Climate and Crime.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14284, 27 August 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Climate and Crime.

iW';ma.!:ivs by sir i;, .sxon:, 1,1 11 i:' g ' 1 i t]]■-• Auckland fe»piciu'. C'-.'vrct i-.minol sitt-inisj recently l»is tii.j L'Uiut .liisiHv *?>>» " 1 ' OLOLU ) lUU'ic 'jn lO yejy j' 11.' Ving remarks on the reform of ilio crimi-n:l-1 > :!,|r l ;, ' MI ufi'-irrj iiii <.'iniiuiiiiHal ill" lor the increased P'Orcen cage oi crime u> I >.• iouud ui 111 ■ ■ .North js--1:11 a* rompnml with the South. H,s 1-IoUOUI sail OilO WUttld nlu a\s 111,(1 tltat men win/ dill not want co work made ioi a warm climate, and liil'\* might, bo said to be already schooling themselves lor the criminal classes, 'i nc man wdio would put up w.tli privations would seldom bo found to tiave criminal instincts. Jlu; man who wanted to have •ui easy die ua.s more likely to .swell their ranks. J. his way one reason, in his opinion, why there was Mich a great difference lietween the .North and the South Islands. The contract was most marked. Cvi r a. period of live years lhe convictions in the Supreme Court' were:— In the South. 1 r.er HMO ol' population, and in the .North if was .! per 10! 10. Again, if one luok ihe protMicial records, the same diiioronee was to he found. Nelson and iMarihnrnin.di wei e the lowest and (Hai/o, with o)'e aud a. hali, was ne>;t. while in the -North the average was ihree. Auckland's figures being 3.1. Wellington 3.3 Hawke's Bay 3.1', and Ta Tho population certainly was greater m the A'orth. lint apart from this, one had to consider that the warm chinate attract cd the lazy man wdio did not want to work, ami if he could not get sufficient to live on. he lived cm others. 1 Ins question of crime was one which tho community should grapple with strongly. With regard io it'igo. one reason for the low criminal rate there might he owing to the fa<-| thai; a number oi the people iher-o were living under "-No-license." Ah.mi a third, of ihe oc'.jjiie were under thi, ..ysi-em. About hali ihe crime in the calende.at ihe Auckland Court this session \\asatt ribuied io ilc inci ihat- ihe [insnnors had been drinking, or were under the influence of honor. Ife made these remarks lur In.-, hearer-, to con-ider the propriety and necessity for the l'.>ri"atiou of societies and asMicia i inns which would oro'.no! e ~ heiter state of time: t he I'.imimics Society jus; start"d in Dunediu inr e::aniDle.