DEFECTIVES BILL MUST GO THROUGH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18576, 26 September 1928, Page 14

DEFECTIVES BILL MUST GO THROUGH.

MR COATES DECLARES IT A POLICY MEASURE. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, September 25. Committee discussion of the Mental' Defectives Bill, in charge of the Minister of Health, took the line of advice from a number of Oppositionists to the Government that it should drop this contentious measure. The first hint came informally from Mr Wilford, who, while the committee waited for the Minister to take his place near the chairman, remarked, sotto voce to the Prime Minister, “Why not chop the thing right out?” Mr Coates vigorously nodded his dissent, remarking, “No chance at all.” A strong tide of criticism flowed for several hours, mainly from the Opposition side, though Mr Lysnar and Mr Glenn on the Government Benches added their criticism, the former declaring the measure the most dangerous yet introduced in Parliament. Mr Glenn, though supporting its general principles, was critical of some clauses. “It’s the commonsense thing to drop the Bill for this session, - and have the whole question investigated in a much wider way,” advised Mr P. Fraser. The Hon J. A. Young, Minister of Health, declared that the problem of mental defectives had been for years under attention, for it was an obligation to deal with it. In 1926 a commit-; tee investigated and reported to Parliament, and the present Bill was introduced early in the session. It was five weeks before a committee, which took evidence, and he would not consider postponing it further, though he was willing to reconsider certain clauses. Members: Which Ones? The Minister: I will indicate when I come to them. He urged all parties in the House sympathetically to deal with a problem, assuring critics that he would listen to constructive suggestions. PRIME MINISTER INTERVENES. Mr Coates followed with a declaration “This Bill is a policy Bill, and the main principles must go through.” Mr Howard: That's the whip. Mr Coates: That’s true. There’s no question. He realised, he said, that there were points which were causing members concern, but they seemed to have only one aspect, that of eugenics, in their minds. This was only one feature. The Bill had not been introduced for fun; it had been preceded by many inquiries. Mr Savage: You cannot thrust it down our throats, though. Mr Coates: It is just as well to know where we are. The main features are the considered opinion of the Government. One important feature relates to feeble-irunded people, who have no right to be in the institutions they are in now’. It is not humane. Mr Glenn: Nobody is kicking about that. Mr Coates repeated, "This is a Bill Which must go through,” and went on to refer to children of sixteen and eighteen who had the minds of children of six. They could stay in certain institutions till the age of eighteen, then they had to enter either a mental hospital or a Borstal institution. The problem had been before Parliament so often that further delay would amount to neglect. Mr H. E. Holland, Leader of the Opposition. remarked that members had hoped the Bill would be non-party, but the Prime Minister’s declaration had made it a party matter. Had members been allowed to vote as they liked it could not have passed, but now the Prime Minister had cracked the stockwhip, and indicated it must go through. “It is the big stick held over the heads of the Reform Party,” he said. Mr Lysnar said that he was pleased to hear the Prime Minister go as far as he did, but he would have liked him to have gone further, and explained what clauses he would drop.