"IMMORAL DUNEDIN."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18049, 24 September 1920, Page 8

"IMMORAL DUNEDIN."

REV. V. G. B. KING'S ALLEGATIONS.

STATEMENTS SAID TO BE. EXAGGJSHATED.

TIIO Rov. V. G. B. lung, referring to his report, said it wna an astonishing statement to. make, and he expected to bo hauled over the coals for it, but it was -•m absolute undoubted fact. 110 had been simply appalled durmtr tho past 12 mcntlis by the cases of wives deserting tneir husbands and husbands tlioir wives and living with otliers sometimes in the samo street. This occurred not in single instances but there wore dozens of them, not only young couples but old couples also. [Mr King, who is an old experienced social worker, reported an " alarming increase'' in eases of men neglecting their family responsibilities, a growing- tendency to open adultery, and a great inereaso in immorality.] The above statement was mado at tho annual meeting of tho Men's Mission, held last week, ana contains such a damaging indiotment against the mcftal life of tho City of Dunedin that one of our reporters has taken the opportunity of obtaining other authoritative opinions on the subject. Each of tho four persons interviewed made it quite clear that they did not deny there was immorality in Dimedin. ihey would not agTeo, however, speaking }v:thin their personal knowledge, that the immorality in Dunedin was nearly as bad King had stated it to be. Mrs Murray, a member of tho health patrol, said that she had been engaged on patrol work for the past. 13 months. Sho could not say that tliero was anv inoreaeo in immorality in .jninixlin during the period over which her work extended. The Rev. E. A. Axelson, superintendent of the Presbyterian Social Service Association, said his work carried him into the highways and byways of the City of Dunedin. So far as his knowledgo went, ho could not bear out the definite statements Vnade by Mr King. Ho would not say 'that there had been an inereaso of immorality ;n Duntdin within the past 12 months. The amount of immorality. 110 considered, was not above the average of previous years—covering a period of. say, of four or five years. A police oflice.r who had been in various parts of Now Zealand and Australian had informed him that Dunedin was the cleanest, moral city of its size of- any in the Southern Hemisphere. So far as his (Mr Axelsen's) travels permitted him to speak he would bear out this police officer's opinion. At tho present timo the people of the world wero living in a state of _ false excitement and restlessness, and this excitement and restlessness were of course shared in a measure by tho people of Dimedin. Mr Axelson concluded by saying :liat he did not deny there was immorality in Dunedin. But where was the city where it was not in evidence? Another social worker who has a wide knowledgo of the underworld, as it wero, of Dunedin, stated that in his opinion Mr King's statements were exaggerated and extravagant Said he: "If what Mr King said was true, then it was time the Mayor of this city went through tho streets in sackcloth and ashes." Another well-known social worker voiced his opinion as follows:—"I say without hesitation that the story told us by Mr King is extravagant. Diinedin is not a city of infamy and vice, as Mr King would lead one to believe."