RELIGION AND CRIME.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 545, 28 June 1909, Page 6

RELIGION AND CRIME.

REPLY TO THE CHIEF JUSTICE. BY FATHER VENNING. During itho courso of his sermon at St. Mary's, Boulcott Strcot, last night; tho Rev. Father Venning made reference to tho remarks mado at Homo recently by tho Chief Justico (Sir Robert Stout) on the question of education and crime in Now Zealand. Sir Robert, it will be remembered, stated "that tho best proof of, tho,success of tho secular system was seen (1) in tho diminishing of serious crimo, and (2) in tho fact thai thoso trained free from sectarian bias produced only half as many criminals.in proportion to. their-number as thoso trained in the ■ denominational schools^" From timo to time, Fathor Venning said, Roman Catholics were told that thoy were Worse than those around them. Acording to the figures in. tho Year Book tho Roman Catholics represented 14.32 per cent.- of the total population. But tho figures in tho Year Book touching prison records, mado it. out that the proportion of prisoners belonging to their religion in the gaols was 34 por cent.—or. more twice as many as there ought to bo. , He wished to say, first of all, that the figures in tho Year Book wore absolutely, misleading as evidence that Soman Catholics were worse than people bolonging to other denominations. Ho did not say that that was any fault on the part of thoso ..who compiled the statistics, nor. did ha say that tho authorities failed in thoir ' duty in taking, statements from prisoners as to their religious belief a.. What ho did say was that the uncorroborated statements of .prisonors as to their religion was quite unreliable. But those who knew the. Chief Justice, and his attitude towards the question of religion in schools, woro not surprised at the view which he had expressed at Home. Crimes Where Statistics Fall. Those who made tho charge to which he had referred would, Father Venning continued, have to show that all criminals in Now Zealand were caught, ticketed, and entered up. , Of courso, such a thing could not bo done. There were wholo classes of crime —such as pre-natal murder and other forms of infanticide, frauds, swindles,' breaches' of trust, burglary, etc., which wore never detected. Largo numbers of people who committed crimo were known to the police, but proceedings were not taken/ owing to the difficulty in establishing guilt, the heavy expense, and the exposure which proceedings would mean. Woro there not many people who fuddled thoir brains with fins and wator and mado their own homes terrible places, and yet tho police could not interfere? Wore there not numbers of wife-beaters and childboaters whom the law could hot .touch? Were thoro not numbers who wero guilty of juvenile depravity and flagrant conjugal infidelity of whom tho law took no note? What he wished to remind his hearers was that there was a God who took note whore tho policeman and_ tho statesman failed. Tho welldressed infant-slayers, the darkness loving transgressors, and others Binned more > grievously before God than ' tho man who got drunk and tho man who committed a petty theft.