The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DEC. 8, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 199, 9 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail.

FRIDAY, DEC. 8, 1876.

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luz c\i*j vi the y r ;l Jlahv Doinij, lately tii- s'.ii'j-.ct of an iur.uiry by Commission., air.i thj tvl'.t. r.cj during t!sc mvoaatl'or.U much food f»r thoughtful sptcubtt >n. It nva.3 prove.: thai the father ami mother o: thw were hard-work:.!:.', .Lntlus;ri,us people, who strove to bring tip the'tr children horusr.tyand respectably. As s.> happen t»> h:iovv something of the father, can say tli.it the evil course which hid tUit-jhU-r sjviiu to have taken so readily to, wad not the effect of tlje bad

| example which had been set her. The J girl was imnt.ly bad, and notwithstandj ing a deal of mock sentimentality which , had boon indulged in of the i Pres3£sji|r case was a one to : deal with. Before her committal to the I Industrial School, and consequently be- \ fore, as seme would wish to assume, her I coul had been hardened by the cruelties ! perpetrated upon her, in the Police Court I Inspector Mallard said that in all his ! oflicial career he had never met her equal. ; He had never come across a child of such tender years so deeply imbued with criminal instincts, and so artfully cunning in the ways of crime. Taking the statement of the Inspector, and putting it side by side with the manner in which the child had ben brought up, how are we to account for her criminal proclivities ? But, unfortunately, the case of Mary Dohig is very far from being an isolated one ; and day by day children of tender years are being brought up at the various Courts as neglected and criminal, who have respectable, hard-working fathers and mothers. j To our mind, the evil lies in a proper control not being kept over them, allowing a free range of the streets, and the mixing i with children whose lot it may be to have 1 no parents, or worse than that, bad ones. j From Soutidand we hear of a case which, \ in tne shocking nature of the details, throws i that of Mary Dohig entirely in the shade. j A girl of fourteen years, the daughter of a hard-working mechanic, brought up on the charge of attempting suicide rather than return to a comfortable home. Instating the case the Inspector said the girl had been committed to the Industrial School for twenty-one months ; but no good could be got i>f her. After she had been discharged she was supposed to return to her father, but s'.ic stayed away from her home, sl.pt in the tussocks, was commo.i on thy streets, and dune just what she liked. Her father tried to get j her home quietly, but- she swore at him in ! the m >.st 'n-rrifying manner, toi\j out his whi?kt to, ami broke away from the hands of the police, ran into the creek, lay down [ and roikd about in it, in order to drown I herself, inpfjferencj to returning with her fath'.r. He assorted in Court that ho had not the slightest control over her, and that she was perfectly unmanageable ; but we a,ik, cr.n !■:: be acquitted." of ail blame in t!.y ma-t: r • Certainly not; "Spare the rod an-if-n-iil ihcc.i! -J," and unfortunately j pir nts are apt to put on the curb when i; jis too late. How ahi.ii do we hear fathers [ and mothers say, in the presence of the i mo.iL diminutive of their children : " Oh, he dots not mind a word that I say ; I do not know what to do with him ; he does just exactly what lie likes, and I can't prevent him." Is it not natural that the child should act upon the hint injudiciously thrown out, and take care fo-ipay not the slightest attention to what is said, and to follow the free bent of their wishes. Then again, if a boy or girl be at all wild, it is a common thing to.hear a mother declare in their they have gone beyond her contror; and the father is the only person to deal with them." As a matter of course, in such cases, the delinquencies are not punished by the mother, and either through mistaken pity to the children, or a fear of angering the father, they are never mentioned to him, and the evil remains unchecked. It is not alone necessary tiiat parents should I nvoid giving bad example to their children themselves ; but they should take such care that they would not see it elsewhere, and the only way in which to do this is by exercising a watchful guard over them at all times, and prevent them mixing with other children with whom a like precaution is not taken. Were this course taken from the very Grst moment a child is capable of receiving impressions for good or evii, we would not hear of fathers and mothers coining into Court and declaring their inability to govern children who are in years but nitre infants.