Falling Morals Among Boys

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 5, 9 October 1950, Page 2

Falling Morals Among Boys

Boys have a far lower standard of sex moral and marriage today than they used to have, Mr Basil Henriques, chairman of the East London Juvenile Court, told a Boy Scouts’ Association conference at Filey, Yorkshire.

Mr Henriques, who toured New Zealand in 1948, said: “A great change has taken place with regard to the attitudes of the sexes one to another. This is partly due to life in the public shelters, partly to amorous scenes in the films, partly due to books read and conversations heard, and partly to the deliberate mixing policy of many British youth organisations. “There is far greater sexual promiscuity than there used to be. We should consider deeply how far mixed youth organisations are to be encouraged and whether they are likely to produce the best type of man.”

Mr Henriques said that because Britain as a nation would no longer tolerate cruelty, the street urchin had disappeared but in his pla?e the “spiv” had grown up.

“The spiv also has long hair, but it is only with grease. His clothes are not ragged but they are cut in such fashions as to make you feel sick. He has shoes on his feet but they are of revolting brilliant colour. He wears a fantastic tie which is dazzling in its hideousness.” Mr Henriques added that the real boy of today, however, was the same creature as in 1908. His manners and attire had changed, but his heart, his temptations and his human weaknesses had not altered, He needed guidance as much as he ever did.