FEATHER-BRAINED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1907, Page 11

FEATHER-BRAINED.

JUVENILE CRACKSMEN. SMALL BOYS AND YOUTHS. LACK OF PARENTAL CONTROL. Chief-Detective M'Grath, of Wellington, sees eye to eye with Bishop Julius, of Christchurch, in the field of juvenile crime. • These authorities, standing at the- extremes of the ordinary walks of life, have sighted one salient fact which they hold responsible for much of the youthful lawlessness which has a- vogue at present. They blame the parents. They maintain that parents are often too casual,, too careless, too weak. In WordsworthY. time, in England, the child may have been father to the man ; in Now Zealand the child is not only father but grandfather and great-grand-father. The actual father is frequently a, mere bread-winning machine, a man who docs not like to "be disturbed when reading the paper while at home, and mother may'be^ too busy with the new baby to have much time to lavish upon the eight or ten-yoar-old boy. Possibly — not a rare occurrence — rooms in the parental house may be sub-let, and boy is encouraged to play in the streets lest his'rompings indoors or near the house should annoy the ledgers. Whatever tjio cause, much of him goes out into the roads by night, and gets into mischief. GANGS. Man is a gregarious animal, especially "the father to the man." These elders, ranging from seven or eight years to fourteen or fifteon, hunt in packs like the wolves. Anything mischievous, anything with a dash of danger in it, is held to bs fair game. The little fellows progress from the small to the great. At iirsi they are content with calling names at a ivan, x Chinese preferred, for a chase, throwing stones on houses, tying impediments to dogs' tails, and other pastimes which come into ths daily'programme of the small boy. Gradually they become" bolder, and they acquire tastes which the parental allowance of pocket money will not satisfy. They grow 'tired of smoking dock- and tea, and pine for the tobacco of the adult ; also a hunger for fireworks and "Deadwood Dick" literature makes them eager for cash. This appetite may lead to the pilfering of metal from buildings and minor acts o f housebreaking. "KELLY GANGS" AND "FEATHERS." A few months ago a mob of urchins honoured themselves with the awe-in-spiring title of "The Clyde-quay Kelly Gang," and began to mako themselves an intolerable nuisance. Soon they got beyond Ul9 bounds set by the law, and Ned and Dan found themselves in the arms of the police. The desperadoes wero sufficiently punished, and Steve Hart and the others were thoroughly discouraged. The Kelly. Gang thus died suddenly, but from its ashes sprang a. new phoenix, the "Feather Push." The members were full of "'Dead wood Dick" notions, which they put into practice in the south-eastern section o£ the Te Aro flat. TJieir souls doted oi) mystic signs, and they chose the feather as the symbol of their profession, but it wa.s not Te "Whiti's _ white feather of peace. They decided to wage perpetual war against the, tyrant adult, and swore to molest him and annoy him by day and night, and to damage or stsai his property. In one house that they entered they left a rude imago of a feather penned on a slip of paper, with those dread words — "With the compliments of the Feather Gang." Now, However, if the Rang has a tincan band it may play the Dead Jlarch. After . a short" but turbulent existence it died on Thursday, 'wheji a few of the ringleaders received a taste from f>. birch rod applied to vaiious parts of them, by command of a stipendiary Magistrate. The. "Feathers"! aro scattered ; the captain and his lieutenants have been shorn of their plumes, and the rank and file liavo been filled with dismay. THE "TIGERS." Much more serious than the* I "Feathers" are tho "Tigers," tenacious j of life. This gang consists largely of . hoodlums — young follows at- the "awie* ward age" of fifteen or sixteen and over. ! Their -sphere ot action ranges from Te Aro to South lvil'oirnie; they have done damaga in Upper Willis-street, Ingestre- j street, ' Cambridge- terrace, ' and - other > roadways. They have smashed windows, set fire to Chinamen's premises, and have even gone as far as assaulting a man. The traditions of the "Tigers" are passed on from one generation to another. There were "Tigers" many ] years ago in the area named,' but it is probable that the^o wild animals ai - e Hearing the close of theix reign. ' Several | of them were trapper! recently, and ' brought to court. Their appearance befor3 one of the King's judges tvill no doubt tend to discourage their brethren. Apart from the "Feathers" and the "Tigers" the police know of no other gangs in Wellington, and they say that there is no danger of a domination of hoodlumism. MORE BIRCH WANTED. One authority complains that the penal clauses for juvenile crime are not sufficiently stringent. Boys may be whippad for theft and other offences qf a very serious natuie. but they may commit almost any quantity of mischief, and escape the rod whose sparing spoils the child. Practically the lav waits till a youngster is incorrigible and then permits corporal punishment, when this remedy is. probably too late. It is held, on the principle that prevention is better than cine" or no cuie, that the stick should be applied as soon as the boys begin to get lawless. "It i 3 ridiculous." said one critic to a. Post representative, "to provide a fine for children under sixteen years of age. If the money is not paid by parents or guardians, the alternative for the youngsters is imprisonment, to which, of cour&a, the magistrate, the .police, and public opinion aro hostile. Th<-< only wise course is corporal punishment, cither compulsorily or by tho suggestion of tho magistrate, with the parental consent as a necessary factor." Parents who may b& inclined to look lightly upon the transgressions of their offspring are reminded of a clause in the Juvenile Offenders Act which empowers a Magistrate to order parents to pay any costs or damages incurred by or through any offonco committed by their children, and this order may be enforced in a summary manner under, the Justices of the Peace Act.

Thus a lady contributor to Melbourne Punch : — "We Australians are to have the good tortuno to hear 'real' grand opera by some of the greatest living artists next year or the year after. That sounds like counting your chickens before they are hatched, but then world-famed singers arc always booked for twelve to twenly-foW uionths' ahead, and only death or fearfully heavy monetary forfeits can cancel their engagments. This Australian project is not tho dream of 'Mr. George Musgrovo- or any syndicate of cultured music-lovers. The next venture «.\ lll bo in far more capable hands n it comes, for no (ess a person than Melba contemplates making her native land one of this earth's gieat .musical art centres/ 1