TOWN EDITION. The Ensign. GORE : TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1896. JUVENILE IMMORALITY.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 165, 21 July 1896, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Ensign. GORE : TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1896. JUVENILE IMMORALITY.

The juvenile immorality question as we find it in this colony has, in many places, advanced beyond a debatable stage— it has como to be accepted as a very tangible reality, and vigorous action has superseded the discussion, which, if standing alone, must be profitless, seeing that now there can be no possible doubt but that juvenile depravity has made most alarming advance within the last year or so. So far, however, tho people of Auckland are the only ones who have formulated a definito plan of campaign against this most terrible form of unrighteousness, and, while there can be no two opinions as to their deep sincerity and eagerness for reform, the method they seek to adopt will not commend itself very heartily to everyone. This was arrived at by a conference of municipal delegates, representing the Boroughs of Parnell, Newton, and city of Auckland, sitting a few days since, when a resolution was agreed to affirming tho need of a rescue home as a remedy for the juvenile depravity evil. To cii'ect this purpose, Parliament has been asked to pass certain legislation which affects the allocation of certain trust funds and other matters, the tenor of the committee's recommendation to the Government being that something must be dono without delay to check the growth of the evil. If the co-operation of Parliament is secured, Auckland will have its juvenile rescue home, and New Zealand, with all"4i4r advantages and her enormous possibilities for future greatness, will possess an evidence of one of the most degrading of national sins to be found in the entire category,— a dubious distinction truly. We are unaware that any such institution as is proposed to be established at Auckland exists anywhere else in British dominions — or, indeed, in the world — and it is a severe blow to our vaunted moral superiority over that of most other countries that it should have been oven remotely possible ever to have taken into serious consideration the establishment of a rescue home for depraved and immoral New Zaaland-born ' children. While we do not attempt to : shut our eyas to the fact that juvenile immorality is very rife all ove/ the ' colony, we cannot coincide with the views 1

of tho good folk of Auckland as to tho correct method of combating it. The t rescue homes ' we" have hitherto been . _ acquainted with, have existed for the pur- j pose of dealing with persons saturated— ( from years of association—with sin and , vice, and who are past responding to tho-'-] effects of moral suasion. They are, for ' the most part, outcasts from society, and ' homeless waifs, whom a precious prison « system has improved still further down i the broad road to perdition. Those are j the inmates of our present rescue homes, i aud it must bo admitted that if tho effect j upon them is not always productive of a - ' radical cure, it at least postpones for a time' ' many headlong plunges into careers of vice . and crime ; but to say that such treatment is necessary for children of tender years is to write the common morality down to the lowest standard attainable. In nearly every case of juvenile depravity the innocence of the subject has been the cause of its falling, aud to rank the ignorantly vicious upon the same plane as the class which has become so by preference or cool choice is monstrous ; besides this, what sort of an opinion will our neighbors form of our morality, if it is necessary for us to establish rescue-homes for our babes and sucklings ? The effect of this proposed Auckland institution must . be pernicious in another way. It shifts all responsibility from the shoulders of parents. Children found to bo leading impure lives, and who are not, or cannot be, controlled by their parents, are to be taken charge of by tho institution's officials until such ■ time as they are either led to see the error of their ways or aro otherwise fortified to withstand the temptations of the world, and then they are "restored to their grateful parents, who will doubtless show their appreciation of the institution's good work by allowing their unfortunate offspring the same liberties and freedom that proved their downfall previously, „ In ninety-nine cases out of every hundred juvenile vice and crime is directly traceable to parental neglect, and until this phase of the matter is attacked, all other efforts are so much pruning of topmost twigs — the root must lie got at if the tree hto be utterly destroyed. It is a simple thing to wash a grimy child's face, but it must be provided with soap and water if it is to be kept clean throughout the remainder of its life. If parentß are sufficiently criminally negligent of their divinely-imposed duties as to permit their children's falling into the horrible mire of immorality in their tender years, all the rescue homes extant will not exert a sufficiently strong influence to keep the feet of thcso children in the paths of safety, if the fathers and mothers are not sensible of the grave responsibilities resting upon them. Juvenile depravity is a hideous monstrosity ; innocenceand purity is the normal condition of childhood, and to find that the abnormal should bo regarded in such a matter-of-fact light as to necessitate tho introduction of methods usually employed in combating adult immorality, upon th? assumption that it is likely to become a permanent constituent in the characteristics of the race, is saddening indeed. As an alternative to the Auckland scheme, we would propose that the parents of such children as are found to bo conducting themselves immorally or viciously in any way be held guilty of offending against the laws of the land. "Of course exceptions could be made in cases where the parent or parents aro incapable of controlling their children's actions ; but we aro inclined to think a very small proportion of cases would come under this head, so for all practical purposes it is safe to assume that in every instance the parents would be punished. Dally with this matter as we may, the only real hope of reform comes through those having care of the children, j consequently by making them (tho guard- | ians) suffer for their own neglect is a much more rational solution of the difficulty than shifting tho responsibility off their shoulders altogether. The question is a burning one, and it behoves all who are desirous of preserving and increasing the purity of our race not only to feel adequately shocked at the terrible evidences of juvenile vice which are daily revealed in tho colony, but also_ to do all that is humanly possible to bring about a more healthy state of matters. To establish a juvenile rescue home would bo to tacitly admit that juvenile immorality is inevitable. This wo unhesitatingly deny, nnd firmly believe that its utter fallacy could be demonstrated wore only the same spirit as that dominating the relationships between parents and children a few generations back to obtain now.