THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1890.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10972, 28 January 1899, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1890.

Half a century ago, or perhaps a little more, the world was in a sanguine spirit as to what would be th effect of the great advances.which it was plain were about to be made n the world. We had had a long spell of peace in Europe; free trade had been introduced in Great Bntnin; the movement for popular education had commenced. It was confidently anticipated that when the position of the working classes had been improved by cheap food; when the temptation to crime from poverty had been greatly diminished; when education was universal, and the means of mental improvement easily accessible, the morning of the millennial day would dawn, and crime of all kinds would greatly diminish. Perhaps these anticipations were not to be wondered at. Men taw much crime caused by the sufferings and temptations of grinding poverty; much was caused by the brutality resulting from ignorance and hard toil, unrelieved by mental cultivation. It was natural to suppose that changed conditions would involve change in manners. There has indeed been a mighty change, but have the expectations of moral improvement been realised 1 Here in the colonies especially, all the causes whioh were supposed to give rise to crime are much modified; No individual in all these colonies needs to commit crime for want of the necessaries of life. All labour, however rudimental, is paid at a rate which can secure the necessaries, and even the comforts, of existence. Drunkenness, which, we are always told, is the cause of nine-tenths of the crime, has greatly diminished. Ignorance, we were also told, was the mother of crime. It may be said that that is removed, and that the power of reading and writing is universal. The very best books are cheap and easily procurable, and on all sides the means of mental cultivation are pressed upon people in every sphere of life. We ought to be model communities, and to exhibit to the world patterns of every virtue. The most distinct pronouncement on the subject of our social condition made lately was at the Anglican Congress at Ballarat. Dr. Thornton, Bishop of Ballarat, presided, and there were also present the Bishops of Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Tasmania, and Newcastle. In his opening address, Bishop Thornton said that Australian town life was stained deep with intemperance, profanity, and lust terrible to record, even amongst children. The testimony gathered from bush life was far from favourable, theft being incessant, uhchastity lightly thought of, and suicide was becoming common. The tone of the Bar was often utterly unbecoming, and the language of the Legislative Chambers, often degrading. Public men of reputation resorted to forms of claptrap wit and banal jocularity over Scripture phrases and ideas. The gambling spirit was a cancer. Our mirth was undistinguishable from frivolity and our amusements drifted towards folly. He feared that Australian culture was not yet predominantly Christian, and he believed that the Church was the only remedy for the evils mentioned. Immediately upon the utterance of this address, a vehement discussion arose as to whethei the Bishop was justified. In some quarters he was strongly censured, while in others he was vindicated and upheld. There can be no doubt that the good Bishop was honest in his statements, and indeed it must have required a considerable amount of courage to make them. But curiously enough, just when the controversy was racing there buret forth what may be called an explosion of crime, some of the most horrible and shameful, deeds of which humanity could be guilty taking place, not merely in the great cities of Australia, but in rural districts also. The Bishop had been vigorously assailed with facts and figures, but all the accusations have died away since the perpetration of a series of crimes which have shocked all these communities.

Wt do not go the whole length with the Bishop of Ballarat. We believe, indeed, that his judgment was pessimistic, and that he over-coloured the picture which he drew of Australian morals. All we say is that the anticipations which were entertained of a vast reform from education, culture, increase of sobrietv, absence of poverty, have been 'disappointed. What, indeed, ought to have been a cure, has often proved to be a cause In very many cases men and women have fallen into crime because living for them was so easy. They were entirely relieved from the strain of hard and constant daily labour, and instead of employing their means and leisure in mental cultivation and the enjoyment of their higher faculties they indulged their passions. The cultivation of literature was to be a great means of salvation trbm de graded tastes. But there it literature and literature, and much of what is published at this time is positivelv mischievous. Many of the influence* which all thought would tend only for good and for improvement, have made both for good and for evil. The world has never seen more, shocking crimes than we have read of during

the last few weeks, and which are 'i/gtfjjp undiscovered. The beast in man~i,' as strong as ever. Suicide fr :• thought lightly of as a crime, bnt «- some resnects its prevalence ig';.!i^M : very worst sign that there could; be as to the moral condition of wcietpi And it is impossible to look arouaj ; without seeing evidence of the pw£f| lence of crimes connected with ;uj|| checked sexual passion, and without, realising the callousness that prevail':. as to results. The exeat crime of '%M time seems to be child murder in'ajft its forms. We had lately an example,,' of a wealthy lady in London, who v(s?!§ tured her life, and who lost it, l£|' cause she was anxious that her joyoui:; career in society should not be interrupted. Then in that case in-Mel-bourne, the public were horrified'' by', the discovery of a body huddled in s || box, and several persons are now tj-r : be tried for murder. And .; day passes in Auckland when w»|g have not an account of an inquest ' under the Infants' Life Protection. Act, which shows that these infante ; have scarcely had a chance of lifjj | and indeed those chiefly concerned-' are glad wh'en their existence comet to an end. :,, Where can poor humanity turn l»: now for a hope of betterment J Perv. haps we have not yet given sufficient \ time for the ameliorating influences v| of education and relief from poverty. Perhaps they have still much in store % for us. We see but a short time, and. are apt to bo' impatient for results, '% The last generation cited many jjj,'|| fluences tending to crime. Theaa \ have been in great part removed, but the crime is still with us, changing its forms, but still vast in amount; $1 Christ said, "The poor ye have at'f ways with you." For the poverty, | we have provided a remedy at .tie t| cost of society. But the criminal- it here still. The Bishop of Ballarat concluded by saying that "he feared- | that Australian culture was not yet;! predominantly Christian, and he be-'; lieved that the Church was the onlyremedy for the evils mentioned."!; No doubt sincere religion would lead;! to Godly life and the avoidance of .'§ gross crimes. The occupation of the " mind with religious thoughts would - t |K enforce purity of morals. But the ;II question at once arises whether the in-, ' fi fluence oi religion and the power of I] the Churches are not also waning. '.^B