Juvenile Criminals in New Zealand.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5804, 18 December 1886, Page 3

Juvenile Criminals in New Zealand.

THE PREMIER ON STATE

EDUCATION

IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING

STATISTICS

AN ABLE REFUTATION,

[Special to the " Stak'."]

DUNE DIN, Dkc 18.

Sir Robert Stout has taken part in the break-up at several schools, and at all has strongly urged parents to resist to the uttermost any insidious attempts to impair the usefulness of the Education Act. He said that parents, if they wished to see the State system of education continued, muat aid and assist the masters and Committee of Management. Everything that was established was liable to be attacked, and the State Bjstein of education had been often attacked since 1877. One of the charges againat it was that it produced criminals, and helped to make pupila vicioua and criminal. This wa3 totally without foundation, and he would ask those present if it was not a grow libel? He had with him a few statistics, which would show them that sinoe this system of State education had been inaugurated, there had been a decrease instead of increase of criminals in New Zealand. This Colony stood at the head of the world in regard to the paucity of juvenile crime. In 1877 the number of prisoners in the Colony was 11 21 per 1000 of the population. The 1886 statistics were not to hand, but in 1885 this average had been reduced to B*4B. Since 1877, and up to the present time, there had been a steady decrease in the ratio of criminals to the population. In 1877 the ratio of juvenile criminals was 72 per 1000 ; in 1885, it waa 59. He quoted figures relating to criminals under twenty-five years of age, and said further examination of these statistics went to show that the proportion of colonial born criminals to the rest of the population was decreasing instead of increasing. In 1885 there were 332 persons under 20 years of age convicted of crime, and out of these only 114 were born in the Colony. The majority (218) came to New Zealand from elsewhere. New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and the British leles were far above this Colony with regard to juvenile criminality. In 1885 New Zealand had^O-59 per 1000 of criminals under 20 years of age; New South Wales had 16; Queensland, 154; England, 118; whilst Scotland rose as high as 2.20. They must also bear in mind that in dealing with the latter couutries he had only taken the figurea for the principal gaolg, whereas the New Zealand returns included all the gaols. He would again appeal to all parents, and mothers especially, if they wished to see the benefit of State education handed down to their children, to do all they could to preserve it. Of course, with the increase in size of the large towns, juvenile criminality must increase ; but this was more due to the old saying, " The sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children of the third and fourth generations/ than from other causes. They could not expect the children of drunken and vicious parents to be moral. These children had a burden to bear which they could not help, for it was the parents and the {home influence that were to be Warned.