ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS

NZ Truth, Issue 1228, 13 June 1929, Page 6

ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS

FOR fifteen years it has been the work of Probation Officer T. P. Mills to supervise and help our social misfits. In a large city like Wellington, such a task is no sinecure, but T.P:M. takes a broader view; of it than that of being merely the work for which he is paid. He feels that the position offers opportunities for him to help his fellowmen m the way his heart dictates. The success of the probationary system depends just as much upon the supervising officer as it does upon the probationer. A probation officer must possess . tact, firmness, breadth of vision, and, above all, a kindly heart. Of these components is made up the character of T. P. Mills, whose uncanny intuition enables him to tell the genuinely repentant young offender from the "bluffer." Never yet has one of the former left his office and said to himself, with truth: "I am not understood."