THE COLONY'S MORALITY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10777, 27 May 1911, Page 4

THE COLONY'S MORALITY.

IMPEACHMENT BY REV. CURZONSIGGERS. (Per Pri-.ss Association.) Dunedin, May 25. At the annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children to-day the president (the Rev. Canon Curzon-Siggers) urged the necessity for raising the age of consent. The Society's report .showed that in a certain percentage of illegitimate cases girls became mothers just oil or just over the age of Hi. and some of these within the age of 17 were mothers lor the second time. Air Curzon-Siggers said that there was a growing tendency for young fellows to go for week-ends and to :>rrr.nire for girls to go with them. The Society hoped very shortly to make an example in the Police Court of one such case. The speaker urged the provision of a house of detention for girls who became mothers by immoral means. He also raised the question of dealing with the mentally unfit. and said while tho Government made some provisions for males mentally defective there was no provision for mentally defective females. He strongly urged sterilisation as a treatment for defectives. The Society had very strong feelings on the subject- of applying the curfew law so as to keep young people off the streets at late hours and inculcate a taste for home life. He felt the state of morality in Dunedin was not what it should be, and unfortunately Dunedin was no worse than other places. He hoped the Government would appoint a commission to inquire into and provide means for checking the birth of the unfit.