Sia,—Your article on the Home Secretary's Children Bill omits to
say that in important particulars it-departs from the recom- mendations of the " Young Offenders Committee." The most serious omission, no doubt under pressure from the Treasury, is provision for Observation Centres or Central Remand Homes, adequately equipped for the • physical, mental and psycho- logical examination of young offenders after the charge is proved but before treatment- is ordered. • The Departmental Committee was unanimous and emphatic in recommending three such centres.
It is a poor sort of economy which, by depriving the courts of expert guidance, may prevent the most effective steps being taken to save a young offender from becoming a future inmate of Dartmoor, where he may cost the State many hundreds of pounds.—I. am, Sir. &e,, E. ROY CALVERT. Penal Reform Committee, Parliament Mansions, Victoria Street, London, S. W.1.-
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