STRIFE AND MORALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 190, 12 August 1919, Page 6

STRIFE AND MORALITY.

A HUMAN PROBLEM. HOW THE RETURNED MAN BEHAVES. WHEN OONNING "CIVVIES." TIIE JVDiCIARY OPINIONS. A grea*, deal line been writteen and said in countries nearer than New Zealand to the. actual theatre of war about the effect of war conditions on the morals of the people, and particularly on the morals of the young men who weut abroad to take piirt in the fight. The matter was the subject of several interviews with Auckland magistrates and police ciflicials obtained by v "Star" reporter yesterday. 100 FAR FROM THE WAR. It was held by Mr. K. ('. Outten, the senior magistrate at Auckland, that no permanent effect had been brought uJjout in the community life of the people by war conditions, lie considered that we are too far from the actual theatre oi wit to be much affected in this way. In Kngland the people had lived (or years in a state. of high niTVOUK tension, with tin- possibility oi the Germans breaking through our line in France always before them. Serves were racked by air raid-, und the whole of the community Mc nu« preatly chnnged. In these clreumHaiices, people adopted new moral values, bused very oflen on a conception of what, they thought «a« due to tin- soldi.-rs w.'io were for them. Thus them was nil increase in divorce cases and higaniy charges riut these conditions did not apply in New Zi-a-liuid. As far as lie had been able t'i judge, the character of people heir hud been left untouched. It was true that there had been an increase in police court business, but this was largely accounted f, "' by tin- operation of tne War Regulations. A.s for the returned poldicrs themselves, he had nothing but poo.l to t-ny. Tliu great majority ol them returned to New Zealand * the better for their war experiences, witri a broader outlook on life, higher ambitions, and a better self-restraint resulting from their long association with strict discipline. TIIK IVUUX)NAIU.F. "FljlNti." Mr. J. K. Wilson, another Auckland magistrate, concurred with Mr. Cutten too, considered that we were to<j far from the actual fighting to t> , greatly affected by war conditions, but added" I hat it ua.s'a little soon as yet to form an absolute judgment. He pointed out htat when a young man returned after an absence of .several years from bis home town it w.is natural to expect ■something of a rebound in the way of « home-coming "lling," but thie, within limits, was altogether pardonable. lhc necessity of again taking up renporoiiInlitiiv. as a civilian was another Uurdlf for the newly-discharged soldier. In the army he had been clothed, housed, and fed," and beyond having to do what lie was told, had no responsibilities what ever. This condition mij;ht have lasted for four or five years, and the younp fellows could not "help but lose a little of their M'ii-o of initiative and respon fibility. with the reMilt that in some cascfi they were reluctant to commence work. Which of us, Mr. Wilson asked has no: had the same feeling after re turning from a holiday! It was a fact that many \oung men who had formerly been contented with a job as, say. a shop assist njit, were now nudging the Government for a bit of land, but then was nothing wronj; with an ambition o that sort. Kxclunivp of the soldiers themselves, the ordinary population hac not .banned itr, moral values to an; noticeable degree. INKY ITARLF. RESULTS. Mr. F. K. Hunt, magistrate at A tick land, generally agreed with the opinion.expressed by bis two colleagues. Hi had had considerable experience witl the country courts, and had met witl nothing tluit would lead him. to the conclu sion that ordinary standards of right am wrong had 1 n interfered with. Jl> j oh.ted out that any increase in divorce proceeding* might justly be considerei the result of an increased amount o wealth which enabled people to t-skr ■. course that in ordinary time the; would not have been able to afford. Fur I t'.ier than this it was to be rememberec I that whenever there was n concentra

I tion ol men in n country, certain resi It-, w-ro inevitable. The visit of the American fleet brought about results that were comparable to those arising! from the concentration of men during! war time. But this bud no permanent) effect, jim 1 people as a whole were mi- I touched by it. The absence of «b many young married men liutl given rise to a very unusual state of affairs in which opportunities of misconduct were a natural result. It was to the credit of the young women of the conn- : try that so little of this sort of thing) [had actually occurred. I IN I.IKK PRKVIOIS WAR. Inspector .lohnstoii, of the Auckland I Police Force, «aul that Vis duties enabled i him to form :< judgment of the actual I conduit uf returned soldiers as members I of the community, lie admitted that he I .had expected that the war would have a I very decided effect upon the morals of the ! community, an opinion that was based j jo'i experience ol wh.it had followed a I previous war. But his expectations hail not come true. As far as he eoulcf judge, no ill-effects whatever had re-; ftiited from war conditions. One effect of y> many young men going to other c< untries had been a broadening of their mental attitudes and a corresponding i strengthening of character. Any in. emit" , ! , , police activities lie attributed for t lie most part to (he operation of the War Regulations, and an increased amount of propaganda on the part of

imitators. It might have been expected that contact with a lower moral standard in other countries would have a •et.-i-iuniting efTcct «jii a proportion of I our vumi;' Mien, but this thought was 'not jiHliUi'd by facts. KKt OKI) IN" HIVORCKS. Inquiries at the Supreme Court show i that the number of divorces set down i for hearing at the present sessions total ..">J. which constitutes a record. This, however, as lias been pointed out by one nf the magistrate* interviewed, might be dllfi to an iiu'reased amount, of wealth. Another cause for the increase might be the fact that during the absence of one of tli" p.-irtie-i at the war. divorce ! proceedings were not practicable, so that in these cases, the action has been j merely saved up. With the return of 'so many these delayed eases 'have been tirougut en, , i

SUPREME COURT FIGURES. It is interesting to note that during 1918 the presiding judge at the criminal! sessions of the Auckland Supreme Court several timoe remarked on the lightness of the calendar. At the erponing of the February seasions of that year Mr. Justice Stringer stated tluit he noticed with satisfaction the decrease in sexual offences, which had been a deplorable feature of previous calendars. He attributed most of the cases of this kind that did come before the Court to lack of parental control. At the opening of the May sessions the same judge stated that the calendar was a creditably email one, most of the offences being of a commonplace nature, involving dishonesty, in hi.s charge to the Grand Jury at the August sessions his Honor remarked that their duties would be comparatively light, there being only eleven charges set down for hearing. At the December sessions, which had been delayed for a month by the influenza epidemic, there was a relapee and a comparatively long list of offences came before the Court. His Honor remarked that the Court opened ufter two very important events had occurred, the surrender <if the German fleet and the advent of the terrible influenza epidemic in New Zealand. In February of this year, the list was rather a long one, but at least ten c:inM ihad been held over from the previous sittings. At the May sessions, thenwere U3 cases. At the opening of the criminal sessions yesterday, when their wen; fourteen <-ii.si-s for tin- consideration of tin- Grand Jury, Mr. Justice Chapman stated that. !on the whole the enscs were not indicative ~f any alarming state of crime in the difttrii't.