JUVENILE CRIMINALS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5581, 3 June 1896, Page 4

JUVENILE CRIMINALS.

(From the Lyttelttn Times.) Statistics have shown that in the past young New* Zealanders have not been prone to drunkenness or crime ; but we appear to be entering upon a new era in which offences by young persons loom very largely. Mr Justice Denniston had occasion to comment this week upon the large proportion of boys and young men comprised in the list of accused persons coming up for trial at the criminal sessions ; and the same tendency is apparent in other centres of population. Young New Zealanders have not given way to the vice of drunkenness to any noticeable extent, so that this growth in criminality rather upsets the old thecry that drunkenness aijd crime bear the relation to each other of cause and effect. Enemies of our education system will be ready to say that in the unfortunate lapse pf a number of boys we have proof that the fruits of secular instruction * are in the direction of lawlessness ; but we are satisfied that inquiry would show that our juvenile criminals are children whose education and home training have been neglected. As the result of recent revelations regarding juvenile immorality in Dunedin, the truant officer of that city has been stirred to energetic action, and the other day there Were twenty-one parents before the Police Court charged with failing to send their children to school. It is lack of sound secular instruction that causes young people in many cases to fall into vicious courses, and the lesson of the Canterbury criminal calendar is that no time should be lost in having, a truant officer appointed to enforce the school attendance of children who are inclined to be wayward, or whose parents are care* less. A case that has arisen in the prohibition district of Clutha suggests that other vices than that of drunkenness are drawing the youth of New Zealand into criminal paths. A lad was, a few days ago, committed for trial at Balclutha Police Court on two charges of burglary. In his pocket was found a letter which he had written to a male companion, and which was noticed by the Bench , at some length. ""The letter," the Magistrates said, "is couched in language the most disgusting we have ever read. Some oi the expressions used are more filthy than anything we have ever seen, either in writing or in print. The letter contains the names of a number of young lads of Balclutha, who evidently are associates, and of the same character as the writer. It also gives the names of a number of young girls with whom these lads 'consort in the evenings, and the nature of their inter- . course is only too plainly told. In the letter mention is also made of a dance, which the writr says takes place in. Balclutha every week — on Thursday nights. If the mothers of Balclutha knew the language in which their daughters are referred to by these lads, and were aware of what takes place between them, their countenances wo.uld mantle with . shame. ' It is possible that some respectable young people of both sexes may attend these dances — we do not know — but to permit these girls to frequent a place where such characters as the writer of the letter and his vile companions congregate, and for the heads of families to afford their, daughters and servants frequent opportunities for associating with these characters in the streets and lanes of the township after dark, is simply to send them to schools of training to lives of vice and impurity.". The Balclutha Magistrates have published this note of warning so that parents in the district may look after the moral welfare of their children. There is reason to fear that a similar, though it is to be hoped not such a bad, state of things prevails in many districts an a result of the license allowed to young people and the absence of home attractions. Fortunately the evil has not attained such magnitude that it cannot be effectually dealt with, and its growth prevented ; but the eruptive symptoms now apparent of a disease in the social system are serious enough to demand the attention of all wellwishers of their country, and to justify legislative interference that should strengthen parental control and prevent the spread of the moral contagion among the young people of the colony. >