SINS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5294, 2 July 1928, Page 1

SINS OF NEW ZEALAND.

REBUKE FROM THE CHURCH. CONCLUSIONS OF PRIMATE. The Primate of New Zealand lias just administered a severe rebuke to It’s countrymen, self-conceit and a dangerous spirit of complacency with our lot in life are, as Dr. Averill sees us, two of the nation’s bes.etting sins. By way of disturbing our moral complacency the Primate told an Auckland audience la's.t week that “if they would look up the New Zealand statistics they would see what a moral place the Dominion was comparatively. It led the work} in lunacy, suicides, prison population, divorces, and illicit first conceptions.” This: Js a very serious indictment, the more serious if the statistics were as grave as the speaker asserted (writes the “Dominion”). One may agree with the Primate that we are apt to preen ourselves, more upon the supremacy of our butter-fat a,nd the prowess of our footballers than upon ou'r spirituality and sense of that “righteousness which exalteth a nation.” A nation obsessed by material ambition, to the neglect bf its spiritual well-being is not headed for social distinction, whatever may be it's success in more worldly enterprises. It may be tempted into that spirit of “getting”’ against which His Excellency warned us in a recent noteworthy address. The Rev. J, J. North, j u endorsing

he Primate’s remarks, declared that

New Zealand was “appallingly conceited.” National conceit, in its. right place and commensurate proportion, may not be a bad thing. It imparts, a certain degree of confidence to a country’s citizenship. It is necessary to our well-being and progress as a nation that we should have confidence in our country and its re'sources. and in ourselves. Up to a point self-esteem is synonymous with self-respect, and this quality, as, most

people will agree, is an essential condition of successful enterprise. Of course, it may be overdone, and' the Primate and certain others think that it has been overdone, to the prejudice of our moral value as the result of

the neglect of the spiritual essentials, At the same time, one hesitates to accept the conclusions affirmed by Dr. Averill concerning our moral condition. He refers, us to statistics, but statistics, especially international statistics. do not always provide a reliable basis for definite assertion. ■

-lis Grace, for example, declares it tin's country is internationally

first in "illicit first conceptions.” Statistics under this head are not available under, any Tecognisedi international system of compilation. Pur-

ler. the methods of compilation

amongst those countries which systematically collate them As not uniform. Information afforded through the courtesy of the Government Statistician. however, shows that the low est percentage of illegitimacy is held by Bulgaria, with 1.17 per cent, of the total births in 1924'; and the highest is Chile, with 34.93 per cent, in 1926. New,Zealand is eleventh on the ascending scale, with 4.97 per cent, in 1927 ; Australia is ninth, with 4-85 per cent. • The divorce rate per 100 marriages. according to the Infest statis,.

tics, places the United States first with 141-2 ; and Switzerland next, wi'tli

7 3 /i. Then come France and New Zealand. with 6 each ; and the Netherlands, Sweden, and Australia, with 4 each per 100. The available suicide statistics are uneven as regards- periodic data, but

they have a ceTta.in. relative proportion. Hungary is highest, with 2.-28

per 10,000. in the period 1918-22. Jamaica is lowest in the scale, with .15 in 1921.25. New Zealand is sixteenth in the ascending scale, witli 1.23 per 10,000, in the 1923-27 period of computation. Periods of national economic stress lra,ve -a strong influence on the suicide irate. It is not easy to obtain reliable lunacy or prison statistics. In the case of

lunacy New Zealand exercises State supervision, with the exception ofone private institution which must render accounts to the Government. Exact figures are therefore available.

But in other countries different systems prevail. The same applies, to th®

prison population. Criminal records are a matter of classification, jarying, in system in different countries. It would seem, therefore, that in the earnestness of his enthusiasm a,nd purpose the Primate has unwittingly exaggerated our condition. At the same time, much of what he said will bear reflection and introspection. We are ap insular community, remote from older and more experienced countries. In certain matters we have attracted the attention of the workll by opr courage and- success in treating domestic problems, but it does not necessarily follow that because we 'have succeeded in some things wo can arrogate to ourselves superior 'ijrs. An occasional cautionary note may. therefore, be a salutary corrective.