PRESENT DAY MORALS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19612, 7 May 1929, Page 12

PRESENT DAY MORALS.

INFLUENCE OF DRESS. " BANISH THE MOVIES." (FB'>J£ OUK OWH COBBESPONDIXT.) SYDNEY, April 18. An august body known as the Council of Social and Moral Reform has been sitting in Sydney and discussing present-day morals. During this discussion some extraordinary views were expressed and the statements made by some of the speakers causes a doubt to rise in the mind as to whether the world is as good a place as some of us are inclined to imagine. For instance, a well-known social worker, Col. Swain, of the Salvation Army, said that many of the girls nowadays were "nearly nude," but the average man in the streets of Sydney fails to find much evidence to support this sweeping statement. Mrs t\ Swartz praises Adelaide because it has prohibited pillion-riding, and because on the Adelaide beaches a man is not allowed to sit nearer than three feet to a woman. Again, there is no evidence that the morals of Adelaide are any better than those of any other city.

The president of the Council (Mrs A. V. Roberts) said that on Palm Beach near Sydney she had seen sights that were not fit for the eyes of decent people, but as she did not enter upon any details it is impossible to say whether the statement was justified, or to judge of her standards of morality. It is the same with most of these women—when they are asked to particularise they find it difficult to point to any definite lapses of morals. "If I had my way," said one woman, "I would banish the movies. And 1 would compel everyone to wear bathing costumes that really covered them from neck to knee."

"I would not have the costume any longer than they axe to-day," replied Mrs Edmond Gates. "I am broadminded enough to see that the limbs of our young people are beautiful, and I do not think that there is any need for them to cover them up while they are surfing." "I know perfectly well that stricter supervision on our beaches is not going to get to the root of the trouble. We have to face the fact of a general lowering of the standard of morality between men and women to-day. One sees extreme instances of it in the growing number of effeminate men who are about and the number of masculine girls. Girls to-day must be taught the value of chastity. Women of Japan have been known to maintain their chastity even in the face of death. Japanese girls are often given a dagger on their marriage and told to use it rather than lose their honour "

"Dress in the streets is responsible for a lot of the lowering of our morals," said Mrs E. L. Goodison, organising secretary of the Racial Hygiene Society. "Why do girls want to show their knees? I am sure the knee is the ugliest part of the body. Dresses could be ankle length without causing any discomfort. The chief trouble on the beaches is that men and women lie in lewd attitudes. Women could bake just as well in a pretty wrap." All this adds very little to the solving of the problems of human nature.