THE BORSTAL.

Southland Times, Issue 22156, 26 October 1933, Page 3

THE BORSTAL.

To the Editor. Sir, —In answer to T. Giller: My “overweaning sympathies” have not clouded my better judgement and I do know something of the internal treatment of the boys in the Invercargill Borstal. If there is over-indulgence then it is wrong and there may be

with some boys. I know perfectly well that the boys need discipline and I have no quarrel with discipline of the right kind, but such discipline as solitary confinement is not the right kind. This discipline is only meted out to adult prisoners in extreme cases and after all, the Borstal is not supposed to be a prison although it is. The annual camp at Otatara is only for first-class boys. I also have visited this camp when in charge of the chief warder and from a visitor’s point of view it was excellent. Perhaps tlie boy who was embracing the cow felt the need of some internal influence, thinking the cow might respond to the musical effects of his mouth organ, or perhaps the milk might be sweeter when poured out accompanied by dulcet sounds. I am afraid T. Giller’s letter is not very convincing. I can only be convinced that all is well with the system and management of the Invercargill Borstal after a careful inquiry has been made. I ask once again, can a training school for boys be run properly under the Prison’s Department and with prison regulations, etc., etc.? Regarding the Borstal Medical Officer: I have never said there was no such person, but that there was no resident medical officer and that the boys received no adequate psychological examination nor treatment. Boys would not be admitted who had to be sent on to a mental hospital if this were so.—l am, etc., K. D. ANDREWS-BAXTER. All Saint’s Vicarage, October 23, 1933. P.S. On the train last Thursday there were five boys on their way to the Borstal in charge of a policeman and I must say his treatment of the boys was consideration itself, but was there any need for him to be in uniform? Plain clothes would not have made the shame of the boys so great.