(i) A graph compiled for the Committee shows that the biggest number of children is in the two-to-four-year-old group. When one considers that the delinquency now being considered is in the 13-to-17-year-old group, the period of greatest danger will not be reached until about another nine years have elapsed. This is a disturbing prospect and demands serious consideration.
(ii) There are many similar housing settlements in New Zealand. The absence of public disclosures of delinquency in any of those places must not be taken to mean that they are free from it.
(iii) In areas settled largely by people with growing families the rate of increase is striking. In planning one post-primary school the rate of 0.7 children to a family was adopted. Three years later the rate was found to be 1.5 per family.
(b) Absence of a Community Spirit
In the normal development of towns and suburbs a community spirit comes from an ability to make one's own choice of dwelling. A newly-married couple prefers one district or one suburb to another, either because their relatives or friends are there, because it is handy to the husband's work, because of "the view", or for similar reasons. The house they build or buy or rent was the house of their choice. In that way they develop pride of ownership or of possession. They join such of the local churches, societies, and clubs as already exist, and themselves organize and support other agencies of community value.
In quickly settled housing areas this community spirit has not yet had time to develop. The people have not chosen to live there: a house has been "allotted" to them. With a feeling of relief that their immediate problem is solved, they move in; but they soon find themselves in an area without any established traditions or the buildings associated with those traditions. Churches, schools, halls, and monuments are entirely non-existent or very new. The areas left for sports grounds, parks, and reserves are still largely undeveloped. The occupants of the new houses have not the financial capacity to provide these things, and there are seldom any private benefactors, because there is not a stratum of wealthy people in or near these settlements who might be benevolently inclined to help the district where they reside. The help which the new residents can give, or obtain from the State, churches, or other organizations to provide a community fellowship, must fall far short of what is usually obtainable in areas which grow up normally and naturally.
(c) Overcrowding of Houses
Houses in the new areas are often found too small as the boys and girls grow up. The result is streets of overcrowded homes unsuitable for family life. The tendency for the young people to seek their pleasures away from their home and district is therefore greater than it is in mature communities.
(d) Tendency to Form Groups or Gangs
Where a large number of children live near one another, and many of them are left by their parents to their own devices, the formation of groups or gangs is inevitable. Some of these children are not moulded into the activities of churches or other helpful organizations. They simply coalesce by the accident of their circumstances, and make their own fun, in which, unfortunately, the influence for good of the better among them is often outweighed by the misbehaviour and dangerous propensities of others.