THE NATIONAL CHARACTER

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XVIII, Issue 6059, 4 November 1920, Page 2

THE NATIONAL CHARACTER

"LOSS OF MORAL STABILITY." At a "dinner in the Melbourne Stock Exchange Buildings to celebrate the opening of the neiw chambers of the Municipal Association or" Victoria a striking utterance was made by the pf Victoria (Sir, William Irvine) respecting family and' home life, and the "loss of m'oral staI bility" in the young people of the community. After 'expressing the opinion thaft Australia, 'the Jtoinparatively high cost if living—due to some extent t'o the inflated currency—was ■entering, upon a.u era of great prosperity, Sir William Irvine said that material prosperity had its dangers as well aa its advantages, ajid he cou'/d not help feeling a certain degree of apprehension. He had "seen symptoms whicii might ultimately affect tha national character, a;nd he had no hesitation in saying that "the preservation ot tne national character was of the greatest importance. The divorce lists Tvera increasing day by day. Mem and women—diPien little more than boys and gi'r'lsr-.vvihed recklessly into matrimony, and endeavoured to rush \*it again as soon as they could. The sacrament of marriage was becoming to many young people morely a 'key to

the giratifieatlicHi unoolntrolled passpoils." Whein itliey looked (at- (the young m'oin and girls in some of the streets of the big cities ;wandering about without any sense of responsibility, it. made one shudder tb think those young peopi'.e wore to be future fathers and mothers of the race. There

wals <i Stype /of eniotionafem •which thrived iin the unwW.esomei atmosphere of picture shows, where young people became "saturated with the false melodrama and excitable movement" of those places. There was emotionalism ai'J>o amongst the older peor/e, who wer c taking up new forms o|- ''religiosity," and filling their minds with superstitions, old md new. A great many troubles were due to weak BBUt-iiiw?nta.!ity, wheich had resulted in many mothers neglecting the duties cf •maternity. They were apt to regard, their children as interesting playthings, aaul later on the children got out of Hiheir eonta'oL He did not wish to pi-each to tihem, but he want-ed to speak of matters which had come under his notice. It was desirable that ovoii-yoiie in the leommunity should ■ realise the dangers -threatening them and take steps to remove them.