SOCIAL WELFARE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 27, 29 December 1932, Page 6

SOCIAL WELFARE.

EDUCATION AND PRISON REFORM AUSTRALIA’S INQUIRIES. AUCKLAND, Dec. 28. On their way back to Australia, with valuable data from many countries on education and prison reform, Sir William and Lady Sowden, of Adelaide, are aboard the R.AI.S. Niagara, which arrived from Vancouver on Monday, and continued her voyage to Sydney yesterday. Sir William Sowden, a retired newspaper proprietor, lias made a life study of social questions, and his wife is an authority on infant and maternal welfare work. Before they left on their ten months’ tour the South Australian Government gave both honorary Royal commissions to investigate social welfare work abroad.

“We have collected some very valuable data, mainly on the latest developments in psychological and psychiatrical methods, and their application to the education of children and the punishment of crime,” said Sir William. “Much can be exepected from the progress of this branch of science. It is now a simple matter to ascertain by tests the mental age of any child or adult, and in many countries children are iieing so tested when they first go to school, so enabling the teachers to direct their education along the lines for which they are best suited. “By similar tests, criminals in prison can be given work or studies that will have lasting reformative effect. Such a system is already in operation in Adelaide, where prisoners who show definite ability even receive facilities for a university education, and some have taken their degrees after their release.”