Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1937. SERIOUS SOCIAL QUESTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 40, 17 February 1937, Page 10

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1937. SERIOUS SOCIAL QUESTIONS

Social, as well as legal, questions of the gravest character are raised by the comments of his Honour- the Chief Justice, at the conclusion of the fourth Ayes trial yesterday. His Honour.spoke with calm deliberation and his comments were obviously restrained and intended to invite consideration by the public and more especially by "those who guide the destinies of this young country." Three main social issues are raised by the evidence, submitted in; the trial: (1) The alarming extent of the promiscuity of sexual intercourse that apparently exists amongst unmarried persons; (2) the apparent appalling destruction of potential lives at a lime when an increase of population is of vital necessity to New Zealand and to the Empire; (3) the apparent ease with which instruments can be procured which, to quote his Honour's : words, "the medical evidence says cannot be imagined of use in the hands of a private person for other than an illegal purpose.". In addition there is a fourtli issue, social as well as legal, relating to the jury system and the requirement of the present law in criminal trials that there shall be absolute unanimity to return a verdict.

From time to time reference has been made to promiscuity and has provoked indignant defence of the women of New Zealand. We do not wish to invite such a rejoinder, or to suggest in any way that the unmarried people of both sexes are worse in this respect than those of other countries. But if allowance be made for a proportion of abortion cases being among married women and allowance be made also for the possible promiscuity which leads to attempted abortion, the evil cannot be disregarded. . The evidence' in the trial disclosed the finding of foetal remains indicating abortion practised on an extensive scale by some person who had access to the accused's premises. rA book was also produced showing the receipt of £2232 10s from 183 persons. It was suggested, and only suggested, that the money might have been lent. If this suggestion be not accepted and it be presumed that 183 persons made payments to someone for illegal operations the extent of the practice is alarming, for it must be remembered that Napier is only one corner of the Dominion. The strongest confirmation of the gravity, extensiveness, and danger of abortion

in New Zealand is to be had from a statement made •in October by Dr. T..-F. Corkill, acting chairman of the committee set up by the Government to inquire into the incidence of septic abortion. The report of the committee is not yet available, but Dr/ Corkill considered it advisable to state in the middle of the inquiry that the committee had received evidence to show that the practice of was widespread throughout' all classes of the community.

One point had been impressed on members, he said, namely, the general lack ,of appreciation of the danger of induction of abortion not only to the immediate life of the patient, but also to subsequent health. "It is desirable that as much publicity as possible be given to this danger, because women's organisations have told us that far too many women undertake the operation without full realisation of the danger involved. Medical witnesses have also impressed on us their experience of the evils which have resulted from the practice."

The Crown Prosecutor stated at the conclusion of' the fourth' trial that a stay of proceedings would be filed, and the 'accused person has accordingly been discharged. It would be wrong, therefore,' to comment'further than his Honour the Chief Justice has done upon the implications of the, trial as affecting the person tried. But the fact cannot he overlooked that in four trials juries have failed to agree upon a verdict, and at the third trial the foreman informed the Court that two jurors had made up their "minds not to convict. In similar cases previously it has been stated that there was a disinclination on the part of some jurors to accept the evidence of persons who were parties to the practice and indeed sought it. If these persons were not also brought to trial, it is said, jurors thought it unfair to . convict the alleged abortionist. The Chief Justice in the case just concluded pointed out that there was ample corroborative evidence that abortion had been practised by some person and he surmised that the jury had been unable to agree who that person was.

Where, however, as in some previous cases, the difficulty arises from disinclination to accept the evidence of accomplices or from

objection to the form of the law, the vital question is raised whether a minority upon a jury should have the power tOi make the law a dead letter. Jurors are not law-makers. As citizens they have their part in constitutional law-making and revision. They have the privilege also of making representations when, in the discharge of their duties, they observe something which they think calls for correction. What action can the community take to protect itself against what may amount to an unauthorised and unrepresentative alteration of the law? A former member of the Legislative Council for long attempted to secure the passage of a Bill permitting the acceptance of, majority verdicts, except in capital cases. This is, we know, a highly debatable issue; but it must be considered with due regard both for its disadvantages and the weighty disadvantages of the existing alternative.

We do not suggest that this is the whole issue, or even the major problem involved. Nor is there any single and complete remedy for the social evils which have been disclosed. As the problem is complex—moral, social, economic, legal—so must the remedy be sought in various "ways, by education, by social service, by the inculcation of higher religious and moral ideals, and, finally but not exclusively, by the application of those legislative deterrents to unsocial and criminal conduct which the community decides are essential for the maintenance of its standards.