The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-11-05 00:00:00

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The HOME SECRETARY on JUVENILE

CRIME.

After*ards agtet üblheiing was held in the
Public Hall, pi:eslded over by Mr. Percy Wyndham,
Actlg those on the platform were the Home
Secretar, Lord Houghton, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir
Wilfrid Lawson, Messrs. David Ainsworth, M.P.,
Perguson, M.P., and Cropper, M.P.

i
I

Sir William Harcourt arrived at Cockermouth on
Saturday from Brayton Hall, where he had been
staying with Sir Wilfrid Lawson since Thursday, for
the purpose of taking part in the openink of the
Cumberland Industrial School. The Home Secretary
tvEis acComps.pied by Lady Harcourt, Mr. Harcourt,
Lord Honfklitc:n; Sir Charles Trevelyan, and Sir
Wlfrld Lit*son.
l'he school having been opened, the Home Secretary
Was entertained at luncheon in the industrial school,
When various toasts were proponti,

Thanks having been passed to Sir William for
having opened the school, addresses of welcome were
readsfrom the Magistracy and also from the Local
Board.
Sir William Harcourt, who was received with
Cheers, replied to the addresses in a speech of consider-
able length, in the course of which he said—lf you
look back over a briki cnate of Wile just consider in
What a eteb 6bc.lety was towards the end of the last
Dklntury and the beginning of the present, how
'different things were with reference to the care taken
of different classes of society who are little able
to assist themselves. I myself can recollect in my
Youth in York the small and unpretentious building,
the Quakers' Retreat, which I believe was the first
building in which the Society of Friends began that
LaYstera of the careful treatment of lunatics, which has
become one of the principal objects of local govern-
ment now in this country. You may remember the
ancient prints in which the furious madman was
chained and naked upon the straw. What a difference
We now see in the manner in which those who by the
Will of Providence have been bereft of their reason are
treated. In the same way you may see a generation
bee witnessed a totally different method of treatment of
the blind, the deaf and the dumb. If you consider what
at the commencement of the century was the nrovision
made for the education of children, I think-we may
feel that a great and satisfactory progress has been
made in our time; and even in the far more difficult
question of the treatment of the criminal classes, you
Will remember the severity which was followed in the
administration of the law—a severity which, even in
the opinion of the judges and those who had the ad-
ministration of it, was absolutely essential to the
Preservation of life and of property—and you will
ser, e how by the enlightened views of men like
oir Samuel Romilly and those who carried out
those ideas, it has been possible to make an immense
progress, and at the same time that you see far
Mater humanity introduced into the administration
of the law, yet life and property are not less, but more
!secure than in the former generation. I think these
bra things that it is well sometimes to pause and
reflect upon, because, as when you stand upon the sea-
shore, and you Bee the advancing waves immediately
retire, you may be in doubt whether, upon the whole,
the tide is flowing in the one direction or the other;
but if you take the bearings, if you examine the land-
marks at sufficient intervals of time you will be in no
doubt in coming to the conclusion that, on the whole,
We are making a stable and satisfactory progress.
(4Vtr, hear.)
4.leve, with reference to these particular institutions
fsaid the Home Secretary), which, in my opinion,
uave played no small part in recent years in the im-
provement of the condition of society, they are due,
no doubt, to two feelings, each of them powerful,
each of them valuable—one, no doubt, the tenderness
aYrepathy which arise in the breasts of all good
‘u• e,ll and women towards the young, the other, the
rider, but, at the same time, also a powerful in-
it;tencp, of the calculation of the interest to society
t
_ ere is in preventing the rising generation from being
;recruited into the armies of the criminal classes. It
'8 atran
„ ge that it should be so comparatively modern
Sci idea that there ought to be a different treatment of
e Young from that of the adult offenders. The first
-glvelopreent of that notion owes its origin to the
rench nation. In a well-known institution at Mettray
:as the first example of a reformatory school—at all
tjeuts upon a considerable scale. My friend Mr.
rYndliam has referred to the efforts of those who
originally gave shape, vigour, and life to the reforma-
Vr7 movement in England ; and, as he has mentioned,
4..ePeak now in the presence of one who took a prin-
ipal part in those transactions—l mean my friend
Lord Houghton. (Hear, hear.) I think it was in the
Pear 1846 that Lord Houghton first introauced a
P2easure, which, however, at that' time, did not pass
"uto law, for the establishment of reformatory
eehools in this country. About that time, also, this
matter had attracted the attention of a distinguished
11..140,1 one of my predecessors in the office I hold,
r_ great statesman from Cumberland—l mean the
I'te Sir James Graham. (Cheers.) That mea-
nre , however, for the establishment of a great
tiglntral reformatory did not at that time take effect.
there were conferences held at Birmingham,
riuleb Lord Houghton will well remember, which
, Dened the matter to such an extent that in the year
1186,4 Perhaps the most distinguished man who ever
the seals of the Home Office—l mean Lord
Ithaerston—introduced the first measure by which
.Irreatory schools were established by law. Shortly
r" followed the plan of the industrial schools, and
ti milk, taking, as I have said just now, our observe-
, elle at certain intervals of time, we may judge
the of the effect which these schools had upon
„"„e poPulation when I tell you that in 1854 the
rk"reber of juvenile commitments was 14,000; in
ra Year 1879 it was 6,800- in the year 1880 it
rill sunk to 5,500; and I hope that the year 1881
h !how a very considerable diminution upon that
u
rnoer. (Hear, hear.) So that, you see, since the
institution of these schools the number of juvenile
more
has been diminished by considerably
L!'re than one-half (Lord Houghton.—" Notwith-
, L
Standing the increase of population ") and, as my
fr
d:erm Lord Houghton reminds me, we have this great
eeaBe upon the juvenile commitments corresponding
with
that enormous increase in the population which
EdrY decennial census exhibits. (Hear, hear.) At the
E' decennial
time we lave 64 reformatory schools and 136
vilustrial schools. and there is another class of schools
tri"Lell, I hope, is destined largely to increase, especially
the towns of this country—l mean the truant and
may. receive
schools (hear, hear), whereby children
""aY i
receive the benefits which the ndustaial
„
"cu°olB give them, without being altogether'
aenarated from their homes and from their
Parents. :That, of course, is a system which
:a, not capable of being carried out largely in
agrioultural districts, but in the urban districts
ls one, I am sure, of very great value. I should
reention,-besides these, that there are 11 training-ships,
!_hleli are carrying out this work in a very admirable
Luanne; and, perhaps, as efficiently an any institution
to the kind. (Hear, hear.) Now, it is net merely as
the numbers that we ought to consider this
11!lestion—it is not quantity only you must look
5 but the quality • and the thing you have to
!lan:line, and carefully examine, is what becomes
the boys when they have left these schools.
14:_ear, hear.) The statistics upon this subject are
''''refully taken. Inquiry is made at intervals of three
Cars to see what has become of those boys after they
d_ ye gone out of the schools, and they are classified as
uttug well, some of them are lost sight of and not
:.°lln3, others-1 am happy to say a small percentage
ta're found again to relapse into crime. The percen-
h ge of those who are doing well, I am pleased to say,
Progressively and rapidly increasing. (Hear, hear).
t A., fter quoting statistics showing the diminution of
allele in this ceuntry, Sir William proceeded to say—
friend Mr. Wyndham has been good enough to
zpl have paid special attention to the case of juvenile
i„..enders. No credit belongs to me for that. It is a
"'
,oiect which in the office I hold is necessarily forced
ZPoll my attention, and as the prisons of this country
Zi've been placed now more than they used to be under
re immediate control of the Home Office, one of the
urn things to which my attention was directed was
the number of children of tender years who were corn-
Initted to the common gaols. (Cheers.) There was no
fault to be attributed to anybody for that circumstance,
because as the law at present stands there were few other
fluethods of dealing with those who unquestionably
°served to be punished and required to be restrained.
I have seen sometimes in the newspapers that it is
attributed to me that it is my desire and my practice
that children who committed offences should go un-
Punished. I desire that as little as any man in this
e°llntry ; the only question is whether the existing
Methods of punishment are those which are most
tilPropriate for children of tender years. (Cheers.)
"ovv, the magistrates have been placed in great diffi-
QU. lty in this respect, because the law admittedly is
L'toPerfect. In my opinion what the law ought to do
re t offer as many alternatives forms of treatment as
~_",can, and to leave to the discretion of the magistrates
'co have knowledge of the case to apply to each indi-
ual the form of treatment which they consider will
most useful. (Cheers.) I desire here to)tate there
fib one who has more complete confidence both in
f.„., the discretion of the magistrates and in their desire
Cu deal with those cases in the most judicious and
St:earle manner than myself, and it is only circum-
tces with which gentlemen present are perfectly
aware that prevented me, very much to
regret, from introducing a measure last
;les ion which I hoped might have helped them
ig their task. But I am happy to say that,
th,mY ?pinion, though I do not at all abandon
oleure of some improved legislation on this
*CZ.t, there is very little practically now to
)aili of. I think the first part of my morning's
tau'iS to look over the now very much reduced
ord. 'llB of juvenile offenders. There is a standing
to
Ther.to all governors of prisons immediately to return
Pears every day an account of the children under 14
of tii" °A age who come to their prisons and the causes
eir commitment. The numbers now are not very
itTe; The magistrates have most carefully and
the,,T°llBlY addressed themselves to the treatment of
eaass. Sometimes in the brief notice of a case
kfleh is reported to me I feel a desire for some further
i°rmation, and I write to the magistrate and ask him
bleu kind enough to give me the details. I derive great
to 'ruction from the reports which I receive, and con-
thrently, now, as I have pursued this inquiry for more
104112 months, I suppose I have received as much in-
Irtio aton the
can be obtained for having the means of
bait!' cnaracter and the cause of juvenile corn-
tr-r:ents in every county and borough in this com-
a No doubt, magistrates sometimes say, "This is
11703 which we find it very difficult to deal with.
to'?e Is a very refractory boy. We are very unwilling
,7,7,nd him to prison; we do not want to send him to
solelorreatary for five years. He has been guilty of
Wilful act of mischief- we could not leave him
b pi;nished ; if we had had the power to correct him
locking him up for twenty-four hours and
Rivingeetli him a good whipping, we would much
looLor have dealt with him in that way than
think him in prison for a fortnight." Well, I
ity magistrates ought to have an opportun-
„"Y law of applying that method of treatment to a
ra•te of that kind., and I hope that will be given them.
refer, There is one other matter to which I will
ier, because I hope what I am now saying may be re-
Ported elsewhere; and I know I have the entire con-
cur Fence of my predecessor in the observations I wish to
!take upon it. You know that when a small fine is
Imposed it is very often accompanied by very, heavy
Dos ts—costs which are three, four, or five times as
greet as the fine imposed, Now, thftt, isAyery,M,

hardship upon the poor parents of children who are so
fined. (Cheers.) There are many parents who would
pay a fine of 2s. 6d. or ss. for a naughty boy who had
broken a window, but who, when the demand is made
upon them for costs of 155., 165., sometimes of 30s.—
which is the food of the family for a week—cannot
afford to make sacrifices, and the child goes to prison
who might otherwise have been saved from that in-
dignity. (Cheers.) That was one of the things Sir
Richard Cross struck at in the Summary Jurisdic-
tion Act. By the Bth clause of that Act it is
provided that where the fine of less than ss. is
imposed no costs shall be paid Unless the magis-
trates speeially certify them. It is not that costs
should follow as a matter of course, unless the
magistrates excused them, but that no costs shall be
paid unless the magistrates specially certify them.
(Cheers.) I venture to say what I said in the House
of Commons, and Sir Richard Cross got up and said
he entirely agreed with it, that the intention of that
Act was that the imposition of costs should be the ex-
ception and not the rule, and that they never should
be imposed unless there were very special circum-
stances, because one great evil of it is that it misleads
everybody as to what the real character of the punish-
ment is. You see it recorded that for a small offence
a tine of 6d. or is. has been imposed, when really the
mulct imposed on the parent is perhaps 18s. If you
mean to impose 18s., far better you should let people
know it, and let it be stated that the fine is 18s., and not
let people be deceived into thinking that the punishment
has really been is. when it is 10 or 12 times as much as
that which appears. I know one of the causes is this
—it is the borough and the county finances. It is
thought that it is a good thing to keep up the receipts
from these fines, and it is just as well that the receipts
should show well upon the county or the borough
ledger. But I would implore those who have the
administration of this law to carry out in its true
spirit the provisions of the Act of Parliament, and to
refrain, in those cases especially of juvenile offenders,
frcm aggravating the moderate fine which they think
fit to impose by making a special order for costs, which
may very often defeat the whole object for which a
small fine was inflicted. This is a case I have frequently
to regret, and it is constantly coming under my notice.
Now, I may be asked, "What is it you want to do with
juvenile offenders?" I have spoken on this subject at
various places, and I do not know that I have anything
new to say. I know my way, and if time could have
been found—time which is the most precious com-
modity everywhere, but of which there is an absolute
dearth in the House of Commons—(laughter)—this
matter might have been settled, I think, with very
little discussion and by trifling alterations in the law.
I invited the opinion of the magistrates throughout the
country last year, and was mat by them in the most
cordial and kindly spirit, and, with the exception of
one county, I received from every county and borough
in England their advice and assistance as to the
methods which were to be pursued, and they all con-
verged upon two or three very simple points. There
was, no doubt, one subject upon which a good deal of
difference of opinion existed. You know at present no
child can be sent to a reformatory school except on con-
dition of a previous term of imprisonment. If a child is
to go to a school where it is to be reformed, it must be
sent to a; common gaol for 10 days, and it is very com-
mon so to commit children. I confess my own strong
impression, confirmed by the great majority of the
magistrates throughout the kingdom, is that that cer-
tainly ought not to be a compulsory condition—that
it ought at least to be left optional to the magistrate to
send the child direct to a reformatory without com-
mitting him in the firs instance to a common
gaol. (Cheers.) One of the reasons given to
me by the magistrates why they send a child
to prison is because it is doubtful when a child
is brought before them whether they can find a re-
formatory to which to send it. I hope that the
multiplication of industrial schools throughput the
country, like that inaugurated to-day, will very
much remove that difficulty. There is one other great
point upon which I think everybody is agreed,and all
the reports of the magistrates confirm it. The one
thing, after all, you must look to in dealing with these
juvenile offences is to operate on the parent. The
great defects, I think, of our reformatory and in-
dustrial system now is that we have not yet found
out how effectually to make the parent pay.
I so far agree with Sir Charles Trevelyan, though
I do not altogether concur with him, that
the danger of these questions is lest you should
offer a boon and encouragement to selfish and
unnatural parents to desert their children, that they
may be taken care of at the public expense. The
true corrective to that is to get at the parent, and to
make him pay. Let us
.say to the parent, "If you
neglect your child, and if society is to take charge
of it, that shall not be gratuitously, so as to relieve
you from the support of the child, but the society
which takes charge of the child you neglect shall make
you pay for the care it takes of that child."
(Cheers.) That is fair, and that is necessary in order
to guard against the danger to which otherwise these
institutions may be open. So, likewise, of the ques-
tion of fines. At present a child is fined. Well, a
child has no money; you cannot make a child re-
sponsible. But the advice I have received from all
quarters, and it seems to me to be scund and wise, is
that you should have power by law to levy upon the
parent. • If a child has broken a window or done
damage of some kind or another for which it should be
punished, and from which the individual who suffers
the damage should be protected, it oughtnot to be in the
power of the parent to say, "Here this damage-55., 75.,
10s.—has been done; you take the child and send it to
prison." Are you going to destroy that child and make
him a bad member of society by sending him to
prison? Surely it is much better you should have
some power to make the parent responsible for the
offence the child has committed, and consequently
compel him in future to look after the child better
than he has done before. (Cheers.) That, again, I
think, is a leading principle—that you should get at the
parent by having power to fine the parent, or even
the milder alternative, which I believe in many cases
would operate—that is, power to bind over the
parent for the good conduct of the child. If the child
then is not looked after in the future, and again com-
mits an offence, the parent would be placed under a
penalty, which is likely to operate in the direction of
making him more careful in the future. In that
direction I think something might be done.
After some further observations on the Reformatory
system, the Home Secretary concluded by saying':—
It has been a singular pleasure to me to see this school
to-day. Certainly, of all the schools I have seen, in
its external arrangement, it is the best, and the whole
arrangements of the establishment are unequalled
in any set of buildings I have hitherto seen.
Cumberland has set an admirable example of a
public community undertaking a task which
is felt to be for the public advantage. I am
glad to see what has been done, and I augur
for your work the most complete success, and I shall
watch the experiment with the greatest interest, and
I can assure you that, among the burdens of public
life—which are not light—there is nothing that re-
lieves one more than when one is permitted, as I am
on the present occasion, to take part in proceedings
which, I am deeply convinced, are for the advantage
of that society to which we belong and of that country
which is dear to us. (Loud cheers.)

On Monday Sir William Harcourt, Bart., M.P.,
attended a great Liberal demonstration, held at
Workington, to support the second Liberal candidate
for the division of West Cumberland. At a great
public meeting, which was preceded by a banquet,
the right hon. baronet was presented with an address
by the West Cumberland Libeval Association. In
his reply, Sir William criticised the recent utter-
ances of the Marquis of Salisbury and Sir Stafford
Northcote and said the Government of this country
had been mainly Liberal for the last fifty years. The
old motto of the Liberals was their governing prin-
ciple still. They had succeeded in establishing a con-
dition of things in which we had no enemies in the
world.—Among other topics Sir William referred to
the passing of the Ground Game Act, and said—
Ido not claim any great merit for it. It was not a
magnificent measure, but I hope it has been a useful
one. The farmers had another grievance. By their
industry, their skill and their capital, and under
great difficulties from the inclemency of the
seasons they grew their crops, and when they
had grown their crops they were subject to
have their czops destroyed by game. Well they de-
manded relief and protection, and that, I think, was a
fair and just demand. The Government brought in a
Bill to remedy that grievance, and whatever may be
said to the Bill the grievance was remedied, and in a
manner which was effectual, and no man can contract
himself out of its provisions. (Cheers.) What has
been the effect? Game has not disappeared from the
face of the earth ' • at least, I did not find it so at
Brayton (laughter), but the grievance has disappeared,
and that, in my opinion, is a very good thing for the
landlords as well as the farmers. This is a small
affair, but, in my opinion, it has removed great dis-
content, and that is an example of the reforms which
are sincere, which are substantial, and which
are effectual. (Hear, hear.) In concluding his
speech, the right hon. baronet referred to the pro-
spects of future legislation, and said,—When, however,
the great Irish difficulty is out of the way (cheers)—
and I trust that it is moving out of the way (renewed
cheers), for, as they say in the weather charts, as the
pressure increases the weather improves, and I am
glad to read day by day that the Irish people are
flocking into the Land Court (hear, hear)—and when
we get the Parliamentary machinery to work as it
ought to work (hear, hear), I hope we shall be able to
use the great majority which we possess and which
casts upon us a great responsibility as being a great trust
for the benefit of the people who have returned it.
(Cheers.) There are many questions we have to deal with.
There is the question of the land. (Hear, hear.) I hope
that will be dealt with upon fair and moderate
and effectual principles. I cannot enter into details on
that question now, but I will enter my protest against
a phrase I sometimes bear—that of the "landed
interests," as applied only to the owners of land. The
landed interest is one of the most important, perhaps
the most important, interest in the country; but it in-
cludes, besides the owners of the land, the occupiers and
the cultivators of the land and the labourers on the
land. (Cheers.) That ,is the landed interest. Then
there is the great question of admitting the agricultural
labourer to the Parliamentary franchise. (Cheers.)
There are other questions, like the government of
the metropolis and other large and difficult matters;
but I will not go into details upon these matters now.
You have neither time nor have I the voice to exhaust
ourselves in these details ; but there is one thing that I
wish to say to you in conclusion. If we fail to attempt
these reforms, if we shrink from the task you have set
before us, then you have a right to condemn us; but
if, when we have made the attempt, the attempt fails,
condemn yourselves, because it will be your fault and
your fault alone. (Cheers.) If the voice of the people
of this country is at our back, if you have a real, sin-
cere desire for reform, I pledge you my word it shall
be done, Lord Salisbury notwithstanding. (Renewed
cheers.) But if you falter in your purpose, if you
hesitate in your support, the failure will be due to
your own pusillanimity. (Hear, hear.) It is for
you to hold up our hands in the day of battle.
i
(Cheers.) That s why.l have come here to-day. I
want to see the stuff of which the Liberal party is
made. (Hear, hear.) I want to know whether your
commissioned and your non-commissioned officers can
rely upon you in the day of battle to be staunch under
fire, and if I am any judge of political forces, we
have the materials of success here—(cheere)—and we
shall enter upon battle with omens of victory. West
cellerland Lae already gixe..4 tie a vallanA

Ag 4 !