MENTAL DEGENERATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 166, 15 July 1924, Page 7

MENTAL DEGENERATES.

ARMY OFFICER'S EXPERIENCE. HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT. NATIONAL TREATMENT ADVOCATED. ~ < (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) i WELLINGTON, this day. 1 The Mental Defectives Commission i sat here to-day. ( Colonel Bray, of the Salvation Army, f with 41 years' experience in the ' Army's social work in Australasia, said j the Army had had considerable experi- j ence with all forms of degeneracy in persons of all ages. Causes of feeble ' raindednses were sometimes difficult to 1 explain. There was first the question c of heredity, and then the question of * environment. Housing conditions cer- ' tainly affected the hitter cause. Know- l ledge acquired from polluted sources ■ spoilt many young lives. The Army * advocated that some national scheme f should be adopted for early detection and treatment of feeble mindedness, and 1 also of those who were simply backward * children on lines euggested by Mr. f Caughley. Theatment should be given <■ under the best conditions. ' A great deal of good might be done c by teaching sex hygiene through nature j' study, carried on progressively, but such j ( teaching should be given by medical men ' ! with known. high morals and spiritual! ' standards. Teachers could be trained to ( impart such lessons judiciously, and such | i teaching should take place not only in i' State schools, but in private and board- • J ing schools. The Army was of opinion ' that there was an increase of imnior- i ality among jyung people. The Army ' advocated segregation o£ sexual perverts. [ Canon Fielden Taylor (Anglican) said i ■ there seemed to be a tendency to j • exaggerate moral degeneration. The number of degenerates waa compara- ' tively few, and might he traced to . other causes than sex. He believed two ' causes were the absence of control at ' homo and the lack of inculcation of a * sense of 'honour. He held that public ' lectures on ccx subjects were unwise, and private instruction dangerous. Parents " must be held to their responsibility. The ' State could only do patchwork. Professor H. B. Kirk spoke of the ' possibility of improving the race by environment. It was clear that the ; great majority of cases of feeble- . mindedness were inherited. The Tin fit. : should be rendered unfertile. After hearing the opinions of Mr. F. S. Shell (Juvenile Probation Officer) and ■Mr. J. Down (Superintendent of the Waitako Prison for Mental Defectives), : the commission adjourned till to-morrow ' morning.