The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. PRISON REFORM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14275, 16 August 1910, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1910. PRISON REFORM.

"Warm praise has been bestowed upon the Hon. Dr Findlay's proposals for the resorn. of the system of treating crim.nais in the Dominion. 'We hare been in no haste to join in that chorus. owing to a strong suspicion that it is so Very inueu easier to draw ur> a scheme or that kind than to carry it out. and that- failure to succeed in the attempt to do so might make the end worse than the beginning. The difficulty in the way of failing in line with those who approve so warmly of the proposal is that though Dr Findlay prepares the scheme., other people—and unfortunately for the prospects of . success quite another class of people than Dr Findlay— must carry it out. i It is not at all encouraging, though on ' the face of it one would think it should ! be. that wonderful success has been obtained in certain prisons in th«. United States. The fact that particular prisons are named as examples, and i usually but one, Elmirn, suggests that : the success achieved there by the ap- ' plication of certain methods of treating i criminals is not to be credited to the' prison system of the United States, but to the peculiar genius for managing and influencing men of that character, , possessed by the Governors of these particular institutions. It is hopeless j to expect like results here, unless we j have like men to produce them. Doubt-j less, however, the system which has !

been so successful at Ehnira was gradu- I aliy developed, under the influence of j an enthusiasm for the reform of cri- | minals which must have possessed some j leader, and it is of course possible that ', a similar system could be developed in ; New Zealand—if the right man or j men were available to conduct the pro- j cess: The proposals of the Attorney- I General may bring such a man or such j men forward, and the scheme—the plan - and specification—which Dr Findlay has i prepared will be an invitation to them ■ to oiler 10 {ill the important posis of capia.-is in the new industry of re- ' iorn.mg 'iiminals, or it will serve as a ' sn-ve lor selecting suitable men, though '. th.s pn.i-os may be dishearteningly ■ slow. And until the right men—and j the right women for tho women's re- , iormatones —turn up, there is not much j tii he- expected beyond the mere formal j c!as.'-llicatH.n of the prisoners. Still. [ unless the possibility of doing some- j thing -u ihat way is recognised, noth- ; ing of course could be done, and Dr \

Findlay deserves pr::iso for having laid beiure tia> 'raiuurv that such a possibility ex:sts. Everyone must wish him success, as Minister of Justice, in the cnduav.r.ir to apply his scheme of re-i form to the criminals of this Dominion, of whom, we are told, there are about ; 1(100 in gaol every year. AVe do not j gather., from the abstracts of his, I speech that we have seen (the "Han-i sard" report is not yet available) that 1 Dr Findlay said anything about avoid- | nig the necessity for reform in any de- ! gree by the adoption of preventative j measures. lie made much of the importance of training tiie criminals into new habits, first among which is the habit of industry. AVe are inclined to think that training in the habit of industry would be belter dealt with as a preventative than as a curative process: and if that is a correct view, it j would seem that th« technical School js !

the best instrument for the reduction of crime, by widening the industrial horizon of youths who for hick of its assistance betake themselves as hoys to what the Victorian Director of Education, Mr Tate, calls •• blind alley employments," because when a hov ceases to be a hoy ho is •'scrapped'' 1 by his employer, and whilst employed he has learned nothing useful, nothing to fit him to make his way in life as a man. It is certainly not safe to assume, however, as some writers do, that the criminal is naturally a lazy person. It would be much safer to assume that the present system tends to make a convict lazy, because the " Government " stroke must be the rule. Training in honesty, in respect for the ritrhts of person and of property, is the hV'i and most urgent need, and hero the primary school should have orimeprevention work rev before it, mul in 'istcnth' kept there.