Delinquent Children

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25178, 8 May 1947, Page 6

Delinquent Children

The interview to which Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., yesterday reviewed toe work of toe Children’s Court to Christchurch is sure to have served a useful purpose, or two useful purposes. Statistically and On toe equally strong ground of experience to toe Court, Mr Fernet corrected the belief that children have become and are becoming more and mote unruly. Much was heard of this rise to delinquency a year or two ago. The alarm has been sounded less frequently and less loudly since; but Mr Ferner’s figures confirm and extend toe reassurance given by

toe Minister of Education, when he recorded a Sharp fall to the 1944 delinquency figures, after toe slight increase he had expected in toe war years, and was able to say that toe fall was as marked to the “more “ serious offences ” as to others. If the figures supply half the answer to doubts and fears, Mr Ferner’s comment supplies toe other half, the better one, because figures alone have no philosophy. It is well for those who rely chiefly on memory to be reminded that it makes most of us indulgent judges of the past, which is wholly ours, and correspondingly severe on toe present, which is running away from us. And observers who are inclined to forget that the child is, not a child merely, but the child of his age are even more pertinently reminded that the child to-day is' freer than before, and therefore more frequently exposed to temptation; and that the temptations he meets—multiplied and diversified by the mechanical and commercial genius of toe age—are such that, if he falls, his offence will “seem more Spec“tacular and damagtog”, as Mr Ferner puts it—and “ seem ” is the word to be underlined. Mr F, T. Giles, long chief clerk of toe London juvenile Courts, made exactly this point of Mr Ferner’s to his recent book, “The Juvenile Courts: Their Work and Their Problems ” [Allen and Unwin), and went oh to say, as no doubt Mr Ferner would, that the modern child comes very well out of the test of his freedom and his restraint to these conditions. The second of the purposes usefully served by Mr Ferner’s review is to let readers see how the Children’s Court works, with the minimum of formality, with the utmost effort to inquire and amend. If the public generally does not know how well the Court works, that is one consequence of its working with as little publicity as possible, which is an essential condition of its wofktog well; but the consequence needs to be modified, from time to time, by Such surveys as Mr Ferner’s, especially when they refer to improvements as well as to achievements. The appointment of special teachers to the primary schools, intended to close the gap between school and home, was decided oh by the Department of Education two or three years ago. So far, little or nothing has been heard of the advance Of this experiment, the success of which would bertainly strengthen the preventive work which Mr Ferner rightly considers to be centrally important. But this is only one branch of toe connected work of toe schools, the Child Welfare Branch, and the Ji—enile Courts, in which toe Supply of trained social workers is essential. Proposals have been made to organise training courses, within toe University of New Zealand, but have so far come to nothing. It may be hoped that the Min ster's known interest will be proved to the adoption of at least a provisional scheme before long.