THE CRIMINAL CODE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11227, 26 March 1897, Page 4

THE CRIMINAL CODE.

Mbs Cuknington compressed ft great deal of sound advice upon a variety of important subjects into the address she delivered to the Council yesterday afternoon. There are few people better' qualified than this unostentatious worker to speak on the Criminal Code in its bearing upon the members of her own sex, and her words should be carefully pondered by everyone who has anything to do with the making or adminisr tration of our laws. It is evident that she has little faith in man-made methods of dealing with the wretched army of smaller criminals who oscillate between our streets and our gaols. She would pack them off to properly equipped reformatories where they would have a chance to mend the:lt ways and to become useful member? of society. Fortunately something • has already been done in this direc-

tion by “ voluntary ” Homes, but unctil these institutions are placed finder State control and given ithe • power to detain their inanatea they cannot be expected to reach more than a fraction of the social outcasts. The question of expense should not be allowed to stand in the way for a moment. It •would be far cheaper to bouse and clothe and feed the miserable creatures that are awaiting our effective help than to leave them at large to prey upon the community, It is a pity, we think, that the Council did not follow Mrs Cunnington’s very admirable address with a inore practical series of resolutions. ,There is not the least prospect of the Legislature raising the age of protection to twenty-one years, and by .urging that extreme step the Council ika probably strengthened the opposition in the Upper Chamber to the measure of reform proposed by the Premier. We think with Mrs Cunnington that there would be little use in raising the age beyond eighteen years, but that is a point to which it should certainly be carried. As to the other resolutions adopted by the Council yesterday afternoon, it is obvious that they were dictated by the highest regard for the welfare of society. It is not so’ clear, however, that they were framed with a full conception of the grave difficulties surrounding the questions with which they deal.