Note 175 — Chapter VIII · Catastrophe and Social Change

In view of the explosion and the resulting housing conditions, an increase in juvenile delinquency might have been expected, but the “playgrounds which were established immediately after the disaster, and which adjoined both of the large temporary housing projects, are, it is felt, responsible for the excellent conditions which exist. The records of the Superintendent of Neglected and Delinquent Children show that there was an actual decrease in the number of juvenile arrests in 1918 over 1917.”—(Leland, Arthur, “Recreation as a Part of the City Plan for Halifax, N. S., Canada,” Playground, vol. xiii, no. 10, p. 493.)