Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WED. SEPTEMBER 10. 1947 A DISTURBING TREND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 78, 10 September 1947, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WED. SEPTEMBER 10. 1947 A DISTURBING TREND

THE disturbing trend contained in the annual report of the Commissioner of Police, and the comments of Mr Justice Callan on the increase of crime in the Auckland district, particularly in acts of dishonesty by young people, emphasise a trend which, if it is allowed to go unchecked, will strike a blow at the very roots of our social life. Nobody with an open mind can have failed to note that in recent years there have been growing signs of a disregard for the property rights of others and this has undoubtedly been'reflected in the lowering of moral standards to which the Commissioner of Police and the learned Judge have drawn attention. Mr Justice Callan has attributed this lowering of standards, in part at least, to a lack of proper parental training and guidance. The instances quoted by his Honour of young people appearing- before him whose parents have failed in their duty are a serious reflection on our social' standards, particularly when, as Mr Justice Callan has pointed out, this failure is so often due to a failure on the part of one or other of the parents to abide by the marriage contract. Undoubtedly this lack of parental guidance is a major contributing factor in the general lowering of moral standards, but there are, we believe, other factors which are equally disturbing and which call just as insistently for correction. There has been in this country, as well as in others, a tendency to legalise acts which could not pass a strict test of morality. When Parliament, on the initiative of the Government, passes legislation which cuts across the rights of individuals and deprives them of the control of their own affairs, and even of their own .property, and encourages sections of the people to look for benefits from that legislation, there is inevitably created in the minds of the people a feeling that individual rights and individual property are no longer sacred. Once that feeling is created the way is paved for a slackening of moral and social standards, a slackening reflected in a desire on the part of some to benefit at the expense of others, even if it involves acts of dishonesty. The importance of a sound home training for the young cannot be over-emphasised, but it should also be emphasised that an equal, if not greater, responsibility attaches to those who make the laws to ensure that in all their acts they set the highest possible example of fair dealing and respect for private rights.