LAX MORALS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 219, 13 September 1923, Page 10

LAX MORALS.

SOCIETY TO BLAME." OUR ERRING GIRLS. lil-liors PLEA FOE SYMPATHY, i Hi.-hop Avorill frankly staled yesterday ■ afternoon, when presidinj> at the annual ■ i nice! iiiL , of the associates and friends of Ml ho -I. Mary's Humes, that he feared t ihiit. in view cf the report (if the Hoard a hi" Health on the subject, they could not im.k fimvarxl to any cessation of the t work hi" the institution—rather that their - activities would be increased. He urged i i In' ■•iimuiHiiity to realise more fully tlii= 3 valuable iniportiint, siuw-sfnl and God- - like work. Kefercnce was made by the Rev. E. - Lionel Harvey to "the deplorable alti- , luile of tho.-r members of the public who i refused tn support the homes on the > ground that the institution encouraged i vice—an attitude of sdf-riirlitcoiisness 5 which Christ had condemned."' It meant ; tlint crrin-i girls would be for ever ont- > sido the pale of society, and never lx> -> permitted to win back tlioir self-respect. 1 St. Mary's Homes tried- and succeeded— j in restoring the self-respect of these' ,- sills, who were, perhaps, more sinned l' aiTiiinsi than sinning. 1 SIXXEI) IX IGXOIUNCE. j . Many of the ;>irls in the institution. said (be Hi-Imp. ;it another stage of the meeting, bad a jrreat call on their sym--1 patliy, hs they had sinned in ignorance ' after having been denied the opportunity .of moral instruction. And it must not be foraotten that they were victims to 1 the sin of society, and that, therefore. 1 t.hei- Mil was not nearly so great as " some people imagined. The low estimate of pnritv was one of the most deplorable • things "in modern life, and the world - needed to realise far more than it did - the terrible sin of impurity. Many young s people grew up in an atmosphere in 1 which impurity was regarded as the. ' ordinary and natural thine;. Society and a public opinion were far more to blame 1 than these girls. Why did not the people " wh > talked about these things attack • society—why did they not try to create fc a far'healthier opinion? The valuable, if 3 sad, report of the Board of Health, 1 drawn tip by hard-headed, thinking men and women, had been shelved to a very lar"e extent, a fact which reflected sadly on the low tone of current ideas on moral questions. IMMORALITY OT.SREGARDED. The slurring over and condoning of ' unpalatable facts was condemned by the ! I'.ev. ('.. Gordon Bell, who alleged that the whole question of sex immorality ' was being shelved because it was an ' unpleasant subject. It was useless, how--1 ever, to shirk the issue and pretend the '. disease did not exist. It was appalling to see so much immorality of all kinds I in a Christian community; yet moral ' laxity was passed over unnoticed. Our , present morals were hopelessly wrong in ' J regard to the difference in the degree of , blamo attached to men and women. Though the presence of one of these unI fortunate girls would not bo tolerated f in a private home, a welcome place at . the family table would be given to tlio t man responsible for that girl's downfall. . Some people were not even ashamed to r give their daughters as brides to men . responsible for other girls' sad condir tions. f A QUESTION FOX THE CHURCH. ! The report of the Board of Health j only received full notice by the public , when it was the subject of comment by . a visitor, the Bishop of Willochra, and then the bishop was vilified and attacked for besmirching the women of New Zealand, though the figures he quoted from 1 the Government report were proved to Ibe true. The question was one for the ' Church as a whole, and he regretted 1 that nothing had been said concerning ' growing immorality at either the. laat 1 general or diocesan synods. People ' seemed only to be amused when vicars preached on the sins of society, but if the whole Church of the Dominion took the matter up and impressed the public with the grave danger of laxity in sexual matters some good would result. Canon Haselden thought one of the reasons for the growth of immorality was a limited knowledge of the Bible by men and boys. He was pleased that judges were now dealing out some adequate punishment to men guilty of sexual crimes. His belief was that there had been too much dancing, for one I thing, during recent years —not that all dancing was wrong or impure, but be certainly did not think it was calculated to promote strength of character or the best means of life. Also, a considerable amount of immorality, in bis opinion, was due to the effects of drinking.