RELIGION AND MORALS. REMARKS BY REV. G. B. MONRO

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 408, 5 October 1889, Page 5

RELIGION AND MORALS. REMARKS BY REV. G. B. MONRO

Auckland, October 1. There was a general feeling at the meeting of the Presbytery this morning that the Rev. Mr Monro, as convener of the Committee appointed to inquire into religion and morals, should give an interim report as to what' was being done by the Committee. The Rev. Mr Sommerville expressed this feeling strongly, as he thought the Church ' should take the lead in this matter, and that Mr Monvo should give them as much information as possible on the matter to strengthen their hands. The Rev. Mr Monro said that he had no report of the Committee to give. The Moderator &aid that Mr Monro might be willing to give his experience generally for the information of the Presbytery. Mr Monro said he was quite willing to do that. What he had done was done privately, and not on behalf of the Committee. He had entered into communication with Inspector Broham and a detective had been placed at his dispo&al to show him ronnd the city. He had been shown books containing the lists of thieves and vagabonds of all kinds which Burprised him. He had gone through all sorts of places, from the lowest to the highest, from the slums to the most respecluDle streets. He had seen girls who were well educated and i intelligent, and daughters of many of our old settlers and citizens, and what pained > him also was the class of men whom ; he met in these houses. He would i give names of these men if he could. But i the greatest danger was from the houses of assignation, where men and women met with impunity. He had not written his 1 letter to the newspapers in favour of the CD. Act, but while that Act ' was in force the police knew of 75 prostitutes, but now there were at least 400, J and he believed that was an under-state- • inent. Then we must consider the number , of men and youths touched by this im- ( morality, and the money spent in it, and in ( the gambling connected with it. It ( was idle to talk of commercial , depression when such an amount of money could be spent in these ways. He had asked his companion what was the ( beginning of many of these girls, and 1 had been told that most of them j began through late hours and . dancing, and tiavelling home with men : than perhaps they had never seen before. ' He knew that there were numerous agents, ; male and female, for the promotion ot ' { vice. Men sent out their wives to live on , crime, and mothers lived on the crimes of , their daughters. Then there was no agency whatever to counteract the criminal agency of all these people. In other places there were Magdalen Asylums, retormatories, ■ and other means of reclaiming these lost . ones, but here there was nothing. The - difficulties in the way of reform, too, were j very great, for unless one had in a way the entree, it was next to impossible ( to get at these females. From con versa- ; tion with a wholesale chemist in the city he learned that the sale of medicine for the cure of disease following \ice had largely increased, and this fact was conclu- , sive proof that the vice itself had increased. Among the causes of the number of young . women being thrown on the town he had al- ; ready mentioned dancing and the conse- ; quont late hours. Another Mas the visits , of men-of-war, which brought a number of i these girls into town. Then the climate, , of course, had something to do ] with it, and perhaps the amount j of flesh consumed by our people, j The lemedies were both legislative and . moral. He had formerly been opposed to , the CD. Act. While ir, was in forco , he had made periodical visits to ; the Lock Hospital, and at first , there were generally twelve or fourteen patients, but that number was giadually reduced to 4 or 5. Now from what he had seen lately he would be in favour of any measure that would lessen the disease. riince the Act had gone ] out of force prostitution had increased awfully, and the police could not interfeie. The age of consent had been raised lately and that was a good measure, but it did not go far enough. Then the sale of such suggestive literature anil pictures as were seen in many of the shops, especially tobacconists', all calculated to suggest evil passions, should be suppressed. Parents and ministers should do all in their power to prevent late hours and promiscuous dancing. There should be a reformatory established for young girls, who could be taken oil the streets and placed there. Then there was great want of a Magdalen Asylumsuch as existed in other places, to receive any of the older girls and women who might wish to reform, but too few of them, he feared, had that wish. Another matter deserved attention. Now, if a girl had any disease consequent on her crime she had nowhere to go for cuie but the Hospital, and there she might be placed next to some pure-minded girl who never knew what such crime meant. That was clearly wrong and there should be some means of isolation. The Lock Hospital only existed while the CD. Act was in force. The Moderator sad that Mr Monro had disclosed a very sad state of affairs and the question of what should be done with the men was quite as important as the treatment ot the women. The Rev. Mr Sommerville said that he thought he had been very wise to draw Mr Monro out. He had done a very sensible thing in making himself acquainted with matters as they stood, and the members of the Presbytery now could speak with fuller knowledge. The Preaby* tery, as Mr Monro was a member of it, should take the lead on this question, and he would move, " That the thanks of the Presbytery be accorded the Key. Mr Monro for his action, and that the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of religion and morals be requested to convene a meeting of ministers of all denominations and others interested to discuss the question fully," The Rev. Mr McCallum seconded Mr Sommerville's motion. He thought great attention should be paid to the matter of dancing and late hours mentioned by Mr Monro. Another matter that deserved attention was the scandal of the employment of barmaids in public house.- 1 . He had letters from Melbourne and Sydney which informed him that a very large percentage of these girls fell away from virtue. Then why should public solicitation be allowed on the streets? It was prohibited on the Continent and strict measures should be taken ,with it here. , , \ The 1 motion was carried unanimously.

The head waiter ab a certain summer hotel was named Topp, and the 'guests noticed that if they wished to have a tiptpp dinner they had to tip Topp. l^arge cotton umbrellas are made ' for using 'at the seaside of in the country. In' contra-distihcfcion to aqknowledgeft oustom they need not all match the owner's dress.