NOTES ON REFORMATORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11797, 28 July 1900, Page 10

NOTES ON REFORMATORIES AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

By Db.F, W. Pennefatheb, i.

In my former paper I dealt at length with the English system for the maintenance and training of pauper and' criminal children. There may, however, be quite as much to-be learnt from the systems in operation in the Australian colonies, where the circumstances more closely resemble those of New Zealand, than can be the case in an old and thicklypopulated country. Being at present on a passing visit to Adelaide, I have taken the opportunity of making inquiries here, and trust that some one else may do the same in the eastern colonies. South Australia is, however, of special importance, for several reasons; it has frequently been referred to in other parts of the world as a model community with respect to such matters, and its system has lately been modified in some dc-' tails,' so that earlier information is out of date.

In 1895 previous legislation on the subject was repealed, and the State Children Act was, passed, which was intended to be a complete code of the law relating to all children who are placed.under the care of the State. The act is still in force, but has been amended in some details by "The Affiliation Law Amendment Act, 1893," and "The Children's Protection Act, 1899." By the principal act the word "child" is defined as including boys and girls under 18. (I'hc raising of tho nge foi admission to a reformatory or industrial school-tip to 18, which is still under discussion in England, and in New Zealand has only been arranged in an indirect way, was therefore established in South Australia many years ago.) " State children " are divided into three. classes ;' (1) convicted children—that is, children convicted of any offence punishable by imprisonment; (2) destitute children—that is, children who have no sufficient means of subsistence, or whose parents are in indigent circumstances, or are dead, or unknown, or out of the jurisdiction, or in the custody of {he law, and children born in a destitute asylum; and (3) neglected children—that is, children found habitually begging, or wandering about with no settled abode, or associating with prostitutes, thieves, or other people of bad character, or who, being under 13 years of age, are found selling articles in a public place after 8 o'clock in the evening (or 9 in summer), and before 5 o'clock in the morning, or who are brought before the justices by their parents as uncontrollable (in which case the act states that the parents must givo security to the satisfaction of the justices for their maintenance whilst in an institution; but this provision is by no means always enforced), or who are under the guardianship of persons whom the justices consider unfit, or, lastly, illegitimate children. whose mothers are dead or unable to maintain them, and whose putative fathers cannot be found, or are unable to maintain them, or are absent from the colony. By a subsequent clause any child under 13 who is employed in a circus or acrobatic entertainment, or exhibition by which his life, health, or safety is likely to be lost, prejudiced, or endangered, is deemed a neglected child.

(It will bo observed-that these three classes roughly correspond to the three classes which I have described as existing in England— paupers, actual criminals, and- potential criminals. The last class in South' Australia, however, includes many children who would not be so classed' in England, such as children found celling articles in a public rjkee at night. Probably anyone familiar with the sad sight of mites of children selling papers and matches at all hours of a winter's night in London will consider the Souih Australian classification an improvement.)

The main idea of the act is the formation of a State Children's Council, consisting of not more than 12 persons, whose powers are very wide indeed. yThey are a corporatebody; but the membership constantly changes, as four members retire each year. Retiring members are eligible for reappointment; nomination rests with the Governor. At present six of the members are gentlemen and six are ladies. They are unpaid, but no difficulty has been experienced in finding suitable persons' able and willing to serve. To this council is entrusted the care, management, and control of the persons and property of all State children, and the supervision of all children nursed by foster mothers. They may apprentice and place out State children, grant licenses to women to. act ns foster mothers to children under the age of two; appoint institutions for the reception, detention, education, employment, training, or reformation of State children, and supervise all such institutions; grant .licenses for lying-in homes and supervise allrsuch homes. The "institutions", contemplated by the act are of two kinds —public, including homes, depots, probationary schools, reformatories, and other1 institutions established by the Governor; and private, including reformatories and other institutions established by private persons, but proclaimed by the Governor. All institutions, however, are equally placed under the control of the council, and even in the case of private denominational institutions the appointment' of the superintendent or matron must bo approved by the council. .

The staff of the council consists of the secretary, two inspectors (one male and one female), an inquiry officer, an accountant, five clerks, an inspectress of• licensed foster mothers and lying-in homes, and the superintendents and matrons of the institutions, with their subordinate officers.

The only institutions at present in existence nre the Industrial School at Edwardstown and four reformatories—one for Protestant boys at Magill, with 63 inmates; one for Roman Catholic boys at Brooklyn Park, with 24-' inmates ; "one for Protestant girls at Redruth, with 23 inmates; and one for Roman Catholic girls at Kapunda, with 13 inmates. (The proportion of Roman Catholic inmates is, therefore, here, as in England, strangely largo, considering that only about one-seventh of the population belong- to the Roman Catholic Church.) There are also in the colony several private orphanages, etc., which do not come under the act or receive any subsidy from the State; and when it is remembered that besides these homos Adelaide possessss an Asylum for the Blind and Deaf and Dumb (in which children so afflicted may be placed), an excellently managed Children's Hospital, and a Home for Weak-minded Children, and that all these institutions aro mainly supported by voluntary contributions, it cannot be said that private benevolence is not exorcised on behalf of the little ones. In fact, the only institution which still appears to be wanting is something in the nature of a truant school. The Government have declined to establish one; the council are anxious to see one established as a private institution.

For some years the reformatory boys were kept on a hulk in the river. This has long since been abandoned in favour of a- farm. Mr Button, who was-the superintendent both before and after the move, considers that the change was undoubtedly an improvement. At a later time the Reformatory and the Industrial School were placed close together at Magill; but that plan.was found open to some objections; and so advantage was taken of the increasing numbers to turn the Industrial School into an additional wing of the Reformatory, and to open a new Industrial School at a distance. .

The council possesses a complete set of offices at Adelaide, including a lockup and a Departmental Court. All complaints against children ure at Adelaide heard at that court, and in other parts of the colony at a Police Court (but not at the same time as that at which ordinary trials are taken). This certainly is bettor than the Now Zealand custom of placing children in the common lockup, and of trials for all charges (including poverty) being heard in the Police Court with other cases. • t

Destitute and neglected children may,- by order of two justices of the peace, or a special magistrate, be sent to an institution and there detained until they attain the age of 18. At that age the authority of the council over all State children ceases, except in two cases—(l) if .the child is over 16 when committed to an institution, the period of detention may be for two years, although that would extend beyond the end °f the child's eighteenth year; and (2) in special cases, on the recommendation of the council, the Governor may extend the period of supervision or detention of a female child up to

21. (I cannot say that this seems to me better than the New Zealand plan of all inmates remaining under the general charge of the department up to 21.) ■ Uncontrollable and incorrigible children may, by order of the justices or magistrate, be either (a) sent to. an institution and detained there up to 18; or (b), if males under W, whipped with a birch or cane, the number of strokes not to exceed 12; or (c) released on probation, in which case they remain under the supervision of the council up to 18, and must report themselves periodically; or (d) sent to a probationary school for a period not exceeding three months. (I must confess that I fail to see the advantage of the system of releasing on probation. If parents cannot control their children, what is the- use of leaving the children in their home, but saying that they must report themselves periodically? Surely such children would be better in an industrial school or with some other 'family. As to probationary schools, I have already pointed out that there are none in existence at present.) In the case of convicted children, the judge, justices, or magistrate.may, in lieu of passing a sentence of imprisonment, either (a) commit the child to'an institution, to be detained ther» up to the age of 18; or (b) order the parent to give security for the child's future good behaviour and' dismiss the charge; or (c) adjourn the case until the parent or guardian has punished the child sufficiently, and then'dismiss the charge. (From this it follows that in this colony, as now in England, it is impossible to send a child to prison first and to a reformatory afterwards.)

Convicted children only may be sent to a reformatory ; destitute and neglected children only to an institution other than a reformatory; except that (1) in special cases, if it appears advisable,, the judge, justices, or magistrate may send a neglected or destitute child to a reformatory; and (2) an inmate of a reformatory may be transferred to another institution, or vice versa, as a reward or punishment.

(This is a most valuable provision._ The judge or magistrate has the opportunity of making careful inquiries before passing sentence—and in practice they do so ; but if it appears afterwards that it would have been better to order the child to be sent to an institution of a different class, t\v> mistake can be rectified by those who have charge- of the child. All difficulty as to clr.ssificatia.-i is thus got rid of, and what'would otherwise be a blot on the system—namely, there being no minimum age below which children cannot be sent to a reformatory—is avoided. It certainly seems surprising that such wide powers should he- given to justices, considering the difficulty there must always be in securing competent justices in remote and thinly-populated districts. I understand, however," that the system has worked well; it is. doubtful whether it would have done so were it not for the fact that in practice these matters are only brought before justices at the instigation of the secretary of the State Children's department. Orders- of justices are, however, subject to an appeal to the local court at Adelaide.) There is a general power to the Governor to release any State child from any institution or from the'control of the council. Thispower is never exercised except on the report of the council.

Apprenticing and boarding out is an essential part of tho South Australian system, especially as regards destitute and neglected children. In fact, the Industrial School is little more than a receiving depot. For instance, on the 30th June, 1898, there were 48 inmates in the school; on the 30th June, 1899, there were 63; but meanwhile, 370 children had been received, of whom 148 were newly committed and 223 readmitted. Of these, 154 had been boarded out, 138 placed at service, 3 adopted, 1 placed out without subsidy, 2 placed with relatives on probation, 7 sent to reformatories, 1 to the Blind School, 31 to the hospital, 5 released at the expiration of sentence, and 5 by Governor's warrant; 6 had absconded. All this, of course, entails' a vast amount of labour, especially as a large number of the children come to the institution in a lamentable state of neglect and disease. The school is at present situated about four miles from Adelaide, in a building which was originally intended for a girls' reformatory. The staff includes a schoolmistress; ■ but book-learning is not—in fact, cannot be— a strong point in the school, as most of the inmates are constantly changing, and the only children who remain any length of time are the invalids, or those who" are afflicted in some way, which prevents their being boarded out. Nevertheless, the short .time which the children usually spend in the school is by no means ; .all—boys and girls alikeare taught" to clean and scrub the building; the boys work in the garden (for all the vegetables are grown oh the premises), and help in looking after the animais on the little farm attaohed to ,the school; the girls ;nalce the outfits for all the children who are being boarded out, do the cooking and washing, and take charge'of the little ones and the invalids. All the children arc therefore receiving what may. be fairly described as a " good industrial training." _ • Prayers are said in the school daily; it is carefully arranged that or.c member of the staff shall be a- Roman Catholic; the children are visited by the ministers of their own denominations, and ■ (as 'far as possible) taken to their, own places of worsliip on Sundays. The council may apprentice children as they think fit; the term not to exceed five years or to extend beyond thd day the child attains 21; the provisions which the indenture of apprenticeship must contain a : r6 carefully defined, and in all cases a power is reserved to the council to revoke the indenture should they so desire, and to require the return of the child to the institution. The power of apprenticing children is, however, seldom exercised.

On the other hand, out of a total number of 1223 State children, no less than 615 are boarded out, in most cases the council paying a subsidy, which may not exceed 10s a week; indeed, except in the case of children undsr two years of age, it rarely exceeds ss. The'act contemplates their being boarded out either with families or in private institutions; but, in practice, all are placed with families. Children over seven, when boarded out, must, of course, attend school until they attain the age of 13 or pass the necessary standard.

After. thirteen, children are not boarded out (except in the case of invalids), but sent to service. An arrangement is usually made that a proportion of- the child's wages shall be paid to the council, by whom it is placed in the Savings Bank, and not handed to the child until he attains the age of 21, or is sent out- into the world. If it is not claimed fpr seven years after the child has attained majority, the council may appropriate it for the general purposes of the department. Of course the question of the proper inspection of children apprenticed, boarded out, or at service, .is a very serious one. Under the act, each of such children must be visited by some person named by the council once at least in every four month?. As the children to be visited number upwards of 1000, and some of them pre placed hundreds of miles away from Adelaide, that is about as much as the two paid inspectors could do properly; but three visits in a year can be very little use. The council have endeavoured to meet the difficulty by establishing visiting committees in various centres of population (there are now 29 such committees), and appointing visitors in other places. It is hardly to° .much to. say that on the vigilance and efficiency of these local authorities depends the success or failure of the boarding-out system. Mr Whiting, 'the secretary of the department, is of opinion that, ac a rule, they perform their duties carefully and well; of course I have had no opportunity of testing the matter for myself; but, knowing from painful experience haw easy it is to find people willing to let their names appear in the printed list of a committee, and how difficult it is to ensure their going on diligently month after month in the weary, thankless, unostentatious routine ot duty, I can only say that I sincerely hope that Mr Whiting's view is correct. Inmates of reformatories are only boarded out in very exceptional circumstances. This is quite right; for the ground idea of a reformatory is that the inmate should be submitted to a training which will, it is hoped, relorm his character. Having ascertained that the system, at all-the four reformatories is much the same, I decided to visit one only and selected the institution at Ma<nll partly because it is the largest, and partly because Mr .Button, the superintendent, was an old acquaintance of mine in former years. The building (which is about five miles from Adelaide, easily accessible by tram), is a large and handsome structure—some might say un necessarily so,—possessing about 200 acres of land, of which tho buildings and garden occupy nearly one-half, the rest being grazing land and hay fields (I may remind my New Zealand friends that in this country " hay" is made of oats, cut before they are ripe). All the vegetables required for the institution arc grown in its own garden; cows, pigs, and poultry are kept on the farm. The staff consists of the superintendent, the schoolmaster, one cleric^ a gardener, one farm labourer, a lady attendant, and a female cook; from which it will be seen that the boys have plenty of work to do in the house, garden, and farm ; especially as all under thirteen, and those above that age who are specially backward, nave to attend school. The hours in the reformatory are as follows: The boys rise at 6 a.m., and, after washing and dressing, arc told off to various duties, according to age and strength—some to milking the cows and cleaning the horses, others to housework. At 9 they reassemble for prayers and breakfast ; then, after a short interval for piny, are again mustered, and sent to school or farm work. Dinner comes at noon : p.t 1 o'clock they again go to school or work, until the 5 o'clock muster for washing and ten. In the evenings the band practises take place for some cf the boyc; the others play games or read until the 8.30 muster for prayers and bed. On Sunday mornings' the boys are taken to vari-

ous places of worship, according to their denominations, and in the afternoon Sunday school is held in the building. The classification of the boys, which is a fundamental part of tho system, is as follows : — Class la.— "Will be limited to four boys, and will have preference over all other classes. Class Ia and Ib.—Will have preference shown them in .selection for service or apprenticeship, and to act as monitors, messengers, mail boy, etc., and will be allowed to visit their parents occasionally (with permission of the secretary), and to receive visits from and write to their relatives once each month; they will have dripping at breakfast and treacle at tea. Those who do not lose any marks during the week will be entitled to half holiday on Saturday afternoon for recreation, such as football, cricket, etc., and will, when opportunity offers, be taken to entertainments, picnics, an occasional trip to the seaside, and all other sources of amusement and recrealien that can with propriety be given them. Class ll.—Occasional recreation, on the same conditions as Class Ia and Ib, to receive visits from and write to relatives once every three months, and will not be required to clean lip after meals, or do other extra work, so long as there are enough of the third and fourth classes to perform the work.

Class lll.—Not allowed to mix with the other boys or play outside the grounds enclosed for them; will not participate in any of the above privileges nor be allowed treacle or dripping.

Class IV.—Not allowed any of the privileges above, nor take their meals with the other boys, or mix up in any way with them, but will be kept under strict supervision, constantly employed, have no play, and will be required to do all the extra or hardest work, and will not. except on Sundays, be allowed treacle, dripping, or pudding.

A boy on entering the school is placed in the third class; marks are given for general conduct, for diligence in school, and for attention to work; each boy knows that by strict obedience and diligence he can in about a month raise himself to the second class, and in another month to the first ; but that, on the other hand, he is always liable to be reduced to a lower class as a punishment for idleness or bad conduct. It is only those who are in the first class, and who are specially recommended by the superintendent,' that are sent out to service. Occasionally, also, boys are placed out with their parents on probation; but the superintendent advises this only in exceptional cases. (In fact, the homes from which boys come who become inmates of reformatories are not always the most desirable places to send them to.)

At the end of their period of detention, those boys who have homes to go to may return to them; the others may either remain in the institution until the superintendent can find them a situation, or go out and look for one for themselves; they generally prefer "the former course. No returns are published of the occupations, reconvictions, etc., of former inmates, .like those which I have read in the English reports; but Mr Button tells me that most of the boys become farm labourers; that he manages to keep in touch with several who write to him or sometimes pay.

visits to their old school; and that in his opinion about 90 per cent, of the former inmates turn out well in the world. Still, recollecting the interesting information about the after-life of the boys which I read in the reports of the Redhill School and the Cornwall training ship, I think it would be better if the returns were tabu-1 lated and printed.

I pass on now to the other duties of the council —or, at least, of its executive ofiics^s— which are enumerated in the State Children Act. First of these comes that of obtaining orders from the justices for the maintenance of children by their relatives, which can only be obtained on complaints made by or on behalf of the counoil. This does not merely apply to State children, but to all; in fact, one object 'of the exercise of this power is to prevent little ones from becoming State children. In" many such cases, when the order has been obtained, the council regularly receive the contributions, and pay them over to the mothers. The order may include such "sum-for past maintenance as may seem sufficient, and an allowance of not more than 10s or than 2s a week for the future. By the amending act, a sum of £10 may also be ordered for the expenses incurred at the birth of 'the child; and in the case of illegitimate children, the order for maintenance may be made before the birth of the child. (This seems to .be a wise regulation.) The act also contains careful provisions for enforcing the order; if necessary, by attaching the property of the relative.

During the year 1898-99 legal proceedings were instituted in 157 cases for desertion, etc., and against 43 fathers .of illegitimate children. Tiie secretary is cf opinion that many destitute children have thus been provided for who would not have been if the assistance of the department had not been available for making the necessary .application. But, useful though the. power is, it is certainly expensive ; it has even occasionally happened that the cost of pursuing a deserting father to another colony and taking proceedings against him exceeds the sum which he is ultimately forced to pay.

Ever since 1881 the system, of granting licenses to foster mothers has been in existence in South Australia. By the act. of 1895 it is provided that no person may, act as foster mother for gain or reward to any child under the age of two years without being annually licensed by the council. The council consider that the provision should be extended to oases where persons act as foster mothers even without gain or reward, as the present law leads to. evasion. Still, the act as it stands appears to be of great value, as' putting a check to the horrors of babyfarming. In the year 1898-99 the licensed foster mothers had under their care 154 infants, each home being inspected by an officer of the department about every three weeks. In several cases licenses were refused, and others were cancelled; which seems to show that the granting of a license is by no means a mere form. Foster mothers are also required to keep registers, and forward reports to the council.

Lying-in homes similarly require an annual license, and are subject to regular inspection. These homes have also to bo licensed under the Public Health Act, which appears to be a foolish overlapping of regulations; surely one "license would be sufficient. At present there are 31 licensed homes. They are generally very well conducted.

The act concludes with a number of miscellaneous clauses, chiefly providing for the carrying out of the- powers vested in the council.

One very practical question arises: What are the points in the South Australian system (other than, those to which I have already referred in my .former paper when speaking of English schools) which could with advantage be introduced into New Zealand? They may, I think, be divided into seven heads: — 1. The definition of neglected children. This seems to me, for reasons already given, to be more satisfactory than any other I have come across.

2. Raising the age for admission to a reformatory to 18. There may be many cases in which a judge might think it desirable to Eend a young man of 17 to a reformatory without taking; the roundabout course of sending him to prison, and asking the Governor to have him transferred to a reformatory.

3. The establishment of a State Children's Council. Ido not deny that I still prefer the English system of leaving matters to private efforts, encouraged and directed by the State, to the colonial plan of looking to the State to do everything. But even if State management is inevitable, or is considered the best, surely all will agree that everything should be done which would encourage benevolent persons to interest themselves in the' care of the little ones. The establishment of State Children's Councils would be one of these measures. Of course, lam confronted with the •initial difficulty that in New Zealand there would have to be a number of such councils, as the colony possesses no one capital city, like Adelaide. But it may be answered that the population of the South Island alone exceeds that of South Australia. Might there not be' one council for the island, even if two (one for Canterbury and one for Otago) were- considered impracticable? Yet surely 12 persons able and willing to act could be found in each provincial district. No doubt it is of vital importance to secure a thoroughly efficient secretary; but, if it is thought too much to have a secretary for each provincial district, who would devote his whole time to secretarial duties, the offices of secretary and inspector might be combined.

4. Having a special court for hearing charges against children. This appears to me so clearly advantageous (hat it is unnecessary to say more on the subject. 5. The power to judges and magistrates to commit to whichever institution they think proper, and to managers to transfer inmates. This seems exactly to meet the difficulty of classification in a small community. (I may mention that this was part of the scheme which I laid before tho Now Zealand Government in 1898.)

6. The appointment of visiting committees. Tin; fact that f still feel some hesitation about the boarding-out system altogether, in consequence of the difficulty of securing proper visitation, does not prevent me from saying that so long as the system exists at all, every possible means should be taken for minimising the difficulty. The appointment of voluntary local visitors whose names are published in the annual report presented to Parliament is at least a- step in this direction.

7. Placing such matters as the application for maintenance orders, and the licensing of foster-mothers, and lying-in homes, undo " the charge of the council. This is a matter somewhat outside tho of the questions I have been investigating; but if it works as well in South Australia as lam told it does, it is at least well worthy of consideration.