FEEBLE-MINDED.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 July 1924, Page 5

FEEBLE-MINDED.

ROOT OF MUCH TROUBLE. . RESPONSIBILITY OF PUBLIC. (BY TELEGR APB--press 'ASSOCIATION. I mi INY EROARGI LL, ~Julv ,4.... ill© commission appointed ‘to consider matters' in connection with' the care and treatment of mental defectives, sexual perveits,.: ninided children h^fd, a,; sitting, in Invercargill this afternoon, the Hon. W H - Tnggs, M. L.C.V 1 ‘pHsitling.“'' Mr M. Hawkins, insp'^ctot- "of priiioiis and superintendent of the -Borstal;- .Institution, said . that „from. forty years’ experience he-was of the opinion ' that the root cause of much-of -the Hdnble regarding sexual matters, w,as ,tlie lack of proper appreciation of the responsibilties devolving upon the public; the P»*«nts and .-teacher's, ‘not -Forgetting the churches-.. To,;this failmre-lie at" ti lbuted. much of the increase in. sexual crime, which latterly ini's become -increasingly apparent.' A good deal has been heard lately:.a,])ouL xhe.,neeesmty for imparting knowledge dealing with, sex to young people, and his experience had led him to believe that the quesf tion fairly bristled" with"difficulties if' placed in the wrong hands. Such teaching had resulted in much harm being done, and only a ■ fully;-■ qualified' medical man should be-allowed to deal with such matters.

To be successful in ‘ dealing'wifclHse'kual offenders, a system of exact' classification and treatment- of tb© various types of perverts 'was absolutely iiec.essary and for this the services of a trainee} expert; were essential/ The Prisons Department had endeavoured "to do something by way of classification in sending the worse types of peVto one institution especially set apart for that purpose. That, however, was not enough. Two tvpes of perverts were to be found in the prisons. The first comprised those types who yielded to sudden temptation and assaulted women -and young; female' children, sometimes under- circumstances - exhibiting extreme brutality, yet dim the majority of such cases the ers were curable under a proper system! of treatment, and it was seldom,,thatthey again offended. The real sexual pervert, however, was coiiHnuh'Hy tampering with young children, v was -dif-. ferent, as was also the . case. where young hoys were the victims’." .There were quite a number' of such' degenerates in the prisons to-duv.,- middle-aged and elderly men being the chief offenders in this class.. In. .witness’,, opinion segregation for life was the only course,’ and many -year’s-bbf. ! < experience dhsid convinced him of that. - He. opposed operative treatment. . Heredity in some cases was to- be blamed, -but a t good percentage/were the children of .parents ;pf a like type, who, having berin deserted, had become wards of the State"" arid Had been brought up in-, l ; ttle was done towards ‘era'diicatfing r ' their evil tendencies. As a result a very large percentage of hbth youths, and young girls addicted to sexual_depravity had come from industrial schools aiiJ -v other institutions under State control'. . "