(Continued from page 296)
| Published date | 01 April 1934 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455053400101908 |
| Date | 01 April 1934 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
302
(
Continued
from
page
296)
relationship
between
officer
and
charge
will
be
impaired,
and
the
prospect
of
effecting
social
re-establishment
be
considerably
lessened.
The
dominant
idea
in
job
finding
should
be,
I
submit,
an
attempt
to
inculcate
a
spirit
of
self
help
and
self
reliance.
Use
of
Leisure.
Although
it
is
often
said
that
unemployment
is
the
underlying
cause
of
much
of
the
delinquency
prevalent
in
these
days,
I
would
suggest
that
it
is
less
the
actual
lack
of
work,
soul
destroying
as
that
may
be
than
the
leisure
unemployment
brings,
which
is
at
the
bottom
of
the
trouble.
The
street
corner,
the
close
mouth,
or
the
billiard
saloon,
where
so
many
pass
their
waking
hours,
prove
a
snare
and
a
trap
for
many
a
lad
who
is
more
thoughtless
than
bad.
It
must
be
the
constant
duty
of
the
probation
officer
to
link
up
such
lads
or
girls
with
one
or
other
of
the
many
organizations
which
offer
a
chance
to
occupy
leisure
profitably.
For
the
young
lad
there
is
the
Boys’
Brigade
or
the
Scouts,
for
the
older
probationer
the
club
or
employment
centre.
These
are
but
a
few
of
the
duties
which
fall
to
the
lot
of
the
probation
officer
and
now
I
would
like
to
discuss
very
briefly,
the
other
side
of
his
work.
Records.
Records
as
I
said
form
the
background
against
which
we
can
measure
the
probation
case.
I
sometimes
think
that
none
but
those
who
have
had
to
keep
records
can
quite
realise
the
clerical
work
involved.
To
some
it
may
seem,
that
time
so
spent,
might
be
better
employed
in
actual
contact
with
pro-
bationers, but,
apart
from
the
fact
that
statistics
must
be
provided
periodically,
many
an
officer
has
found
that
careful
considerations
of
facts
noted
in
his
record,
has
been
of
very
great
help
in
planning
the
handling
of
the
case.
Having
dealt
at
some
length
with
the
duties
of
the
probation
officer
in
relationship
to
the
probationer,
I
would
now
turn
for
a
moment
to
the
officer’s
duty
to
himself,
and
to
his
job.
Keep
abreast
of
the
times.
The
officer
who
aims
at
being
efficient
must
keep
himself
abreast
of
the
times
in
what
one
might
call
the
technique
of
his
job.
This
can
be
done
in
different
ways.
There
is
now
a
regular
out-put
of
books
devoted
to
social
work
and
the
progressive
officer
must
keep
himself
in
touch
with
this
literature,
relating
what
he
reads
to
his
own
particular
job,
and
gaining
fresh
light
and
guidance
on
his
own
particular
problems.
An
elementary
knowledge
of
psychology
is
a
necessary
part
of
the
complete
probation
officer’s
equipment,
and
I
think
that
there
should
be
a
sufficient
understanding
of
the
elements
of
the
science,
to
enable
him
to
appre-
ciate
how
the
trained
psychologist
works.
Relaxation.
But,
be he
never
so
diligent
in
the
acquisition
of
knowledge
and
in
his
duties
to
his
charges
there
remains
still
a
further
duty,
that
he
must
keep
himself
fit
in
mind
and
body
for
the
work
he
has
to
do.
To
this
end
periods
of
rest,
relaxation
and
recreation,
are
necessary
if
the
keen
edge
of
enthusiasm
is
not
to
be
blunted,
and
if
full
freshness
and
vigour
is
to
pervade
all
his
work.
I
venture
to
suggest
that
in
work
such
as
the
Probation
Officer
has
to
do,
dealing
constantly
with
the
sub-normal
either
in
morals
or
intellect,
intimately
associated
in
his
working
hours
with
the
squalor
and
misery
so
rampant
in
a
great
city,
always
striving
to
energise
and
enliven
sluggish
lives,
a
reasonable
period
for
rest
and
recuperation
is
vitally
necessary.
Probation
work
is
no
sinecure,
it
is
hard
but
tre-
mendously
worth
while.
If,
however,
the
full
fruits
of
our
labour
are
to
be
garnered,
we
must
have
a
certain
spirit
animating
and
pervading
all
our
efforts.
If
we
are
to
expect
honesty
in
word
and
deed,
from
our
probationers,
we
must
be
honest.
If
we
are
to
expect
purity
in
thought,
word
and
deed,
from
our
probationers,
we
must
be
pure.
If
we
are
to
expect
our
charges
to
exhibit
the
proper
consideration
and
affection
for
those
related
to
them
by
ties
of
blood
and
affection,
we
must
show
an
example.
The
spirit
of
brotherhood
sung
by
our
national
poet
should
be
our
ideal.
And
finally,
if
we
are
to
expect
a
change
to
result
from
our
dealings
with
our
probationers,
be
it
material,
moral,
or
spiritual,
he
must
believe
that
in
every one,
even
the
most
degraded,
there
is
a
spark
of
the
Divine
which
it
is
his
job
to
try
to
fan
into
a
flame,
he
must
believe
that
there
is
a
Power
which
can
help
even
the
worst,
to
be
the
man
God
meant
him
to
be,
and
so
believing
and
so
working
as
best
we
can,
we
may
yet,
in
Blake’s
words,
altered
to
suit
our
own
country,
build
Jerusalem
in
Scotland’s
green
and
pleasant
land.
Mr.
G.
H.
Shepherd,
Chief
Probation
Officer
for
the
City
of
Manchester
has
retired
after
21
years
of
service
at
the
city
police
courts.
But
a
much
longer
period
of
work
falls
within
the
memory
of
this
pioneer
missionary
of
the
courts
for
it
was
40
years
ago
that
he
appeared
as
a
mission
worker
on
the
south
coast.
Speaking
of
the
changes
that
have
come
about
in
the
attitude
of .
the
courts.
Mr.
Shepherd
recalls
the
days
when
the
early
missionaries
sat
at
the
back
of
the
court
often
unheeded
by
the
Bench,
instead
of
as
now
occupying
a
position
of
trust
in
the
Court.
The
good
wishes
of
probation
officers
will
follow
Mr.
Shepherd
into
his
retirement.
NORTHERN
BRANCH
N.A.P.O.
Conference
and
Summer
School
AT
Hawthorne
Tower,
Co.
Durham.
For
information
see
last
page.
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