The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-05 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL JUVENILE REFORMATORY.

A MEETING of the Juvenile Reformatory Association was
held on Tuesdays in the Council Chamber;- John Stewart,
Esq., Mayor in the chair. The Chairman read letters from
Mr. T. B. Horsfall, M.P. and the Recorder, the latter gentle-,
man enclosing a subscription of two guineas.
At the request of the Chairman, Mr. BRoutarmat read the
report, which stated that the hulk Akbar had been fitted up
for the purposes of a reformatory, at an expense of £lOOO. It
was capable of accommodating 500 boys, who weukl be trained
as sailors. Owing to the difficulties of obtaining land, &c.,
the association had been unable to make any progress with
the other two branches of the reformatory scheme, Though
liberal donations had been received, much more money would
be required to carry the institutions on with, vigour and
success.

The• Rev. Rector CAMPBELL moved the adoption of the
report, expressing his heartfelt commiseration for-the objects
whose reformation they, were met to promote. He drew a
parallel between the "city Arab" and the ownerless dogs
which. infested Constantinople, and commented in feeling
terms upon the wretchedness and degradation which the
neglectof parents on the one hand, and of society, upon the
other, imposed upon the class of young people described.
Mr. BROWN, M.P., who seconded the motion,.remarked
that as none were victims at once, but as the progress of crime
was gradual, prevention should by all possible means be
adopted. He hoped the community would assist heartily in
carrying out the objects mentioned in the report.
Mr. .L P. HEYWOOD (Islgh-sheriff) urged als) the-import-
ance of attacking the evils alluded to at their root, as his
experience of office had led• him to the conviction that no good
was to be done with the old thieves. The floating reformatory
was, in his view, an excellent mode of disposing of the youths
whom it was desirable to • improve, as there was- always a
demand for good sailors.
Mr. ADAM HODGSON, with the object of setting forth more
clearly thed esign and character of reformatories, read the reso-
lutions of the parliamentary select committee on the subject.
He eulogised the Corporation of Liverpool, and those who had
come forward to support the establishment of reformatories in
the town ; but he urged that, from the paramount necessity of
such institutions, the cost of maintaining them cught to be
thrown upon the public at large. Let the community, then,
assist government as earnestly and liberally as possible, in
making_the great experiment—an experiment whieb had suc-
ceeded wherever it had been fairly tried—in order that govern-
ment might ultimately be justified in obtaining the funds for
the regular support of such institutions from the public.
The: resolution was then• put and carried.
Mr_ 3. S. MANSFIELD. moved the next resolution. The
riches of a country, he said, did not consist in material wealth
alone-, but in a well-ordered population, which would be useful
in peace and a defence in time of war. In this view the re-
formatories were most important institutions„ and should
receive liberal national support. The floating hulk he thought
the most expensive kind of reformatory, as it could only be a
training establishment, and was not likely to- become self-
supporting. -When they. considered, however, that a criminal,
from his boyhood to his deportation or death, cost the country
several hundreds of pounds, the Akbar would be a most
profitable venture, and the voyage a most successful
one, even if it were only limited to swinging in the
River Mersey. It was- a most desirable thing that there
should be an occasional interchange of boys—those from the
Akbar being exchanged for boys from an agricultural reform-
atory, and vice versa. But what was needed just as much
as reformatories for boys was the establishment of similar in-
stitutions for girls. They were as much neglected by their
parents, as much incited to theft and depredation, as boys
were; and, owing to their sex, were most difficult to manage.
The reformation of girls was at the root of the evil. Every-
thing in the morality of a family depended upon the morality
of the mother; and it was one of the most painful things
which, as a magistrate, came before him, when married
women were brought up, charged with being drunk and dis-
t orderly, with fighting, drinking, and acts of outrage, and who
were obviously incapable of performing. the functions of wife
and mother. Hering deprecated a mode-of teaching which was
too high in reformatory and kindred institutions, Mr. Mans-
field said, that what women had to be taught was, that the
modesty of their sex should never be overstepped ; and, that
ardent spirits, indulged in by a great number of young, mar-
ried women,, should be avoided. They should be taught the
ordinary work of a house, to keep, their houses clean, to be
able to malto their own, and to mend their husband's-clothes,
to wash, to nurse, and to cook. These were the things which a
young woman ought to be educated to know, and without
which it was a falsification of terms to call her a man's help.
mate. Mr. Mansfield concluded with a motion, pointing out
the value and importance cf reformatory institutions, and
earnestly appealing for public support.
Mr., SAMIIRL HOLME seconded the resolution in a speech,
during which he traced the progress of one of the "neglected"
boys through his varied peculations to his first committal.
The gaol to him was but a school for crime,, and ultimately,
after costing the community some £2OO, he was despatched to
a penal settlement. He had been from his infancy the victim
of circumstances ; society expected to find an angel, but these
children had had the education of devils. In Liverpool alone
there were hundreds of such parentless creatures growing up
criminals ; and, if something was not done with them now,
the community would have to maintain them in prison, and
at last to transport them. Upon economical grounds, then,
reformatories should be pressed upon the attention of the
public. £160,000 to £170,000 had been spent upon a new
gaol at Walton, capable of holding 1,000 criminals, and it was
nearly full. If reformatory measures were not more exten-
sively availed of, the same sum might, ere long, be demanded
again for another geol.—The Rev. F. Bishop supported the
resolution.

Mr. J. C. EWART, M.P., moved the appointment of a com-
mittee.—Mr. J. A. Tobin seconded the motion.—Mr. W.
Rathbone supported the resolution, dwelling upon the im-
portance of improving the homes of the poor.—The Rev. J.
Carter (chaplain of the borough gaol) also supported the reso-
lution. He commended the change in the law which made
parents responsible for payment towards the reformation of
their children. He condemned the practice of exposing goods
for sale in the front of shops, as affording great temptation for
theft.—Thanks to the chairman were passed, on the motion of
Mr. Cropper, seconded by Mr. T. D. Anderson. The former
said that £2,000 a year would be required for the reformatory
experiments in Liverpool.

CHURCH SCHOOLMASTERS' ASSOCIATION.—At a pre-
liminary meeting held at the school-house, Sutton, on Satur-
day, it was resolved to form a Church Schoolmasters' Associa-
tion, for St. Helen's and the neighbourhood. The following
gentlemen were appointed on the committee for the ensuing
Year : Chairman, Mr. W. White, Moorflat School, St. Helen's;
secretary, Mr. J. N. Brooks, National School, Sutton ;
treasurer, Mr. G. Eyre, National School, Rainhill ; Mr. ',73.
Goodwin, Holy Trinity School, Runcorn ; Mr. C. M'Clijand,
National School, Halewood ; Mr. T. Westland National
School, Parr ; Mr. Aldred, National School, 4
Outon. The
meetings of the association will take a eup* the first
Saturday in every month, at the douses op schools of the
various members, when an essay will be read by the members
alternately upon some practical sgbject Qf education.