THE AUSTRALIAN BOY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 532, 11 January 1913, Page 5

THE AUSTRALIAN BOY.

A NATURAL GAMBLER. RELATION OF SEXES. , By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright Melbourne, Thursday. Before the Science Congress, Dr Adamsdn. headmaster of Wesley College, in his presidential address to the Mental Science section, said that in alertness, self defence, and power of initiative the Australian boy had no superior. His breeding, his nature, and his country made him adventurous and ready to take risks.

"If true Australians were a gambling people," he continued, "one must'remember that this land of flood and flame was, and must be, a breeder of gamblers, or, to be more polite, men who willingly took risks. Readiness of resource was shown in the fact tnat Australians who wandered to make a living abroad almost invariably thaks to the mreciful Australian theory that' no work could degrade men

"The average Australian.-boy was lacking in chivalrous respect for girls of his own age, nor was the boy wholly to blame. There had been taking place a gradual, even a rapid, breaking down of the old formalities in the intercourse of the sexes... The life of the camp and beaches was only symptomatic of the change that had been going on in the social system. "Whichever sex might be at fault later he would say, without fear of effective contradiction, that in adolescence was almost always the girl who commenced casual acquaintanceships made in public places, if not actually accosting the boy, then by what might mildly be termed the look of encouragement. . "Nothing was more officially amazing than the way parents in respectable positions allowed their daughters to roam the streets unchecked, adding scalps to their belts in unwholesome rivalry, seeing who. would "pick up the greatest number of chance acquaintances. Then followed correspondence, almost invariably started by the girl." ! . - t ; Dr Adamson asked was no combination possible to effect a reform which would make girls value: themselves at their worth, so as to recover the lost respect of boyhood, and take their rightful place. Dr Watson did not believe a word of what Dr Adamson said regarding ,the boy and girl question. ' : Dr Mary Booth said that 1 there was very urgent need of the education of girls being entrusted to women teachers, who could understand girls and protect them from dangers and mistakes.