CHASTITY OF WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 123, 25 May 1923, Page 8

CHASTITY OF WOMEN.

— ■-..« — LIBEL ON THE SEX. BISHOP'S STATEMENT CHALLENGED. BASED ON FAULTY REPORT. (By Telegraph.—rress Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Thursday. Mrs. E. R. Met-nibs, wife of Mr. J. McCombs, M.I ~ has written aB follows Ito Archbishop Julius: —"I was not prej sent at the Anglican Church congress ; yesterday, when the Bishop of Willochra spoke on moral standards and made the astounding statement that "of all the young mothers in New Zealand at least half have been unchaste." The speaker based that statement on the report or the New Zealand Board of Health, which ' Stated that 50 per cent of the total first i births occurring within twelve months | of marriage resulted from intimacy prior ■to marriage. ; Tlie striking but incomplete statement made by the Board has evidently misled the Bishop of Willochra. The official facts compiled by the Government Statistician do not warrant his statement. The facts are as follow: "Of tho total of 0337 first births. 2429 were born within nine months of marriage. Some of these were born within a few days of the nine months, and 750 were born 'between the seventh and ninth month. i "Percentages given by the Government Statistician are: "Of a total of 26,005 births, no fewer than 9387, or 35 per cent were first born children, and of these 4SBO, or 52 per cent were born within 12 months of marriage. Fifty l per cent of the first births within a year I (not 50 per cent of tbe total first births) | j were born within nine months of marriage. The above figures are for the i year 1921. ) | ''In order to make out a strong case | the committee of the Board of Health j gave figures for the period 1913-21, and, j to legitimate first births occurring within the first seven months of marriage, it added all 'illegitimate, whether first births or otherwise, and then arrived at the conclusion that '50 per cent of the | total first births occurring within 12! I months of marriage result from inti- j niacy prior to marriage.' But even then I the 50 per cent of the total births oc- [ curring within 12 months of marriage ' cannot lie construed into 50 per cent of | the total first births. In 1921 only 17 per cent of the total legitimate first , births occurred within seven months of marriage. "I am quite sure tho bishop was misled by the partial statement contained , in the report of the New Zealand Board ' of Health, and did not wish to libel the | women of New Zealand. However, I am ! bound to say the bishop should, from ] his own knowledge of the world, have ' known that New Zealand women or Aus--1 tralian women are not as appallingly unchaste as his statements would imply. I He should have investigated the facts j ! for himself 'before uttering such an out-' ( rageous statement about the chastity I of the women of Xew Zealand. While I' appreciate every effort to rouse the : moral conscience of the community, I ! cannot think that the suggestion that , the majority of women are unchaste is j , calculated to lift the moral standard, j especially when such a statement is en- | f tirely incorrect. I trust, therefore, you! will publish this correction of "the . bishop's statement, which I hope will , not be circulated in Australia." t ' " 1 \\ ith regard to the speech of the , Bishop of Willochra. at the Anglican , Congress, a Press Association message j ,• from Wellington states that Sir Francis | Bell sctated that the figures used by Dr. j s White were taken from a report of the c committee of the Board of Health. The r figures were inaccurate, but the mistake was not Dr. White's. He had repeated the errors in the report.