WOMEN J.P'S.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1269, 26 October 1911, Page 11

WOMEN J.P'S.

v WANTED IN CHILDREN'S COURTS. a. <!> Received with smiles it times, and lately with some seriousness, the problem of ▼ the woman as a judge in certain crises Y calling for feminine intervention rather a than male, is not likely to be pressed home Y in these countries, says a writer in an Y Australian paper. The immediate reason v is tho decision in France to appoint v women as judges in the juvenile crim- V inal courts. In Franco "Madame La v Mere" is a power, and this may have had 0 something to do with the innovation. But if the principle is granted that a woman understands children as well as a man., it cannot Ire denied as an obvious aI corollary that she is equally capable of a understanding the temptations of her own T sex. A perplexed judge not long ago, when faced with the problem of deciding v the fit of a lady's dress, wailed his wish v that a jurv of matrons con Id bo called to W say whether it did or did not fit; he was <s unable to cope with the wiles of (hose v who wished to evade the responsibility of purchases they had tired of, and ho real- •£ ised it was can- to make a dress look as if it did not fit if tho wearer gave, her- a self a. little trouble. _ a A humane and well-known police magis- A tratc, Mr. Cecil Chapman, in comment- Y ing on the action of France in this mattc.i\ declared it would be an excellent yi thing if a similar system could he started v i in the Empire. Ho declared that women <J> would bo eminently suitable to deal with <j* tho cases which como into our children's a. courts. They would have to ho experts, a. he thought, but there were many women X in tho country well qualified for such a Ys position. "In dealing with children," ho v said, "woman's natural sympathy would Je be seen to tho best advantage. Thoy V might, however, err on tho sido of leni- ■ v enev, but that is not a very great fault ill Q ■ deal iing with roimjf oiildroa,"- }