JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 59, 6 September 1913, Page 6

JUVENILE OFFENDERS

COURT A GREAT SUCCESS. The reports by Stipendiary Magistrates on juvenile offenders were tabled in the Legislative Council this afternoon. That of Mr. W. G. Riddel], S.M., dealing with Wellington, states that during 1912 46 children were brought be' fore the Court charged with having no means of subsistence, or for living with undesirable persons. These were placed in an industrial school. The greater proportion of the charges was, it was noted, for offences involving dishonesty. " The : chief cause which results in the commission of juvenile offenders is,' says the Magistrate, "lack of proper supervision and discipline on the part of parents.',' Mr. T. P. Mills, manager of the Presbyterian Orphanage at Berhampore — an institution interested in the reform of juvenile offenders^ — attended the Juvenile Court regularly, and his help and advice to parents, and general work, are said to be of considerable value. In some cases Mr. Mills has found positions in the country for boys who have been charged on more than one occasion, and in<vthe majority of instances they have given satisfaction to their employers. "On the whole," it is noted,"taking into consideration the small number of second offenders who appear before the Court, the work may be regarded as successful, and conducive to the interests and benefit of these young persons brought before the Court, as well as to the public."' Comparative figures are given (for ..Wellington) v as follow : 1910, number apprehended or summoned (male and female) 122; 1911, 183; 1912, 202. The Dunedin 'branch is reported to be a great success, the results, through' the co-operation of the Rev. Asels'en and the press (in not publishing names), being eminently satisfactory and encouraging. Comparative figures for Dunedm are :—: — 1910, 111 apprehended; 1911, 71; 1912, 76. The report from Christchurch states that' the value of the Court is widely recognised. Figures : 1910, 107 apprehended or summoned; 1911, 196; 1912, 248. From Auckland, the S.M. states that the returns show a considerable increase in the number of offenders brought before the Court in 1912 over the number in 1911. The number in 1910, however, was nearly as great as in -1912. "I do not .think," comments the Magistrate, 11 therefore, that anything is to be inferred from a comparison of the figures for the different years, to which it is my duty to draw your attention." The figures are : 1910, 186 summoned or ap. prehended; 1911, 141; 1912, 205.