STERILISATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 61, 12 March 1936, Page 25

STERILISATION

A METHODIST RESOLUTION

(From "Tne Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, March 7.

In a speech at the Methodist Conference in favour of sterilisation of the physically and mentally unfit, the Eev. L. A..R. Taylor, of Narooma, charged New South Wales with having put the interest of stock breeders before the breeding of a healthy stock of humans.

"It is time that this country realised that there are matters of greater importance than improving the breed of sheep and cattle, and the pedigrees of pigs and puppies," declared Mr. Taylor. "It is a reflection upon our wisdom and our national outlook that we spend large sums of money iri the scientific breeding and care of our stock, and disregard all the lessons of science and common sense in regard to the physical and mental' fitness of humans, upon whom we depend for the future development of our nation. As Christian people, Methodists should hot be afraid to face what is a growing menace. At present we are permitting the entry into the world of a large number of unwanted and mentally deficient children, who, if not murdered before birth, must endure a life of neglect and misery. If not a menace to society they become a menace on the State."

Mr. Taylor moved the following motion, which was carried:—"That this conference with a view to the adoption of legislation adequate to counteract the social ills resulting from the prevalence of mental and physical defect and disorder, recommends to the State and Federal Governments, through the Ministers of Health, the advisability and urgency of appointing a commission of experts competent to examine and report upon hereditary transmission and other causes of mental deficiency; and the physical, psychological, and social value of sterilisation."