for a first offence. As a general rule imprisonment, no matter how mild it is made, is a demoralising experience." ("Juvenile Offenders," p. 200.)

These considerations, however, only touch the fringe of the subject; for, although the punishment of whipping, or by way of fine, or even a simple admonition, may in many cases have a most salutary effect-possibly operating as a complete deterrent-it must be remembered that such treatment is useless when once the commission of crime has become habitual. The malignant growth is then far too deep-seated to be removed by the application of any mere superficial remedy. It is not sufficient in such cases to rely simply on the restraining influence of fear; we must now apply some educational, some social method of treatment, otherwise it will soon be found that the continued repetition of trivial offences has culminated in the commission of some greater crime. We have now reached a stage when, as Dr. Morrison has well said, "unless punishment is accompanied by an amelioration of the individual or social conditions out of which the offence has sprung, the offence will be repeated."

What, then, are the requirements of the magistrate in order that this method of treatment may be effectively applied?

In the first place, he must, so far as possible, be made acquainted with every fact that can be ascertained as to the history and antecedents of the accused, his proclivities, his mode of life, and, in particular, his home surroundings. If this information be not forthcoming, the result of the intended correction is the merest haphazard. Such information is often supplied through the officials of the School Board, to whom (at any rate in the busy centres) justices are so largely indebted for most valuable assistance in their attempt to repress crime in the young. So, too, aid in obtaining this information is frequently afforded by the Police Court Missionary; that is to say, in the few Courts

where, through the charity of private individuals, such a functionary is fortunately stationed. But, if the State is prepared to make any serious attempt to deal with this subject, every magistrate should have the right to require such information to be supplied to him at the public expense. It must not be left to voluntary effort, which is, of course, partial and spasmodic. The police, it is true, may be able to inform the Court whether the accused is a "First Offender," that is, whether any previous conviction is recorded against him; but such a test is often not merely valueless, but even highly misleading, for with a perfectly clean sheet he might nevertheless, in some instances, be fairly classed as a habitual offender.

Pending these necessary inquiries (as well as during the time which elapses between apprehension and trial), it is in many cases essential that a proper and sufficient place of detention should be provided other than the prison or the police cell. In the Kensington Union, we believe, and perhaps in some others, special accommodation, with special arrangements as to separation and supervision, is secured for these child inmates. The provision of such accommodation should, we think, be made obligatory upon the Guardians, and power should be conferred authorising the detention of all young persons under 18 years of age in these quarters, whether before or after trial, until the final place of detention can be determined.

In the next place, if it is deemed desirable to subject the offender to the influences of industrial training, there must, of course, be some corrective institution in which the magistrate may cause him to be detained. Up to the present time the Legislature has provided no such place of detention; for, although the Court may commit to the Reformatory or Industrial School, there is no power to compel reception into such an institution. The child may be, and in practice is, refused admission if he should chance to

be suffering from some chronic ailment or to be afflicted with lameness, or other physical weakness or defect. Such malady or deformity may no doubt unfit him for the particular forms of industrial training in vogue at the school to which it is proposed to commit him; but he may, notwithstanding, be of a disposition peculiarly likely to yield to the influences of reformative treatment. It does not appear that any return is furnished shewing the number of children committed to Industrial Schools but refused admission by the managers on these grounds, although it is an undoubted fact that such cases do occur, and it would be useful to have some record of them.

Moreover, as matters stand at the present day, if the young offender chances to be over 16 years of age, he or she cannot be even committed to a Reformatory or Industrial School. Under the preposterous restrictions imposed by the Legislature, a boy or a girl over 16 must be treated as "an adult," presumably unfit for any treatment not directly, and indeed solely, of a punitive character.

Let us take the case of a boy between 16 and 17 years of age convicted of "sleeping out" in a destitute conditionand this, be it remembered, is not an exceptional case; there were 762 young persons under 21 convicted of this offence during the year 1896. We will suppose the boy to be an orphan, or, as perhaps more frequently occurs, living with idle, dissolute, or criminal parents. In all probability, the lad was born with defective moral instincts, has been reared amidst scenes of crime and misery, is ill-clad, underfed, weak in body, feeble in mind, without skill or knowledge of any trade or craft. What treatment does the law prescribe? Three months solitary confinement as a rogue and vagabond!"

It seems impossible to picture a more pitiful object than the accused. Yet, after his term of exposure to the deadening influences of the prison cell, after a few weeks'

experience of the meagre miserable prison fare, the poor wretch will be turned adrift to "earn an honest living," his weak mind still weaker, his feeble body still feebler than before. Is it fair to treat such an one as though the ranks of labour were really open to him? He is absolutely unequal to the performance of the rough manual work, which is all that he could, by the greatest good fortune, hope to secure. The only other remedy suggested by the Legislature is a fine not exceeding £25; and, according to the latest returns, it would seem that in the year 1896 no less than 582 persons convicted of sleeping out without "any visible means of subsistence" were actually mulcted in a pecuniary penalty, though we have, unfortunately, no record which would enable us to estimate the efficacy of this somewhat singular mode of treatment.

Surely society can do something more to discharge the plain duty which is owing to such an outcast, even if to the offence of vagrancy he has added the crime of theft. It is the opinion of many experienced men that a determined. endeavour ought to be made, by means of an extension of the Reformatory system, to train him to habits of industry and fit him for competition in the market of labour. Instances daily occur in which the magistrate, availing himself of the services of the Police Court Missionary (when charitable men have placed one at his disposal), procures employment for such an offender on board a merchant vessel, or in some neighbouring works, or wherever opportunity may offer. Efforts of this kind to reclaim rather than to punish are often attended with most satisfactory results; and it is to be hoped that the establishment of a few comparatively small institutions for the reformation of offenders under (say) 21 years of age, somewhat on the lines of the Penal Institutions existing in certain of the American States, will not be long postponed. Such institutions to be effective must, of course, be erected

and maintained at the public expense as in the case of prisons, and placed under the control of the Education or some other Department of State.

The recommendations received in response to the enquiry of the Howard Association are thus summarised:-Power to order the infliction of whipping; modifications in the law affecting existing Reformatories and Industrial Schools; amendment of the Education Acts in relation to the children of vagrants; re-introduction of the measure of 1891 to enforce parental responsibility; power to give indeterminate sentences; appointment of probation officers to supplement the operation of the First Offenders Act; legislation for the discouragement of intemperance. Excellent as many of these suggestions are, we are convinced that it is necessary to apply a remedy of a much wider and more drastic character-in short, the adoption of a comprehensive scheme for the erection and maintenance of institutions of the reformatory type with well considered provisions as to the training of the inmates in industrial and social habits and their ultimate release on licence.

CHARLES M. ATKINSON.

II. PIRACY IN TRADE NAMES AND

--

DESCRIPTIONS.

ONE man never succeeds pre-eminently in any sort of

business without rousing the natural envy and jealousy of all those who are engaged in similar work, or without stimulating in them the equally natural desire to divert that business to their own houses. So far this is only the law of competition. But where men cannot achieve a trade victory over their rivals by fair means,