MORAL LAXITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 91, 18 April 1932, Page 6

MORAL LAXITY

"SatJsfied",writes differing from. "Paterfamilias concerning the punishment of tne boys concerned in the ease reported on Saturday. "Having known these youths tor .several years, and knowing also their parents, I think it is most ridiculous to suggest that a whipping should have been given. .Had this course been taken, the community would have had on its hands ni ar;£ a soore oi youths with a grievance, whether real, or not, against their castigators. . These boys are of decent, cleanhvmg families, and the sense of shame and degradation that the boys have had *v B?S er should fu% satisfy "Paterfamilias.' " ■

Another correspondent, "A Very Indignant Mother," considers that a birching should have 'been ordered for the boys, and that the parents should have been severely reprimanded. "Various reforms are suggested by "Do It Now." The correspondent holds that the blame for moral laxity rests on parents who shirk their duty, on pictures whioh have too much sex appeal, on women who permit insufficient clothing especially o£ girls, and on the publication

of sex literature and details of unsavoury Court cases. The remedial measures suggested are: Floodlight the tree areas in all public parksN and reserves at night; decree that all children, especially girls, under the age of twelve, and unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, be off the streets by 7.30 p.m.; abolish all boards with salacious news'headings; prohibit all posters'that tend to stimulate sex feeling, that tend to make every boy imagine lumself a sheik, and every girl a dying duck in a thunderstorm; institute a stricter censorship over pictures by men wno aye not accustomed to go to pictures «V Comin 8 t(J the job fresh they would be more susceptible to sights and incidents that constitute a menace to morality."

<ro IL'Jilj"",lL'Ji lj"", end°rses the statement of that this matter cannot JJg,. lef* to parents and guardians. Those m high places of authority—both Church and State—are indirectly the cause of a deal of our moral troubles. They deny to the sensitive mind and life "of the young child the teaching of God's laws, as embodied in the Sermon on the Mount, and the Ten Commandments,. not to'mention th 6 beauty of. other religions safeguards. Np one can honestly say that the training of the child's mind and character in this direction has produced' aught , but men and women of sterling character. Let all remember the courage, fortitude, and character of the early settlers. Where' is that spirit to-day? As dead as a door nail! And why? Simply because opposing forces of religious bodies are at loggerheads as to -whom the greater credit should go. The children of New Zealand are growing up without the priceless early discipline o£ God-fearing parants »nd Christian example and groundwOTk." -'- Other correspondents.write or/ the same subject, drawing attention particularly to the responsibility of the adult fcommunity in tolerating conditions and' practices which tend to moral laxity. As touching the question of punishment, it? should be noted, as stated in Thursdays "Post," that there is no authority for the Children's Court to order a birching. ♦ '