RACE BUILDING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 74, 20 December 1917, Page 9

RACE BUILDING

LAST OF THE SERIES OF LECTURES

/"THE STATE"

The last of the series of lectures on Eac_a Building wrb delivered by Dr. Bedford in the I'.iYI.C.A.' rooms last evening, tno subject being_"The State." Mr. J. Caughley, Assistant Director a? liiucation,- presided.

Dr. ljeuiurd said that life was the moat important thing, but unfortunately, the State almost everywhere had ■ given preference to wealth. ■ All 'over the world there was a.decline iri. tho production of. the 'fit, and an increase, in ,tho unfit. The feeble-minded, the until, produced their kind twice as fast as. the fit. In America it was found that the negro population was increasing faster than the white. We were .in danger of heing thrust out .by the niultitudinous people, . the coloured laces. . The feebie-ininded. wore generally tTio . result of social diseases or alcoholic excosses. It was a terrible problem that tho unfit produced its kind more rapidly than the fit. The prosperity of the State depended far more on the character of the people than on the natural resources. The question of manhood .was at the very foundation of the prosperity of the State._ ' Social diseases, and alcoholism diminished the efficiency, the industrial economic efficiency. Only when men were, strong and healthy was it possible for them toi' produce their maximum amount of wealth. He had read, by permission of the Minister of Education, the individual records of many; of the boys of our industrial schools, and he had never read anything more horrifying.' Tho police records 1 Were also terrible. The public did not know the causes, they merely knew the crimes that had been committed. The crimes were tho effect of social disoaso arid alcoholism. Ho was not casting a reflection, for he believed that New ■Zealand was freer and cleaner' than inost other countries. He had studied the question of appicuticcs, and lie had.come to the conclusion that a great many boys were beginning in blind alleys, rather than in trades. Consequently unskilled work-ers-wero getting higher wages than skilled men, and he had known men leave skilled trades to go into unskilled trades. Better citizens were got when' the people were skilled than with the man jumping from one occupation to another. . We must develop a conscience that would make us solicitous for, the welfare of every child. Or the six million children attending the schools in England it was found that one million were! mentally and physically unfit to take advantage of the educational facilities offered. The development of the raco was more important thau the develop-ment-of our mines or our industries.

Dr. Bedford then referred to the effect of social diseases among the belligerents. 110 stated that in Austria there'wore 800)000 men suffering'from social diseases. This menace , was greater, to Germany and Austria than the efforts of Belgium or even of France in the_ war. Ho also preferred to its effect In the British Army, , and urged that wo .could greatly increase our armies^ by stopping the .diseases. Tha organisation that would fight this evil would be doing as much for tlie fighting forces as any organisation working in respect of the war. If social diseases and alcohol were removed the.ro follow an .enormous reduction in the cost of asylums, industrial schools, and gaols. ' ' Tjio burden t&at was going to fall on the lie after the war! We were going to be called to keep a large number of incapacitated soldiers. No one would complain at that, but nevertheless it was a burden, and there would.also ho the dependants of those soldiers, in. addition to the load of maintaining the unfit. Then there was the,tremendous merest/ "of which must bo borne by the fit—by those who worked. The burdqn of living would press upon us'for a great many years to come. ! The cost of social diseases to tho State was tremendous. The problem could not be solved on' the basis of materialism—there must be a publio conscience, a desire on the . part of the people to do what was right, before the problem could be solved. Our nation was great.to-day; it' had been preeminent for a hundred years. He lad a deep-seated conviction that unless wo betrayed the principles committed to us wo would continue tp be great. Immorality, the poisoning of the blood of the nation, had been one cause of national uecline. It was only during the last thirty years that race suicide had been manifested among the British peo-' pie, but this could be ai rested when tho conscience of tho people was aroused., Xct lis not let the star of our ascendancy set. We could not do without pebple—strong, healthy, vigorous men and women. ,

Voteß of 'thanks were accordcd tlio lecturer; Dr. Bedford, and the chairman, Mr. Caughley.