The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1928. MENTAL DEFECTIVES BILL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 24 July 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1928. MENTAL DEFECTIVES BILL.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’olook In Hawera. Manair.. Normanby, Okaiawa. Eltham, MaDgatoki. Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverlev, Mo_oia. Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere. Fraser ■Road, and Ararata

The Minister of Health has claimed for the Menitml Defectives’ Aimiemdimemt Bill that it ropriesemitis oi isignail step foenwand: in, Ls'ocial reform. A perusal of its tconmis justifies thlat claim, for though it is -a- tmiealSMre ■whioh ealills for the most careful eocosidietraitiiiou of membeois (before being allowed to> pass on to (the Statute Book, it is obviously tike outcome of a; genuine (desire on the part of the Govetfnmieint to- dea-1 courageously atnd at the sarnie time fairly nmd honestly with a. most difficult problem. Social workers, members- of Bench amid Bar and newspaper men are no strangers to the necessity which ex-

ists for. reform of the Act, with a view to preventing the cOnSequenceis of the nets of mentally 'deficient persona, but the subject is aicfvimowtLediged. to be a difficult, one for the State to (handle. There bias been a crying meed tor many years for certain alterations in the law, but the Government amd tiheir expert advisers have to move slowly in s-ueh matters. A pubUe opinaion in favour of change must be created before any drastic amendments can be reasonably submitted to the people’s represent,aitiives. -i(n Baudiament, a.nd the care of the mentally a-ffiliclted is a< subject which, rthiough of firsit-elasis iinportamce-, is not of first-clla-sS interest to the g-ea-

oral public. It is eont'endecl, with justice, -by those suspicious' -of change, that there is graive danger in action which increases the -power of (the State

aver the liberty and life- of the subject; in framing our lawis- we always rcrnie-m----ber ,that it is better that ten- guilty men should escape j ustice than that on-c innocent man should; suffer unjustly. But the. Act regulating the movements and life of the mentally deficient is on a. different 'plane from any dealing with the punishment -of the criminal. In the first -place the restraint placed lupo-n the movements of the persons coming Within the scope of the Act is not ais a penalty, but ini the interests of the

afflicted! tlioms-elve® and of -society in general. It is therefore but -weakness to -postpone -decision, or to avoid entirely the need far consideration -of a diilshasitefui -subject, on the grounds that there is dlarager o-f inflicting suffering and hardship an persons normal, or only slightly abnormal, in mentality. It is, of course, -of it-ho utmost importance | that -the int-oresitls of -all should be protected t-o the fullest -extent; the difficulty is to know where the dividing line should be drawn between. that class' of imonftal calsn which ishould be -segregated from the rest of ifibe conn-main it-y, -and the class which, though deficient, can be still allowed -to occupy a place in the community. In drafting the Amendment Bill t-hc Governimien-t has been actuated by humane and far-sighted motives and guided -by able counsel. The whole of the Biili provides food for -earnest thought, Imt -there arc some provisions ■which it. is -possible to approve practically at isight. One -of these is the ■proposal to discard -the present procedure for having a patient -committed to a mental hospital in favour of -a method mono considerate of the fe-eliugis of the

patrmi-t and hn.s relatives. Ait present it. is necessary for a patient to- be brought, before a magistrate. Anybody .whose duty has- brought him into the precincts of -the county knows what unintentiona-) humiliation can be hrfticita-d upon all concerned by -this procedure, aim! the prov-iis-i oin through tiM-s Bill of a means- of complying with the for-mafl.ihhe-s- in private, yet without open-

ing it-h-e door t-o abuses of the law, arc -to -lie m-osit. -heartily welcomed.. T-he addition of a -seventh -classification of defectives-, under the healdiimg o-f “socially defective, ” is a proposal which wi-u call for the most caireful consaderation of the -members of the Parliament

upon whom the final responsibility for the enactment of the measure will rest.

I At first glance the clause appears to be Jcapable of wi do an d (loose imtCirpretaitl on, for it days it down that the class’ to be determined as “socially defective” is that which suffers from mental deficiency associated- with, or manifested by, ‘ f anti-social coniduet,” and, who require 'Supervision: for their own protection or in (the public interest. But the -rest, -of the Bill its so well drawn, and its meanings so . eleairly 'stalled, that there will be (doubtless no difficulty in satisfying the public mind on rthe point, cither by .explanation, or iby alteration. The outstanding feature of the Bill is that it provides- a means of ensuring that fewer i unfortunates will be brought into the World without one chance in a million of ever taking their places in normal (society—ainid that without i-n any perceivable way endangering it,ho liberty of the individual.