H.—2B

1896. NEW ZEALAND.

REPEAL OF THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ACT, AND THE RAISING OF THE AGE OF CONSENT (LETTERS RECEIVED BY THE PREMIER FROM ENGLAND RELATIVE TO THE).

Laid on the Table by the Hon. Mr. Seddon, with the Leave of the House.

Grasmere, Bristol Eoad, Edgbaston, 7th January, 1896. Mrs. F. H. Fox, on behalf of the Birmingham Branch of the Ladies' National Association for the Abolition of the State Eegulation Office, desires to convey their strong and deep sense of the importance of this subject to the Hon. B. Seddon, Premier, and to express, also, their thankfulness for his clear and unequivocal statement, to the effect that the raising of the age of consent would be insisted on in the coming session, and also "a shameful and objectionable statute" removed. The honorary secretary, therefore, on behalf of the ladies united with her in this branch of the Ladies' National Association, desires to offer her Christian congratulations to the Hon. E. Seddon on the noble stand he is thus taking on the side of purity and righteousness, and to encourage him as far as she may be permitted to do so to withstand unswervingly any attempts on the part of those less high principled and less enlightened to press measures of an opposite character, assured that the Divine blessing can only rest upon the faithful carrying out of just and pure statutes, founded upon Christian ethics and upon the equality of the sexes in all that relates to their moral and spiritual well-being. The action of some ladies in New Zealand during the past year, evidently arising from ignorance of the subject, grieved the members of the Ladies' National Association in England, but they are glad to know that they have been convinced of their grave mistake. Mrs. Fox desires to add best wishes for Divine guidance and help to the Premier in his responsible position.

Dear Sir, — Free Church Manse, Kemway, Aberdeenshire, 22nd April, 1896. Yesterday, at a meeting in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland's Committee on State Regulation of Vice, I had the pleasure of making known that a few months ago you had said that next session the raising of the age of consent would be insisted on, and also the removal of a " shameful and objectionable statute." We understand you to refer to the CD. Act, and I was instructed to express to you the great gratification of the Committee at your utterance. This lam most happy now to do. What you said is inserted in the Committee's Annual Report to the General Assembly at its forthcoming meeting in May, and it will be listened to with lively satisfaction by the Church generally. We rejoice that you are at one with us on this important matter,, and that you have such a purpose and hope in connection with it. Some months ago, in the Committee's name, I sent a letter to all Presbyterian ministers in New Zealand (as also in the Cape Colony and in Victoria) earnestly urging them to action in the matter. Perhaps you have seen it. I should like to have enclosed a copy, but unhappily I have only one left, and it is needed. We are thankful to see that the Dunedin Presbytery have been moved to pass a very decided resolution. I will (D.V.) send you a copy of my report when it is in print. Yours, &c, (Rev.) John Dymock. Sir,— Halifax, Yorkshire, 27tb April, 1896. We, the undersigned, on behalf of ourselves and others who formerly composed the Halifax Ladies' Committee for the Repeal of the (English) Contagious Diseases Acts, desire to express to you our extreme gratification at your announcement that in the next session of the Legislative Council of New Zealand your Ministry will insist on the " raising of the age of consent " and " the removal of a shameful and objectionable statute." As regards the latter, we sincerely hope that your colonial Contagious Diseases Act (to which your words doubtless referred) may be totally repealed, and that no measure may be enacted conferring powers for the apparent purpose of suppressing social vice, but capable of being used for its regulation and supervision. We would remind you of the fact that over the Continent of Europe the debasing system of the sanitary regulation of prostitution is carried on by officials entitled " The Police of Morals," in whose hands measures ostensibly directed against open vice are the principal means of enforcing their shameful sanitary rules. That you and your colleagues may have the Divine guidance and blessing in your efforts to abolish unrighteous, and to enact righteous, laws, is the earnest prayer of Yours, &c, Jane Eleanor Crossley, President. Ellen E. Waite, Hon. Sec. The Hon. R. Seddon, Prime Minister of New Zealand.