SOCIETY'S PROBLEM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 109, 10 May 1934, Page 4

SOCIETY'S PROBLEM

THE MENTALLY DEFICIENT DESERTING HUSBANDS AN ADDRESS TO ROTARIANS The vital social problems with which everyone comes into contact daily weie dealt with in an interesting address by Rotarian A. J. Phillips, president ol the Palmerston North Rotarian Club, at a luncheon held by the Wanganui Rotary Club yesterday. The indiscriminate production of children by mental and physical defectives, and the problem presented the State by fathers who had deserted their wives and families, and who would rather go to prison than “keep that woman and her kids," were two of the chief points touched upon. “As Rotarians, we arc a body bound together for a definite purpose—to look to the objects of Rotary, objects which are glibly quoted at times, perhaps, but none the less sincere and definite,” said Rotarian Phillips. In approaching his subject the speaker said that he could not do better than quote Carlyle in his famous essay on characteristics:— “The duty of man to what is highest in himself makes the first table of the law. To this table is now supcraddcd a second, the duties of man to his neighbour whereby the significance of the first now assumes its true importance. Alan joins himself with man—life in all its elements becomes intensified—we have society. Considered well, society is the standing wonder of our existence, as it were, an all-embracing life where our first individual life becomes doubly and trebly alive." Prevention not Cure Rotary, he continued, must approach society with some humility and Rotary could only justify its existence by passing on to society ethical benefits so that each component unit would have benefited by Rotary’s effort. By that he did not mean that Rotary was a social cobbler assisting to patch up social necessities. Rotary was certainly justifying itself by its social work, but the aspect on which he would dwell could best be illustrated by the platitude, “It is better to put a fence at the top of a cliff than maintain an ambulance at the bottom." “We are living in a wonderful age, ’ ’ said Rotarian Phillips. “Social evolution has the accelerator pressed well down and social experiments are following each other so rapidly and wc are so accustomed to this that we cannot ourselves readily visualise tlu> great movements which arc happening around us and can only guess at their results. Looking backwards, wc can see the result of the great social movements of the last century; improved working conditions, better education. But is society evolving in the direction to increase daily the total of human happiness and is the fabric of our society improving in grade and how much of it would be classed as unfit for the weaver? Second Grade Material “We must assume that an ideal society would consist of people healthy, happy and intelligent and able to use to the fullest the bounties of Nature. I think that most social workers will

agree with me when I say that the tendency is to build into the fabric of society much second grade material. This brings me to the first vital problem on which 1 want to touch —the problem the reproduction of the mentally and physically unfit, and also to the question: Can Rotary assist in this problem?" The speaker quoted instances in which parents of low mentality had produced children and where the family was now totally dependent on the btate and other charitable aid. In addition to cases of mentally deficient persons, he said, congenital diseases could also be quoted. The problem was there and it was real and unsavoury. He considered that Rotary could help. “If each Rotarian would give a little thought, a little study to the problem, some plan could surely bo devised that would be acceptabe to society as a whole to prevent this state of affairs. “*We must not rely wholly on that entity called the Government to remedy these social ills. The Government of a country may be assumed to reflect what is known as public opinion. Have we not a duty to help mould sound opinions for society? One way of avoiding the problem is to say that if sterilisation is its only remedy, its dangers outweigh its advantages, but can we justify ourselves in dismissing the matter? The Insane Increasing “Is it nothing to us that the ratio of insane to sane is an increasing uno; that tragedies thus being enacted before our eyes are rods for the backs of tho next generation; that in this young country wc have already dependent on public charity paupers in the third generation? Are we content to

spend all the money available for research on economic problems, ou cows, on pigs and the like and to realise that tnere is little or no financial provision available in New Zealand for research into these vital human problems? “Another problem I wish to bring before your notice is one which receives some publicity in the papers; that which is euphemistically known as the deserting husband. There arc in New Zealand hundreds of instances where fathers nave abandoned thei; families; where maintenance orders cannot be enforced as the men prefer to go to gaol rather than work to maintain their families. In these cases we regularly sec comments by officers of the law to the effect that these men should be put somewhre where they would be forced to work to maintain their families. “But, as yet, the problem has not been seriously tackled. Official statistics show that in the Auckland district alone last year 583 families of deserting husbands had to be assisted by public charity. Can Rotary assist to mould public opinion so that proper steps would be taken to cope with this, or are we content to sit back and criticise the cost of social services to the community? “Both the problems mentioned, though unrelated, are real ones in our national life. In these days the economic problem is the one that is always to the fore, but we must realise that in tackling deeper sociological problems we tend to get towards the root of the economic problems. I sometimes

think we too readily lose sight of fundamentals and arc too ready to accept the idea that man is made as a machine, to work for just as many years of his life as he can physically stand and that when physical machinery goes wrong we must repair it as soon as possible to enable him to continue his work. There is also a tendency to ignore the highest ethical concept of society—that society should be composed of healthy, happy and intelligent persons living together so as to get the greatest collective benefits the universe can bestow." On behalf of the Wanganui Club Dr. Robertson thanked Rotarian Phillips for his comprehensive address. He referred to the “star" case of the progeny of mental defectives in New Zealand, stating that from parents who had married in 1860 there wore now over 200 of their descendants in mental hospitals. He also said that while provision was made for the notification of such infectious diseases as scarlet fever, yet there was no provision for the notification of venereal diseases. Until there could be specific registration of the disease, there waa not much chance of its diminishing ia New Zealand.