JUDGE CONCERNED AT LACK OF HOME TRAINING IN N.Z.

Wanganui Chronicle, 24 July 1947, Page 4

JUDGE CONCERNED AT LACK OF HOME TRAINING IN N.Z.

(P.A.) Auckland, July 22. Crime in the city and district of Auckland is disturbing in the view of Mr. Justice Callan who to-day addressed the Grand Jury at the opening of the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court. Another feature he stressed was the large proportion ot dishonesty by young people, indicating lack of home-training.

While glnd to be able to -say the criminal calendar was light,' His Honor reminded th r . Grand Jury tint it had to deal only with cases in which accused persons had pleaded not guilty. From week to week throughout the year on each Thursday the court had dealt with offenders who had admitted criminal offences. "Up to date this year there has been 117 such persons sentenced for serious crime and the number for past throe month's has been 64, so that before one jumps to the conclusion that the city and district of Auckland is freer from crime, merely because of this light calendar, one has to remember thes e figures," he said. Many more than half of the offences committed by persons who came up for sentence were offences against honesty and a disturbingly large proportion were committed by young men. It was a disturbing feature that the great bulk of car conversions and substantially more than half the breaking and entering offences continued to be done by, not merely young men, but by very young men. Hi s Honor directed attention to a message broadcast by Viscount Montgomery, in which he reminded his listeners that the strength o’ the nation depended in th c last resort on the character of its people and that this character depended on the foundation training tn the home. "The nature of the business I have mentioned as coming before the court appears to indicate that there are at least some New Zealand homes where parents are failing in the duty which this distinguished visitor mentioned. "Indeed I am not surprised that this should b e so. Every time a judge has to sentence a prisoner he sees a report on the life history of the prisoner. In these reports week after week 1 have been struck by the circumstances that in case after case of youths going wrong, they have not had home training becaus e the home had been broken up by the parting of parents. It seems to me natural enough to suspect that those human beings who hav e proved imperfect in their performance of the duties of husband or wife are also imperfect in the duties of parents. Even if that were not so, training lias to be given in Ih e family home and once the home is broken up, a child losing one parent has lost half its birthright.”

Divorce statistics showed that divorce had increased greatly in any country where that had happened. It was fortunate that if, as a consequential result, crime had not also increased.