Nation's Greatness Lies In the Home And Its Children

Taranaki Daily News, 25 August 1942, Page 2

Nation's Greatness Lies In the Home And Its Children

Warning issued against threat of race suicide. "We must foster a new pride in the possession of children," declared the Rev. E. D. Patchett in addressing the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday. "if I were a statesman in the new era that is dawning I would make every home more secure economically, more sound financially with every additional ehild born into it." Emphasising the importance of the campaign for Christian order, which was the subject of his address, Mr. Patchett said religious training in the home was even more influential than religious training in the school. The real greatness of the nation was still found in the simple goodness that existed in the average home. It was the cement that bound a nation together. All was not well with home life and with the children, he continued. In 1935 3579 offenders under the age of 17 appeared in the children's courts of New Zealand, and in 1939 the number had risen to 5100. Yet those figures took no account of the large number of cases, some very serious, that were investigated at school and never reached the children's court. In 1934 43,578 criminal cases were brought before the magistrate's court, or 29 for every 1000 of population. In 1939 the total was 60,329, or one in every 25 of population. "It is because of facts like these that there is a good case for the churches' appeal in the campaign for Christian order and for a nation-wide religious awakening," Mr. Patchett declared. Race Suicide. If they were going to prove themselves a strong race worthy to survive under the desperate challenge of war and peace, he said, they must people their lands with children of their own stock. They would do that if they built their national life on Christian principles. One of the national sins that could .have its origin only in an irreligious view of life was that of race suicide. They certainly needed to create a better social conscience against artificial limitation of families and criminal abortion and their associated evils. The real wealth of a nation was in its children. All were agreed that the first jpb was to win the war, Mr. Patchett said. But just as they needed to put their house in order materially to win the war, eo did they need to do it morally and 6piritually. It was when the soul of a nation was dedicated to victory that its spirit became invincible. It was Christianity that had inspired men with a passion for freedom, respect for human personality and a desire for social justice. The United Nations pinned their faith to democracy, but the chief ingredients of democracy were found in the Christian faith, and the campaign he was discussing, Mr. Patchett continued, would not weaken the war effort, but, on the contrary, would strengthen national morale. "If, for instance,. you could empty the pubs and fiill the churches you would be driving another nail in Hitler's coffin." He contested the statements of those who received the cause of a new and better world with doubt or hesitation, Mr. W. H. Wood ward, S.M., said after Mr. Patchett had concluded. It seemed to him that there was a general insistence that certain economic and social evils must go. His work as a magistrate .pnabled him. to endorse what had been said about .broken. homes. and, race sui- 1 cide. Without casting reflections on those who genuinely held contfary views about the rearing of children, and without denying that there were some fine characters. among those who had not had religious instruction, Mr. Woodward said that reports on child delinquents showed without doubt that the incidence of crime was far greater among children with no religious instruction than those who had received it. It was no good talking to a pagan about the value of home life, and the only way the minds of children could be made receptive to that teaching was by preparing them first with religious instruction.