(Continued from page 281)
| Published date | 01 January 1934 |
| Date | 01 January 1934 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455053400101812 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
285
CLUB
COMRADESHIP
as
a
PILLAR
OF
PROBATION
By Wm. J. SMYTH,
Probation
Officer,
Glasgow.
T
AM
not
a
Club
Leader.
Few
Probation
Officers,
JL
whom
I
know,
are.
But
we
all
realise
the
strong
buttress
to
our
work
that
a
well-run
Club
can
be.
The
wise
officer
seeks
to
link
up
his
charges
with
some
such
movement
which
will
teach
adolescent
youth
how
to
employ
its
spare
time
and
provide,
at
least
on
some
nights
of
the
week,
an
environment
where
the
boy
who
is
trying
to
play
the
game
can
have
the
added
impetus
that
comes
from
a
friendly
atmosphere
and
good
com-
radeship.
The
worse
the
home
conditions,
the
more
clamant
is
this
need.
The
good
Club
can,
and
in
many
instances
does,
take
the
place
of
the
home,
for
here
the
boy
is
always
sure
of
a
helping
hand
and
a
sympathetic
understanding.
No,
I
am
not
a
Club
leader,
but
I
laid
down
Basil
Henriques
new
book
with
a
feeling
of
envy
for
those
who
have
this
wonderful
opportunity
of
being
or
becoming
the
guide,
philosopher
and
friend
of
a
group
of
boys
through
the
methods
of
the
Boys’
Club
move-
ment.
This
story
of
the
immense
possibilities
of
the
carefully-organised
and
efficiently-staffed
Club
is
of
fascinating
interest.
Right
at
the
beginning
the
author
makes
it
clear
that,
nowadays,
Boys’
Clubs
do
not
exist
simply
to
keep
boys
out
of
mischief
b,ut
for
the
positive
purpose
of
educating
them
for
the
fulness
of
citizenship.
He
says
that
the
Club
must
do
for
the
boy
who
has
had
to
leave
school
at
14,
what
the
public
school
has
done
for
the
privileged
boy.
&dquo;It
does
not
try
to
teach
him
facts
and
knowledge,
but
it
does
seek
to
teach
him
wisdom
and
virtue.
It
sees
in
him
a
creature
with
a
body
and
mind
that
need
moulding,
a
body
that
can
be
made
a
fit
shrine
for
the
mind
and
the
soul,
a
mind
that
can
be
made
fit
to
control
his
body
and
to
know
his
soul.
It
is
greatly
handicapped
in
its
work,
for
the
body
is
often
frail
from
the
labours
of
the
day,
or
from
under-nourishment,
and
the
mind
is
often
weak
from
the lack
of
use
and
from
inadequate
resisting
power
to
the
temptations
by
which
it
is
surrounded.
But
in
spite
of
those
handicaps,
the
club
can,
as
has
been
proved
numberless
times,
so
help
the
boy
to
mould
and
train
himself
that
in
manhood
he
possesses
such
wealth
of
virtue
as
to
be
able
to
appreciate
to
its
full
all
that
is
best
in
life,
and
to
contribute
to
its
full
all
that
makes
for this
best.&dquo;
Thus
are
enunciated
the
aims
of
the
Boys’
Club.
-
Nor
is
the
book
a
mere
collection
of
theories
and
idealisms.
It
is
a
veritable
storehouse
of
practical
information
based
on
the
author’s
20
years
experience
of
this
form
of
social
work.
Through
it
all
there
shines
the
sterling
personality
of
the
writer
himself
and
his
unshaken
conviction
that
the
enduring
success
of
the
work
can
only
be
built
on
a
strong
religious
basis.
Among
the
various
aspects
of
this
subject
with
which
he
deals
are
chapters
on
Understanding
the
Boy,
Leadership,
Self
Government,
Camp,
Religion,
Sex,
Health,
and
Co-operation
with
Outside
Bodies.
Under
this
last,
he
shows
the
desirability
of
club
leader
and
probation
officer
keeping
in
closest
touch
with
each
other
in
the
interests
of
particular
boys.
The
necessity
in
Club
work,
as
elsewhere,
is
for
trained,
efficient
leaders.
Water
cannot
rise
higher
than
its
source.
The
Club
will
only
be
what
the
leaders
make
it.
This
book
should
therefore
prove
to
be
of
the
greatest
help
and
inspiration
to
present
and
prospective
Club
leaders
everywhere.
It
is
written
specially
for
them,
but
it
is
so
full
of
the
methods
and
spirit
of
the
successful
handling
of
boys,
that
it
should
be
read
too
by
every
probation
officer.
I
have
no
hesitation
in
recommending
it.
You
will
find
in
it,
much
to
help
you
in
your
own
work,
even
in
those
chapters
whose
titles
do
not
appear
to
suggest
this.
Read
it
all,
and
if
you
do
not
catch
afresh
something
of
the
author’s
enthusiasm
for
boys
and
see
something
of
the
vision
he
sees,
then
your
arteries
must
be
starting
to
harden
and
your
imagination
to
fail-a
perilous
state
for
those
who
would
seek
to
understand
and
help
boys.
&dquo; CLUB
LEADERSHIP,&dquo;
BASIL
L.
Q.
HENRIQUES.
Oxfoyd
University
Press.
3/6.
(
Continued
from
page
281)
social
conditions
would
prevent
one
of
the
saddest
after-effects
of
the
present
economic
upheaval.
In
considering
the
welfare
of
young
offenders
a
right
use
must
be
made
of
the
provisions
for
use
of
the
pro-
bation
system.
In
this
respect
no
new
principle
was
brought
into
existence
by
the
Children
Act,
except
so
far
as
it
provided
for
supervision
by
probation
officers
where
such
was
found
advisable
in
securing
protection
for
those
who
had
need
of
it,
but
who
had
not
been
charged
with
a
criminal
offence.
Provision
for
proba-
tionary
oversight
in
cases
of
delinquency
had
existed
since
the
passing
of
the
Probation
of
Offenders
Act
in
1907,
but
the
provisions
of
that
Act
had
not
been
fully
recognised.
Probation
as
a
method
of
treatment
was
authorised
by
law,
but
the
Courts
had
yet
to
learn
how
effective the
efficient
application
of
probation
treatment
might
become.
An
inefficient
or
careless
application
of
this
treatment
of
delinquents
might
not
only
be
meaningless
to
the
offender,
it
might
be
positively
dangerous
to
the
com-
munity.
Therefore
it
was
of
first
importance
that
we
should
have
a
thoroughly
efficient
service
staffed
by
properly
trained
and
properly
paid
officers.&dquo;
Dr.
Muriel
Barton
Hall
dealt
with &dquo;Psychological
causes
of
delinquency&dquo;
and
it
is
hoped
that
her
address
will
appear
in
the
April
issue
of
&dquo;Probation.&dquo;
The
Bishop
of
Blackburn
in
proposing
a
vote
of
thanks
to
the
speakers
referred
to
his
own
close
personal
interest in
the
subject
that
had
been
debated,
and
Rev.
Dr.
Porter,
who
seconded
the
vote
gave
some
striking
facts
of
the
tragic
results,
affecting
a
large
number
of
persons
that
had
been
proved
on
investigation
to
have
followed
in
the
track
of
one
defective
marital
union.
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