IMMORAL LONDON.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1916, Page 6

IMMORAL LONDON.

A BISHOP'S INDICTMENT London, September 22. i lie demoralisation of our young moil, and particularly army ollicers, by the attractions' which London provides today lias been the subject of a good deal of desultory discussion up to date, it lias Jjeen left to Magistrates to say whit they think in particular case?; and they have spoken out very freelv. But a week or two ago General Sir H. Smith Doirien wrote a letter complaining of the low class performances provided by tiie theatres, performances of a class which he felt certain the men did not da ire.

The Archbishop of Canterbury referred to the subject in his manifesto in connection with tiie National Mission, when he said: "England is fighting a great war for the cause of truth and honor. The greatest victory will not be won if it is our earthly enemies only who are dwiated. Among us at home'the forces of sin and ignorance are mighty." The Bishop of London, who lias spoken out oyer and over again about the immorality of the city, preached in uniform on Wednesday from the open-air pulpit outside St. ,Tames' Church, Piccadilly. Talking of the accounts just published of the great battle on'the Somme. lie said: "My own soul swells with pride at being a Briton; and I may tell you Londoners that no one lias won greater praise at the front than the London man has. 1 have heard it from end to end of tho Army—they all acknowledge that the Londoner has the heart of a lion, f have not eomo out to-day to blacken the character of my fellowcitizens. What I have come oiit to do is to denounce those who are makin ff money in trying to undermine their character. Now, who is the first traitor whom I denounce to-day? It is the male hawks who walk up and down this very Piccadilly night by night, with 20 or 30 helpless and trembling girls under theii surveillance, and who take from them tho very money the girls earn by their shame. lam not a bloodthirsty man, but I say shooting is too good for them I brought in a Bill before the war, and shall bring it in again after the war, which not only raised the age of consent from 1(1 to IS, but would have madt the life of a souteneur, or bully too much of a. hell for him to stay in London.

BAD PLAYS AND PROMENADES. Then, side by side with the male hatric a traitor to his country, should be dealt with the writer of lecherous and sluny plays. He lias the insolence t» trj to make money out of the weaknesses of our boys. I agree absolutly with that great soldier, Sir H. Smith-Dorrien. that our sailors and soldiers do not want these filthy innuendos. But I would like to see effectively dealt with the writer; who have the insolence to think they do, and the managers who hope to make money by the production of their plays. I 1-jiye dealt already publicly with the ilSi'juity of allowing prostitution in the promenades of our great music halls, and I am glad to hear that a leading manager announced that the promenades would c<a*e. Thank God for that! I am one of those who are not content with the wotding of the resolution passed by the L.C.C., that 110 license shall be given where prostitutes habitually use any part of' the premises for the "purposes of nrostitution; but if this moans that we have to prove that: (1) the same postitutes habitually use any nart of th': premises j 01 <2) that prostitution is practised 011 the premises, then this is useless. I suggest as an amendment "thai no part of the premises shall be habitually used by prostitutes resorting thereto for the purpose of solicitation or otherwise exercising their calling." That will do it.

PURIFYING THE PARKS j "lie fourth charge which | desire to sec in the* mora* state of London concerns the public parks and public places at certain times. They are not opened at great expense to be open air brothels at certain times in the evening, for that, bj tlie sixteen pages of evidence which I an handing- the authorities, and which I will not foul your minds by reading, they are rapidly becoming. It is the business of us middle-aged men who are not allowed to tight, and the women of London, to purge" the heart of the Empi'e before the boys come back. If it vs stili to b& the old London, those who have died will have died in vain. But, after all, the moral change required in London goes far deeper than punishing the wrongdoer and making vice more difficult. We. want a change of mind and spirit. First we want a change of mind. There are certain evils which the mind of man lias grown to think inevitable, and one of these fo prostitution. He bolsters up this view with stale arguments about the impossibility of expecting strict morality. He is either openly or tacitly in favor of intro. ducing again the Acts, so dishonoring to women, which are supposed to make vice safe—l refer to the C.iJ. Acts. You would be astonished to' find how widespread are these views, how they permeate into quarters where we would least expect it. Now, the whole of this attitude towards vice is founded on a ser.cs of lies.

MORALITY AND HEALTH | The first lie is that such a metlioc. of compromising with vice attains its. ob|ect. Quite apart from religion tht whole civilised .vorld has discovered that the introduction of the C.I). Acts in creases the spread of the disease, which iilcndy affects 1 0 per cent, of the popnlnt on. The reason is that it leads to a : ;:s<» oMalse security which lures thousands into sin or disease who would otherwise have abstained from it. And the second lie is that it irjures the health to remain strictly moral. Wo pi... lislied at one time and could publish again the opinion of 100 of London's leading surgeons and doctors (o the eon trnry effect. "So one ever was the worse," ihey pay, "for lendinpr a strictly moral life"; the instinct involved is not like the instinct for food or drink; it is ar. instinct implanted for a special purpose, that can be left unused for the whole of your life without fie least injury to health. This is lie No. 2. Lie No, 3 is that it is impossible and too mueli to expect a young man to live a moral life. Non, it is a remarkable tiling that you will never fine a young man himself take that line when he does go wrong. He is always r.shamed of it and really despises the t'derly man who tells him he cannot be txpeeted to keep straight—still more he despises the women who encourage him to be his worst. When we pass from morality to religion this point of view oi the man of the world gi\ es the lie direct to Christianity itself; it is the exact and precise opposite to the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. If He taught anything at all. tie taught a blessing to the pure in feeurt; if He unforced anything, He en-

forced strict clifistity in thought anr". woid and dcwl. But even more than a change of minil we want a change of spwit Wlmt underlies the whole of the lowering of the inM-al standard is the weakening of our faith in God. If there is to be-a moral change in London, London must conn liacl; to (ioi!. Foi the sake of the boys who fight for us, the boys who have died for us, for the sakf of the children, of the future, let us free London from the curse of lust, and sin. ami make, it the ante-charobcr of the city which liaUi foundations whose builder and maker ii God.