THE REV. W. KEAY'S MUDDLED STATISTICS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2143, 8 May 1914, Page 8

THE REV. W. KEAY'S MUDDLED STATISTICS.

Sir,—'l shall not refer to ally of tile Jlev, AV. Knar's blunders, "that havo already been exposed % Professor H. MackeiiJsio. There still remain a krgo 1 nmntior that can.net pass muster. f j.'a ; stew the good results of ti» State- [ e.iven religions instruction in New South \Vales, the Key. W. Kcuy refers to tiio ' fact that recently 26 gaols word closed s in Now South Wales, anil lie asks " whether New Zealand e-aii show such I "evidences" of reduction in mifle.. 1 Alas, for Mr. Keay and his wrong in* i forenec, Lot me quote the New South Wales Year Boole, 1009-10, lingo'4lß, to show why 26 gaols wens closed: ' 'The » various gaol establishments tm'O boon r graded with a view to concentration. r As a result of this grading, a large 5 number of establishments _ havo been closed, their population being removed to other centres." Tito Coinhionwealth ' Year Book, 1912, shows that New South p Wales still had 31 gaols' to Victoria's 8 18, and- a prison population of .1173 to * Victoria's 707, or at th® rate of 71 pet 100,000 people in New -South Wales to tiO per 100,000 people in Victoria, , It was not the- opponents of Stat# B religious instruction, but its advo<-atm * who first pointed to criiwinn] Statistics * to prove tho 'demoralising effects oi B secular education, l!hre® of the Bible-in-Schools League's speakers in Christ--1 church last year .raised this point, T<: defend the New Xoakiivl system the opponents of State religioiis teaching X (who. arc not (tjipoiients of tho Bihie 0.1 ® of proper, relisiws toachiag) showc 0 that Now Zealand's position was infinitely superior to that of New Soutl] *• Wales. Tha startling victory to the ! j New Zealand system has caused th< '' Bey. \V. Koay, the He*-. R. Woods '* and others to plttttgo into further lodic 0 rott! difficulties siich as tho "closet ,fl gaol" argument, and tho jtmmito dim ? itial. Argument so complete!}* . shot d tored by I'rofessoi* Mackenrie. l ? Wp are now told that a comparison J« • between New {Zealand siui Now Sowtl li; Wales is not a fair one. Let. us tain *" one to which cron tho Rev. Mr, Ilea; 0 ennnut takd exception, The Victoriai •>< Year Book, 1911, Says: "Religion: lt teaching was struck out of tlie enrricti '* liini -in 1873, and many attempts havi been made to find the effect an tin c- coniiinniity as rev-eabd by criminal sta in tislics. This is difficult in a singji :e community, An ,■ approximate ide: lo may, howover, he obtained by compar ins criminal statistics of two cQlivmuiii rif ties during a term of years wlic.ro c»i a t ditions wore very similar except in re |j. saFtl to tho special factor Under eonsitl — «ratioo." The Presbyterian "On! : look/' too, tt» champion of Stats reii

gio-us teaching, says; "Our opponents make an. appeal to criminal statistics. . . . An investigation rf all the facts shows that tli.es criminal statistics areabsolutely against item." Now, lot us see. No two- communities could be more alike than 'Victoria and New South Wales. As regards .climate, productions, wealth, industries, laws, cimeentration of people in. largo seaport cities, they are almost exactly alike. New .South Wales has nearly 1Q pm- eeiit. of its papulation, in towns of 500 .people- j | and over. Nearly the whole- po'p.uk-< r tion is gathered into- tlio eastern half of the State, except in the four centres iof Broken Hill, jourko, Coliat,' and; Denilquin. As regards the convict element. Victoria was part of the State. of New South Wales lor the irrst 11% ; years of.the con-viet system., 'flic exewivicts went in hundreds to Victoria, from Now South .Wales and Tasmania during, tiro great gold rtis-h. Httglics' "History of Australia" sums up, and Says that Victoria was affected every hit as much as Now South Wales by the convict system. Now, as the Victorian Year Book suggests, the great factor of difference, the owe most, significant -for character, is that in Victoria the State has left religions teaehing alone for fifty years, while in New South Wales the. poodle hav<s leaned on the broken rewl of-formal arid mechanical, State-given religious instruction. New, note the ©ifcreMco in. Ctiiiie. I take the figures for the last ten yeaTS available, so that there shall he no picked years. She figures a-W worked out in proportion to every 10,000 fit ■population jii each State. Than wo find that summary, convictions in New South Wate were '50 per cent, mere than in Victoria, drunkenness 53 per cent, more. Supreme Court convictions 60 per emit, more, divorces,BQ per cent, more, mecitin>atc births 23 per cent, more,' ai gaol 4^. per cent. in-oTC, In Victoria, -drunkenness hag decreased in ten years 'by over 23 per cent. In New South Wales drunkenness has . increased by 5 per can't. The 'last year was tuft worst o.n record. Ntiw, we d-o not. say that the Bible o? religion in New South' Wofes is respeiisr iblo for this astonfehing diflterejice> Tho only people' who have made this'blits' piiemous suggestion- at© the BiMe-hi* Schools people,"who declare th-at-tM* • is what the comparison wrt.de by their opponents means.. No. The explanation is that in Victoria, the Churches, ministers> and parentis, face the whole responsibility of. *eligio:us instruction and their superior position in.regard to crime is duo to their zeal and activity, 'In New-So'uft Wales.tiro people loan on the broken reed of formal, mechanical, largely .eom-pttisoTy, Stategiven religious instruction, and '«Me the .children cry for. bread they nr& .given a stone. It is the system of State-given religion that is At fault. Let ■■ran qwote what .'Senior Inspector Holmes of-.'England says ;<$ .such si-called religisus teaching.' Jfolracs is. a. Christi'aii' man-, arid an ; ardent ■ advocate :p.f . religious teaching- or : tlio tight kind, in ■the .pnjper.'way. JJe;'s'ays: 'TMligion is taught on an elaborate syMtt'bOs-wlvid'i ■is imposed oil-tho teacher, by an cxte?-lill'a-ntliorit-y. : . ■•... : Tho_.net result ,of giving' formal: aiid ineetaameai ipstiiictions on. tho greatest of Jill' great rndtters is to depress the spiritual vitality of the children.'of Brig-la-iid to a.point which thfentens the .extinction of the spiritual' life -tif the.- ivatidit." ■- The New South Wales inspector who is selected as spokesman, for'the -others savs' thai; in"- '"ahout" '■ half of : the Schools tire- teachers, give the lessons in a way to produce so'mo. good; result, h'.rt hd slows that to do this they have to do what the New Zealand tiea-gue <say-s , the teachers ntust wot Ad, viz., teach re< , ligioin ■ I'to systotn.offered ta us is . even rtioro formal and .uieGhanical than tlini-etmdem-nDd by -Inspector Holmes. Referring to thoso criminal' statistics ■ it is interesting to note that 'whereas [ Now South Wales shows- a. general tes-- , cess iri crime, in all grades, of. ahoji-t , -50 pot cent, over ■ that, of .Victoria, the [ religions records of the' two countries , show that Victoria, in Church, Suwdaj , sriiool and missionary activity, surpasses L New South Wales in every wax, Ijj i about- 60 per cent. WWeft. of the tw< , systems is best '"fof • morality 5 true re . ligioli, and the' Bible £in. etc., . . . ' JOHN OA'CGSLSt.