* * * * *

All the above matters show how difficult it is to expect a community spirit in any area which is just an aggregation of houses.  Many years must pass before there can be anything like a desirable balance of community interests in such an area.  Juvenile delinquency in new housing settlements might conceivably be reduced, if, in future, State houses were not erected in extensive blocks, but were built in such smaller numbers as could be more easily integrated into existing communities of people.

=(2) Recreation and Entertainment=

As in other forms of delinquency, the recent outbreak of immorality or, more correctly, the revealed evidence of it has directed the minds of many to an assumed dearth of organized recreation and entertainment.  Such a thought more easily rises to the mind when it is known that many cases have occurred in new settlements where the building of State houses has gone far ahead of the ability of the community to arrange for the provision of playing fields, halls, and clubs.

Further, those who have special ideas of the importance of hobbies, pet animals, square dancing, and things of that sort have been active in urging upon the Committee that greater attention should be given to such matters as possible ways of alleviating the trouble.

It is true that a child who joins sporting and other clubs, or has its mind directed towards hobbies or other interests, is less likely to become a delinquent than one whose thoughts are not similarly occupied.  But it is wrong to assume that the present trouble can be cured by the extension or encouragement of such activities.  The reason is that the pre-delinquent is not attracted by such forms of recreation or healthy pleasure.  If he is persuaded to join a club or society, he may soon make such a nuisance of himself that the leader will be obliged, for the good of the club, to rebuke him or warn him that he will not be allowed to attend in future unless he behaves.  The pre-delinquent, therefore, either does not join, or else soon leaves, a club where he cannot feel happy.  He is inclined toward a friendship with somebody else whose nature is compatible with his own.  From this companionship a group of wayward children may be formed.  They incite one another; they conspire together; they attract the attention of others; the group may become a gang.  From the pairs, the group, or the gang, mischief or immorality soon begins, while all around there are many clubs and societies suitable and available for them.

Furthermore, single-sex clubs will not provide the answer for those who desire the companionship of the other sex.  In our society, boys and girls must meet socially.  It is part of the growing-up process and, if supervised carefully and unobtrusively[4], the mixing of boys and girls can be very advantageous.

From the evidence given by witnesses, the following four points emerge: