MENTAL DEFICIENCY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10688, 7 August 1912, Page 7

MENTAL DEFICIENCY

i _ Both the crinrhvologist and the student of eugenics wii'il have much to ponder over in tho dictum,, now mostly accepted, that "memtal deficiency .stands high among the causes of destitution and crime," says the Melbourne Age. The half-witted manor woman-has always been a recognised factor in .society. The, Simple Simon of the nursery ballad was an exact type. In Ireland they have a loving and ttbvely way of spea-king <of .the Snob people are "innocents." But innocent or not, they are a torriible factor in preventing the evolution of the race. They help very materfolHy to .fill the gaols, reformatories, asylums and hospitals. "They are » drag asnd'a tax on progress," icbtttameo-tibe-Age, and a heavy expense on the taxpayers, ,t ! hough in [England they are only 0.7 per cent of iue people. It is no doubt a wholexs»me' rule. wMoh - forbids J IMf-witted; men aind women to marry and transmit their mental defects to posterity. But the great trouble, will be found in drawing the lane. Clearly a register will .have fco be kept, ,i<t:id the feebleminded will be entered upon it."