Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1928. A CONTENTIOUS MEASURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 170, 20 July 1928, Page 6

Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1928. A CONTENTIOUS MEASURE.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the tcrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do-

On the whole, Parliament ,-eems to have done the ri-rht thing about the Mental Detectives Bill. It is to be treated as a nonparty measure, and is to be .judged solely on its merits; and apparently ample time is to be allowed to discuss its provisions and to consider evidence on both sides. These precautions are certainly necessary in view of tho drastic character of the Bill and the highly controversial nature of some of the assumptions on which its chief proposals are based. Apparently the House was considerably inipressed yesterday by the facts and figures quoted by the Mini.»ter of Health in regard to the injury and 10.-.s inflicted on the community by the propagation of the mentally or socially unfit. The statistics quoted by Mr. Young could be paralleled in all countries throughout the world to-day, and like the history of the notorious .Takes family in the United States, >uch records ,-hould serve as a solemn warning to beware of the insidious physical, mental and moral evils that unrestricted reproduction may entail. But even here it is necessary to act, and .'veil to speak, with due caution and care. "The sterilisation of the unfit" a< a formula looks simple and attractive, but in the present state of our knowledge it is confessedly "a leap in the dark. But more especially must we remember that the value of such evidence as Mr. \ oung quoted is largely retrospective, and that it is impo.-sible to say with certainty beforehand what types of men or women will produce offspring mentally or phy.-ically "unfit." In cases of extreme physical or mental debility or disease prediction may seem comparatively ea>y. But unfortunately this Bill seeks to extend the process of social selection far beyond >uch clearly defined limits, and suggests a programme based upon differences in intellectual ability and educational acquirements that would need an immense amount of evidence to otablish or justify. "W hen we come to the consideration of "social defectives'' as defined in the Bill we agree with the Auckland Psychological Association that there is urgent need to "hasten slowly." On a great many points the Bill is necessarily vague, but it seems that the intention is to classify those who are regarded as mentally defective or '"sub-normal" and to subject them to certain treatment and certain restrictions. What tests are to be applied, who is to apply them, what degree of experience or skill will be demanded of the judges, we cannot as yet say. But it is well to reiterate that the so-called "mental tests" of which so much was heard recently are now almost entirely discredited, and that no sort of test applied at an early age can possibly give any accurate idea of the ultimate intellectual development of the child. School records are full of stories of the dunces who turned out brilliant men of affairs, and the "retardate" of to-day may be the genius of to-morrow. Perhaps the most grotesque feature of the BUI is the suggestion that children who are classed as "retarded" at school may be "registered" as ineligible for marriage. But no doubt this, with many other excrescences, will be pruned away by the criticism to which the Bill is certain to be subjected in Parliament and throughout the countrv.