CONFLICTING CLAIMS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 257, 29 September 1932, Page 8

CONFLICTING CLAIMS

FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINE. WELLINGTON, Sept. 29. Comment on the problem of reconciling the conflicting claims of freedom and discipline with regard to the young people of to-day was made by Canon Percival James, vicar of St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, when addressing a gathering of the Women’s Social Progress League yesterday afternoon. He particularly deplored the practice, of which lie had heard, of young men taking liquor to dances and parties, and said that if it had been done 30 years ago, those responsible would have been called blackguards, and would not have been able to hold up their heads again in decent society. One of the greatest difficulties of the present time was the relaxation of parental control, Canon James said. It was a difficulty experienced not only in the home, but in the school, and everywhere. The difficulty of reconciling the conflicting claims of freedom and discipline was an age-old one. For himself, he rejoiced in the new freedom which the young people of to-day had won. He thought that it was a healthy, social condition, and gave great assistance to moral and spiritual development. But there was-all the difference between reasonable freedom and uncontrolled license, he said. And too often not freedom was seen, but uncontrolled license. No obstacle must be placed between any desire or enjoyment; it was commonly thought every desire must be gratified and every whim or caprice of the moment satisfied, regardless of the cost or consequence. This was not a way to freedom ; it "’as a wav to slavery—abject slavery, -true freedom first of all required self subjection to the restraint of law. It required a training which enabled a man or woman to bring every desire, every impulse, under the control of the will and conscience. It was only achieved by severe self-discipline. One of the greatest questions in regard to the welfare of the young "as the problem of leisure, Canon James continued. He rejoiced thoroughly in the new conventions which permitted a freedom of social intercourse between the young of both sexes. He thought it was much better ?tlian the old \ ictorian convention in which sexes were largely segregated from one another, which only resulted in clandestine nutation, and other unhealthy conditions. People nowadays, lie said, might form healthy friendships, which m time might ripen into love, and perhaps marriage—that most enduring of human friendships—but this new freedom had brought a great danger. It demanded higher standards. It demanded a high standard of chivalry in the young man, and a high standard of modesty in the young woman. Strange, indeed, it seemed to him, that too many of the young women of toKlay were only too eager to throw away that crown and glory of womanhood The speaker referred to reports that had reached him that not only young men had been seen drinking liquor at dances, but young girls too. If it were true —he could only rely on reports, for he did not visit such places himself —then he would say that it,was a ghastly state of affairs. Thirty years ago a young man who did such a thing would be branded as a blackuard, and would not be able to hold up Ins head again in decent society. , “Young people like that should be excluded for a time from decent society for the good of the race,’ Canon James added. “Are there not sufficient hostesses to see that we shall not have such people in their houses. It is time for young women to see that these things shall not be, and that these young people shall be ostracised from decent society.”