The inner history of a social experiment, if told by a chief actor in it, is nearly always interesting to the reader, as well as being valuable to those working in the same field. And the whole subject of delinquency among children and adolescents has become an urgent one for many who, in this time of war, are looking ahead to the generation which will inherit our land afterwards.

An accounts has been published of a venture made in treating “in a free environment on sympathetic and individual lines” boys and young men who had, in various ways and degrees, shown themselves “misfits”, or as anti-social. Not all were law-breakers, and only exceptionally had a member of Hawkspur Camp been in prison; but many were rapidly qualifying for Borstal sentences, and all provided material for Mr. Will’s intensive study, and the working out of his purpose when he accepted the post of Camp Chief.

He was backed by a little group of Quakers who were concerned with the problem of training maladjusted youth, and his staff was formed of a few men prepared, like himself, to tackle it by wholly unconventional methods. They started in May, 1936, with a very inadequate capital, of which £500 was spent in buying a site, and a group of tents until they could put up rough buildings, as bunk-houses, dayroom, etc., by their own labour. The first member to present himself had read about the new “Q Camps” in a paper and, thinking it was the sort of place he needed, had written to ask for admission. He was a typical waif, having been deserted by his parents in babyhood; and, at the age of twenty-three, he had never known security or understanding in his life.