Truth THE PEOPLE'S PAPER. THE AGE Of CONSENT!

NZ Truth, Issue 473, 11 July 1914, Page 6

Truth THE PEOPLE'S PAPER.

THE AGE Of CONSENT!

TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS.

5. D. ' PJT» AtfNUM... 13 0 I PAYABtR HALIVYBARDY 6 6V IN / QOABTEIUiY... 3 3 J ADVAJICB.

SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1914.

- » And the Age of Humanitarian Humbug. It is to be trusted that Parliament us a body oi: sensible and wordly men will, when t ho opportunity presents itself, exercise pluiu eoinraonsouse m dealing with Attorney-General Ilerdmnn's proposed Crimes Amendment Bill, which has been introduced to Partiament as a proposed law of the country. By' exorcising plain commousense, this paper means that members of Parliament will either reject the Bill altogether or so amend the main and outrageous principles therein contained and thus force Iho Minister m qucsti6n to retilise that this so- , called age of Huniamtarianisni id

1 merely an age of Humbug. If "Truth" may be permitted to express its opinion, it will be found that the mpst significant- and sinister proposal of the Crimes Amendment Bill, is the suggestion which Parliament . is ? to v be asked to sanction that the age of consent, on the part of females, shall be raised from sixteen to eighteen / years. Also, it proposes to deprive ' an accused male of the defence that he had a reasonable presumption that the willing victim was over the age of consent. There are other provisions m the Bill with which' sane men and even women will agree, and which m the light' of the appalling criminal records of New Zealand are certainly warranted. No one for instance, can reasonably object to an increase from two to five years' imprisonment for offences or attempted offences on idiot or imbecile females, but what exactly the AttorneyGeneral means by the stipulation that no : prosecution for criminal, offences on girls between 12 and 14 years of age shall be commenced without the leave m writing of the Attorney-General, is something, which "Truth" confesses it does not understand. If any amendment of the Crimes Act was war-' ranted it rests, on the fact that, yearly, for years past, the record of crime m New Zealand shows that offences against female children have tremendously increased, too plainly indicating that here, m New Zealand, we have many undesirable abnormal males, who, while at liberty, are a menace to society generally. If, therefore, the Attorney-General proposed an amending Bill,- endeavoring to cope with these social , lepers, by shutting them up m a criminal lunatic, asylum, he would have adopted a sane course, a course which would have earned the approbation of all. t ■•' ■■ ■•■ •.'■'■ ■. In his proposed Crimes Amend- ! mentment Bill, the Attorney-Gen-eral seems to have carefully, and very adroitly side-stepped the most serious of all the problems which an amended Crimes Act coulM at least attempt to. solve. While, he fails to make an effort to protect little and innocent children, from the clutches of the abnormal, depraved and brutal male, he* is setting out to < save the strumpet of from sixteen to eighteen from herself and. man, and if this proposed amendment should become law, though •" Truth" is fairly confident that it will not, it will mean a very serious increase m sexual crime. Acts of Parliament cannot make men or women moral, and no, , Act of Parliament has ever 'yet become effective which deliberately flew m the face of Nature. Perhaps it would be unfair to ask Mr. A. L. Herdman, as a barrister of considerable criminal court experience, what he thinks of the Hon. A. L. Herdman., as Attorney-General, introducing to Parliament a proposal which, entirely apart from "humanitarianism,". means placing m jeopardy the liberty of every male m the country. In the handling of such a subject, sentiment, and naihby-pambyism should not be permitted to enter. This proposal "Truth" unhesitatingly declares to be an outrageous one, and, furthermore* a proposal unlikely to emanate from any other, G o vernraent but one which m view of the approaching elections, is seeking the "Wowser and the "Social Purity" vote. Incidentally, too, the proposal is anything but a tribute to the virtue of the "flapper" of New Zealand. Anyone who knows anything of city life m New Zealand is aware that the streets of the cities are crowded with these "man-traps." The illegitimate birth-rate figures prove the so-called immorality of the country, and it would require a > vory strong revelation to force the. conclusion that m every case where a flapper falls, the youth or the man is the seducer. Then, it might be argued, that to make the "seduction" of a flapper from sixteen to eighteen a crime is a sort of "protection" to the male, but where the "protection" is a term of penal servitude, it affords no satisfaction whatever. From the natural view-point, too, this matter of "the age of consent," must be considered. In Australasia the female reaches the ago of puberty often at .12- years. Physically, at 14 years, the Australasian girl is a woman, lv numerous cases at 16 years, the girl is a mother, m still more numerous cases, the "girl" of 18 years is a much married woman. Who is there to-day m New Zealand who will dare to admit that the boy of from 14 years to 16 years possesses the i sexual knowledge of the girl of a , similar ago? Comparatively speak- ■ ing the Australasian boy of from i 14 years to 16 years of age is an i innocent and ignorant angel when i runged alongside the "flapper." t The New Zealand or Australasian • girl of from 16 to 18 years is a ■ "fly" girl, vulgarly speaking she . knows "how many beans make • live," while the mystery and see- . ret of sex, are to her, no mystery j or secret at all. >Vith the "fly"

girl from 16 years to 18 years what chance has the youth or the man ? .■■ ".- ».., . • • "Truth" first of all fails to see why there has been any necessity for the introduction of such an outrageous measure, unless it is that Minister Herdman is angling for the Wowser jand Social Gimlet Brigade vote. Is it that he is seeking by so raising the "age of consent "to crush the ' ' White Slave Traffic, ''which we have od the authority of the police does not exist m New Zealand at all? It strikes "Truth" that the reason of the proposed or suggested 'alteration of the law is to placate the- Y.W.C.T.U., and other wellmeaning but extremely hysterical bodies. . The good dames of various associations will never rest content until the age of consent is raised to 98 years, and, too, often, it seems that these sterile hags m barracking for Social Reform,- f ok the suppression of vice, are much the same as the dames of whom Alexander Pope wrqte : There are, 'tis true, who tell an- , other tale, * That virtuous ladies envy while they, rail; Such rage without betrays the fire' '/• -^ s within: •:'' 1 -' ;^-- •■ -■• /■'"'■•■ In some close 1 corner, of the- soul, . .they .sin; •• - ■ V'; '.. Still hoarding. up, mostiscandalously nice, . • Amidst their virtues a reserve ~of vice, i • ; It is, true that sometime ago, there started m Wellington a Social .Purity movement where Parliament was going to, be asked to make Death the punishment for nearly every sexual crime on the calendar. Apparently, AttorneyGeneral Herdman' has not dared to go the limit of acceding to the demands of these hysterical dames, 'mostly .women, who have failed m their mission m lif e, s viz., to rear families, but he has done the next best thing. He. proposes to ask Parliament to sanction the"raising of the age of consent, from where it is, and where the most eminent jurists an<l scientists of the age, concur m agreeing it should, be, viz., sixteen years, to an age, i.e., 18 years, where the girl is m reality, a girl no longer, but a woman, with the yearnings, passions and desires of woman. Attorney-General Herdman 's proposition might become law, but if Parliament 1 is composed of . men possessed of plain commonsense it will rightly, decide not to meddle with a matter which is sure to heap derision »on the .Government and to make New Zealand a byword. - ■ •»' ■'■.*■ '- • Very often,' m. fact m nine cases out of ten, when Parliament meddles with a matter, which is really governed by a natural law, whereby it is -sought to protect women or girls, the fact is often proved that those "protected" resent the protection. Womeny happily, the majority of women, old and young have regard for their husbands, brothers and sons. Any law aiming at the protection of the innocence and virtue of girls and women, by the gaoling of the men who corrupt innocence ana violate virtue is frequently denounced by women who can be expected to know their sex as weil as, if not better than, those of the opposite sex. And, m this particular case, the women of New Zealand, who are not "of tho hysterical sisterhood sort, can be safely left to show their resentment at a proposed law, which not only insults their sex, but is flagrantly and outrageously unjust to men. Should this proposal of the Attor-: ney-General become law, what youth or young man will be safe? Are mothers of boys and youths not concerned m such a proposed law ? Indeed, the mothers of boys m this country have more to fear from the corruption of their boys at the hands of the shameless she of 16, 17, or 18 years, than the shameless she, has to fear from the youth or young man. Mothers are more concerned about their boys than they nre for the welfare of the girls. Why, "Truth" cannot say, unless it goes to show how gloriously uncertain and seemingly illogical woman is. But the fact remains as "Truth" has stated it to bo. Our girls do, not need protection. Tho average * flapper of to-day knows more than her mother. She is well able to take care of herself, far more able to look after herself than the youth of the same age. It is the youth who needs, protection. ' It is the boy who is just budding to manhood who needs to be surrounded by an armor of law. The boy is the victim m most cases, he is the seduced, not the seducer, and any wordly-minded man, not a man who is a humanitarian humbug, Avill readily admit the fact. "Truth" is surprised at the At-torney-General introducing such a proposal, lie knows, or ought ,to know, that he is taking a step which will lend not to the "protection" of girlhood, but to the ruination nnd damnation of the boy and young man.