28 JULY 1883, Page 2

Nevertheless, Mr. Mundella did give us hope that education is

already telling on the vagabondage and the morality of children. In Birmingham, the average number of juvenile offenders was in the five years ending with 1875, 1,373; while in the five years ending with 1882, it had fallen to 842. In England, the maximum number of juvenile offenders was reached in 1869, when it touched the number of 10,314. In 1875, it had fallen to 7,212, and now it was 5,480. Education, therefore,. though it has not yet had time to tell much on the adult. criminal classes, has already nearly halved the number of our juvenile offenders. That is truly a beam of light in a dark MOM.