CLERGY TO CONFER.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16781, 26 April 1926, Page 2

CLERGY TO CONFER.

ON CHECKING CRIME. ALL CREEDS JOIN IN DRIVE. Brooklyn clergymen of all creeds will attend a conference in the Hotel St. George, New York, to discuss the crime situation. They will take up the failure of the authoritiesTo apprehend 90 per cent, of the criminals committing crimes of violence, a proposal to suspend the. activities of the Slate Parole Board for two years, another to make pistol-carrying under all conditions a felony, and an appeal for better religious influence and guidance by parents. The call for the conference was issued by seven clergymen who have been co-operating with the Brooklyn Juvenile Protective Association, after a preliminary conference called by Rabbi Louis D. Gross, a trustee of the Protective Association.

The conference will be asked to endorse the movement for a State Crime Commission, as advocated by Governor Smith, which would survey crime conditions, and a proposal to limit the activities of bondsmen for criminals. The call mentioned that 60 per cent, of those arrested for serious crimes were drug addicts. The conference also will consider a proposal for Saturday morning motion pictures for children in Brooklyn theatres, at which comedies devoid of habit-forming tricks and educational pictures of Bible incidents would be shown. Most of the Brooklyn motion picture theatres could be enlisted in such a movement, it was said, without much expense, and it would be possible to get all the theatres of *nc city to co-operate. A statement by the Association said that it was proposed "to call on public authorities for stricter enforcement of tho law, a recent report to the American Bar Association revealing that 90 per cent, of the crimes committed showed no arrests whatever, and that arrests too seldom secure convictions." Establishment of a Bureau of Home Bclations for welfare work among wayward children has been suggested, the bureau to serve as a clearing house for all welfare organisations and to provide psychiatrists and trained social workers to visit homes of the poor, ameliorate conditions, and, when possible, adjust relationships between parents and children. "It is suggested," the statement adds, "that every child be examined thoroughly an entering the kindergarten and the date of the child's birth and parental conditions and the history of the parents be taken into consideration, and on the basis of these examinations the child be placed where his particular needs can receive the best attention. In the opinion of the clergymen calling the conference such a programme could be handled successfully only by a bureau supported by funds provided by the city."