"ALF-WAT HOUSES"

Evening Star, Issue 17086, 3 July 1919, Page 7

"ALF-WAT HOUSES"

VIEWS OF A MAGISTRATE. Further reference to the need for '-halfway houses" for the reception of coihin classes of persons -who figure in the courts from time to time was made by Mr F. V. Frazer, S.3L, at the Magistrate's Court, Wellington, in a case in -which a- middleaged man was charged with vagrancy. A few days atro the man was for begging" in Clyde <iuay, the individual from wbjm he had solicited alms being :i. em>stable in plain clothes. He was remanded in order that the police authorities might see what -could be done with him. and finally he was placed in the Ohiro Home. However, he refused to remain in I hut institution, and was strain taken into custody on a charge of being a vagiant. "This is still another esse which points to the need for a "halfway Iroupe." " commented Mr Fi'azer. "This man was sent to the Ohiro Home a few days ago on a similar charge, but he would not stay at the home. He is not a criminal, and T don't like the idea of sending him to ::.ioi. If there, were a 'hfrlfway house' to which he could be sent he would be under rare, and -would receive the medical alfeiaioii necessary. He would be able to learn a, trade, 'or, at any rate, to get some training in outdoor work, and there would then be a possibility that in the course of time bo would become a useful citizen, ahle to look after himself. If this man is allowed to go on as he has done in 'the _ past lie wilf wander about aimlessly, drifting from one place to another, dirty and disreputable, and with no place to sleep, with the result that he will be found dead in the street some morning. There are such 'homes in England and America, though the English homes are intended for the treatment of mental cases in the main, and are not nearly so wide in scope as the American institutions. I 'cannot let the man go at this time of the year, and I think "that the best plan is to sentence him to a period of 18 months' reformative detention. I will make a recommendation that he should be sent to an institution where he will be able to learn some useful outdoor work."