Industrial Schools.

White Ribbon, Volume 6, Issue 65, 1 October 1900, Page 9

Industrial Schools.

Under the auspices of the Christ church W.C T.U., a meeting was held on Tuesday, October 2nd, to discuss the question of the inspection of Indus trial Schools. The Rev L. Sarginson was in the chair. Mrs Cunnington gave a most interesting address, in which she commented on the; report of the Minister of Education for the past year. The report stated that at the end of 1899 there were 1668 inmates of Industrial Schools. I'here were three Government Schools —Auckland, Burnham, and Caversham ; and four private schools, St. Mary's (Auckland), St. Joseph’s (Wellington), St. Mary’s (Nelson), and St. Vincent de Paul (South Dunedin). Of the number classed as inmates of Industrial Schools there were only 590 actually resident in the schools ; altogetlnr 1033 were dependent on the Slate f ir maintenance, and the remaining 635 were still under control, but not dependent on the schools for maintenance. l'our Industrial School inmates were stated as being in gaol, and this Mrs Cunnington thought most ill-advised.

Nearly one-third of the total number of inmates belonged to private Industrial schools, which, curiously enough, were all Roman Catholic. The time had now come when they must look back and revise the system, for the woik of the sch nils from first to last was a ghastly failure. The system by which appointments ot teachers and officials were made was utterly unsound. Party influence was used, and capacity for the work was often ignored. W hile she believed that a successful manager of Industrial Schools was horn, not made, yet if the appointments were made by the people, or by a board app unted by the people, there would be a much greater likelihood of getting suitable offices. She was strongly of opinion that every school, whether public or private, should lie inspected by the Government, and she did not think that any religious body had the right to have the sole control of any number of people. She confidently looked forward to women being admitted as visitors, but woul 1 strongly urge that the visitors should be unpaid. Mr O’Bryen Hoare, M.A., followed, dealing with the necessity for scientific treatment of these abnormal human beings, and said that what Mrs Cun nington was aiming at, whether she knew it or not, was that the present system of dealing with criminals and lunatics was so unscientific that it

required a genius to administer it. They must change their system and make it scientific. 1 fie education system of the colony was a very fair one for such a young colony, but was based entirely on an erroneous assumption, that the child was a vessel to be crammed, not a being to be evolved. The young scamps referred to by Mrs Cunnington were, he believed, made criminals by the manner in which they were trained. Many of them were boys who, with scientific training, would makegood, useful citizens The late Mr Joyce had urged the establishment of a training ship, and Mr Hoare said that on a tjaining ship the scientific training was brought into operation to a greater extent then it was in the present Industrial Schools. Dealing with the present Industrial Schools, the title of which, hr said, was a misnomer, Mr 1 loarecontf nded that the Industrial Schools and Reformatories should be separate!. 'The criminal children should first be taught to be uncriminal, and the Slate must see that no boy or

girl left those institutions without knowing how to earn an honest living.

He believed that the State should be the guardian of every child, and should see that it was trained so that it would become a useful citizen. It was all very well to say, “ Punish the parents, but »vhat was the use of thatl hey erred through ignorance, and should be educated. If they wanted a born principal of a training school they also needed horn parents. The Rev. 11. C. M. Watson moved

That in the opinion of this meeting all industrial institutions, public and private whether subsidised or not, should receive vigilant and efficient supervision and inspection by persons in recognised public positions. The motion was seconded by a lady.

Mr (1. E. Bentley moved as an amendment the addition after “ industrial institutions ” of the words, “and all homes or institutions into which offenders are rec- ived from any Court of J ustice.” Mr Watson .accepted this amendment, and, as added to, the motion was carried.