ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10148, 3 June 1896, Page 3

ON THINGS IN GENERAL.

RAIATEA. •' * There is something pathetic in the attitude of the islanders of Raiatea in their attachment to the British flag. In defiance of the proclamation of a French Protectorate, they have persisted in flying the standard of Old England, and when it was shot down, they raised it again on another staff and multiplied it threefold. Mot even th( British Consul, brought for the purpose in a French man-of-war, has been able to persuade them that England can have nothing to do with them. Queen Victoria is their "mother" they say, and they will have none other. And this last phase of the case is the most pitiful of all, for in their little sea-girt home they are in the process of being reduced to submission by starvation. It is mere sentiment, but to a nation like France, that worships the "idee," a sentiment so picturesque might) well appeal, were it not, perhaps, that it is sullied by having for its object such an unromantic thing as perfide Albion. In their unsophisticated way the Raiateans are moved by similar feelings to those that touched the people of Alsace and Lorraine in their love of France and hatred of the German rule, and the citizens of France reverence that sentiment and dramatically clothci the statues of the lost provinces in the drapery of mourning; and until the captured provinces have been restored they refuse to be comforted. But for the same feelings in the bosoms of these helpless islanders they have nothing but a jeer, and the sacred sentiment of patriotism they will exercise by the simple process of starvation. THE ACE OF CONSENT. This subject has been again obtruded on public attention by a resolution of the Woman's Political Association at Christchurch,which has unanimously resolved that the age in question should be fixed at 21. Is it not time to seriously consider whether the State in recognising such a period would not be giving its recognition and even it! sanction to immorality? It would fix o date beyond which sinning would bo undet the protection of the law, in fact presenting an illustration of the State regulation of vice In the case of children of tender years the question is, of course, on a different basis, that is to say on the grounds of immaturity, physical, intellectual, and moral —and protection there is demanded of the State, as in the case of all weakness that is unable to protect itself. But when people have reached maturity the question of restraint is raised to another plane, and the object can only be the prevention of misconduct. Now, this being so, why should the State take upon it to say that misconduct) at twenty-two is legal and admissib e, while it is illegal and wrong at twenty. Is this not a direct incentive to evil, so soon a! ever the restraint is lifted ? This is a matter that should bo seriously considered by those who are advocating that at twenty-one years a woman should obtain the legal sanction of the State to her working her own ruin. That is a position in which the State should never place itself, but it should sot its face sternly against even appearing to be a party to opening the door to immorality. We know the outcry that is raised against the passing of certain laws for the restraint of vice in the streets. It is held by many that fixing any limits in relation to this, is the recognition by the State of the tightness of immorality in any circumstances, and sooner than have the State contaminated by " regulating " vice, vice is allowed to run riot in our streets. Now it is a precisely parallel case if the State fixed a point in the age of. women, after passing which they may be free to misconduct themselves without involving themselves or others in any crime against the law. RAISING THE AGE. But if a limit is to be fixed, why is it not placed at an age that will cover all liability to danger for those who are to be protected ? As the object is to prevent the prevalence of immorality, why should the law, if it is good for anything at all in this connection, not extend the shield of iti protection over all the years in which there is liability to going astray ? If the age of consent, for example, were raised to fiftyfive, and if the law gave adequate protection up to that period, the liability to mistakes would be reduced to a minimum. And if at that period it was found that there was still risk remaining, provision might be made, by which, on application by the relatives of a person to a stipendiary magistrate, the age of consent in that particular case might be raised to sixty or sixty-five years. In fact the law might be made so elastic as to suit every variety of case, and probably in the great majority of cases might not require to be put in force at all. In this direction we might take a hint from the provisions of the Liquor Licensing Acts, in which it is competent to apply for a prohibition order in the case of any man who is addicted to drunkenness. In such case the law does not take any cognizance of the character or conduct of the general community, bub only is made to apply when the idiosyncracy of any person appears to make it necessary. When it is found requisite to protect a man from his tendency to drunkenness, the protection of the law is at once thrown around him, and it becomes illegal and punishable both in the publican and in himself for him to be provided with liquor. And so might it be in relation to this question of the age of consent. To the great majority of women there is not the least necessity for imposing any such limitation. Their lives and their characters repel the insinuation of any such requirement of the intervention of the law. But in the case of those who might ba regarded as (f)risky, and respecting whom there may be fears entertained, there might be provision in the Act under which they might be made as it were " prohibited persons," and so have the protection of the law against themselves and others, until they arrived at such advanced years of maturity, that neither their charms nor their feelings would prove a snare to them. THE YOUNG MEN, TOO. But while dealing with this subject one cannot help being struck with the manner in which young men and their interests are ignored; and as it is desirable that in all things there should be no differentiation ol sex in the eye of the law, it is highly desirable that the male creatures should be similarly protected by fixing for them an age of consent. Their susceptible age is not by any means bounded at twenty-one, but extends upwarfis by many years, and if the age of consent for women be fixed at fiftyfive as suggested, young men should be protected to at least the same period, if not higher. We are sure we express the sentiments of all young men when we say that they are sometimes severely tried by the temptations lying around them, and that they greatly need protection. And if they could be only kept under the age of consent, and generally in the way in which thej should go, until they are grey or baldheaded and rheumatic, the world would be all the better to-day. If, therefore, the one sex is to be protected up to the serious age, bo also should the other, or il the law is only to be put in force in exceptional cases, and as circumstances or -temperaments demand, then it should ba competent for the friends or acquaintances of any young man under, say, 55 or 60, who shows undue susceptibility to the claims of the other sex, to have him made a protected or " prohibited person." In the case of iuch, an advantage would arise from providing him with a ticket or medal, or a ribbon, expressive of his being thus under the protection of the law, which be might be obliged to wear on some conspicuous part of his clothing, so thab no person might inadvertently fall into a transgression of the law. By advanced legislation of this sort in the direction of personal good conduct we may effect wonders in the moral elevation of the community, and more particularly if we can only keep the young men up to the age of consent, our population will be the most propei in the world. The General.