosity to climb to the tank and sec what this enormous hand power accomplished. To state tho result in a.«iodest form, I say that about one pint of water was squirted from the nozzle every five seconds. This is one instance of useful and interesting work, and it is astonishing to me that such an amount of dusl is thrown into the eyes of visitors, that even' the reporter or the average gushing newspaper correspondent entirely overlooks it. There are some other specimens of interesting work iai little lads, for instance, in the firewood yard you will see little fellows struggling hour after hour with huge lengths of pine trunks, patiently endeavouring to cross-cut them into suitable shoit lengths with saws which rarely see a file. Pitiful are tho appeals to the carpenter to "Please, sir, sharpen our saw." Then there is the "can brigade." When at about 6.30 a.m., the first morning of my experience—and after the morning sluice, which commences at six o'clock—l heard the order "Can boys, fall out." I thought of dairy expert* and old country milkmaids. Poor lads.' Little wee chaps hadto mount long flights of weep _teps to ■ secure the night pans which are a part of tlie furniture of each W.C. ut the end of each dormitory. I must say a feeling of disgust, which spoiled my breakfast, came over me as I thought of two little mites of boys struggling with a huge old-pat-terned nightsoil pan, step by step, as if every moment it seemed pan and boys would suddenly take a somersault to the bottom. Then' there is the placing of the '•furniture" upon wheels and the removal to tbe farm, after which a rinsing process takes place, which consists of 1. supply of water whisked round the vessel with a branch plucked from a neighbouring fir tree. There is a good deal more of this "interesting work," all under the supervision of intelligent masters, whose munificent remuneration reaches the grand sran of sixpence per hour. My object in" writing fo "The Tiees" is not 'to blame tlie manager of the school, who doubtless is doing his best for the boys witn tbe machinery he has at his disposal, but rather to urge the Government at least to grant sufficient up-to-wite appliances, so that a real interest fn serious work mry be taken by the boys. ,1 have touched only upon appliances as regards tlie requirements of the school itself; but I wanted to trench upon the ground of training the boys to trades, for 1 have a great deal to 1 ' say. Out of regard to your limited space, however, I must refrain, and in the meantime if anyone of a philanthropic turn would like my bona fides, you will kindly furnish him with my name!— Yours, etc.," EX-ATTENDANT.