In the first place, a comprehensive syst_Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of Health

so that a register as complete as possible may be made of the cases to

be dealt with.

The English Commission for Inquiring into the Care and Control of the

Feeble-minded, whose report appeared as far back as 1908, laid down the

basic principles of a sound policy in dealing with this question. Their

first principle was that persons who cannot take a part in the struggle

for life owing to mental defect should be afforded by the State such

protection as may be suited to their needs. Their next principle was

that the mental condition of these persons, and neither their poverty

nor their crime, is the real ground of their claim for help from the

State. Their third principle was that if the mentally defective are to

be properly considered and protected as such it is necessary to

ascertain who they are and where they are.

This, of course, is the object of the system of registration to which we

have referred.

Lastly, the English Commission held that the protection of the mentally

defective person, whatever form it takes, should be continued as long as

it is necessary for his good.

These principles appear to us to be quite sound, and we have no

hesitation in adopting them.

_Proposed Eugenic Board._

In regard to the method of compiling the register, some excellent

suggestions were made by Dr. Theodore Grant Gray, Medical Superintendent

of the Nelson Mental Hospital. He proposed, first, that a Government

Department or sub-department should be created to deal with all

feeble-minded and mentally defective persons living outside

institutions. It would deal not only with the feeble-minded, but it

would act the part of a Government "after-care association," in that it

would keep in touch with all persons discharged from mental hospitals.

One of its duties would be to keep a register of all feeble-minded,

epileptic, and mentally defective persons living outside institutional

care. Dr. Gray further suggests that the register should be compiled in

the following manner:--

(1.) It would be a statutory duty of all School Medical

Officers to report to the Department the names of all

feeble-minded or epileptic children in their districts.

(2.) It would be the duty of the District Education Board to

report any child of school age who was not attending school

because of feeble-mindedness or epilepsy.

(3.) It would be the duty of the Superintendent, owner, or

licensee of every hospital, private hospital, industrial

school, or reformatory prison to notify the Department upon

the admission of any person suffering from feeble-mindedness

or epilepsy.

(4.) It would be the duty of the Superintendent of every

mental hospital to notify the name of every person discharged

from a mental hospital.

(5.) It would be the duty of every Judge or Magistrate in all

cases brought before him in which there appears to be mental

enfeeblement or epilepsy to call to his assistance an

alienist, and, if the report is confirmatory, to order such

person's name to be placed upon the register.

N.B.--In the case of sections 1, 2, and 3 the Department would apply to

a Magistrate for an order to register the person concerned. In section 4

the process would be automatic.

* * * * *

The Committee consider the machinery suggested for the purpose of

compilation of the register very suitable, subject to such modifications

as may be found necessary in practice, but have come to the conclusion

that it would be preferable for many reasons to keep cases of this kind,

as far as possible, free from Courts, a large part of whose work

consists in trying persons charged with criminal offences, and to follow

the plan which seems to be working very well in several American

States--namely, to set up a Board of experts to deal with these cases.

The Board, which might be called the Eugenic Board, should be a central

Board associated with a special Department or sub-department, of which

the head should be a man of sufficient personality, energy, and

organizing-power to grapple effectively with this question--first, by

taking the necessary steps to compile a reasonably exhaustive register,

and afterwards, by co-ordination with cognate Departments or by

independent departmental action, to build up the necessary machinery to

provide for the care, segregation, supervision, or treatment of the

class with which his Department is required to deal.

The compilation of the register is a departmental matter, but

legislative authority will be necessary, to provide for compulsory

notification and to prescribe the means. A well qualified departmental

officer should at once be detailed to take this matter in hand and

formulate from the evidence given to the Committee and from other

sources of information the method and means of obtaining complete

registration.

The first step towards the formation of the Board should be the early

selection and appointment of a thoroughly trained and experienced

psychiatrist. Irrespective of the necessity for the employment of such a

man as the scientific member of the proposed Board, the Committee are of

opinion that the Departments of Health, Mental Hospitals, Prisons, and

the Special Schools Branch of the Education Department are at present

suffering from the lack of expert advice in this direction, and that it

is high time the Government had in its service at least one trained

psychological expert, with recourse to the services of other men with

similar training in the four centres.

The Eugenic Board should be vested with power to examine all cases

notified and, after due investigation, to place on the register--

(1.) Such persons as in its judgment come within the

definition in the Mental Deficiency Act of feeble-minded;

(2.) Persons afflicted with epilepsy associated with

automatism or other conditions rendering them especially

liable to dangerous, immoral, or otherwise anti-social

manifestations, and in the case of juvenile epileptics the

mere frequency of fits rendering them unsuitable for

attendance at ordinary schools;

(3.) Moral imbeciles as defined in the English Mental

Deficiency Act; and

(4.) Persons discharged from mental hospitals.

It should be the function of the Board to order or recommend to the

Minister the segregation, supervision, or treatment of the different

classes. Cases receiving adequate care in their homes would not, of

course, be interfered with.

The Eugenic Board, of course, should have power to remove any name from

the register if it is of opinion that there is no longer any need for

registration. There should be the right of appeal to a Judge of the

Supreme Court against the decision of the Board to place a person on the

removal of the name from the register in cases where the Board declines

to do so. These provisions should, it is considered, effectively

safeguard the liberty of the subject.

The machinery necessary to deal adequately with this vital

question--vital in its influence on the purity of our race--must be

somewhat extensive, but use should be made as far as possible of

existing governmental and private agencies and organizations.

The work requires organization, and the first essential is, therefore,

the appointment of an organizing head. Unless such an appointment is

soon made the matter will drift. The heads of the existing Departments

of State under whom such an organization might be placed have already

more business to handle than they can comfortably overtake. Some one

must be selected to specialize on this work and this work alone.

The question naturally arises as to the Department of State to which the

proposed sub-department for the care of the feeble-minded might best be

attached. In the judgment of the Committee the education of

feeble-minded children should be continued by the Education Department,

which has evolved a very successful system and is administering it well.

After everything possible has been done in the matter of education a

large proportion, as they grow up, will be quite unable to hold their

own in the world, and for their own protection and safety, and in the

interests of society, must be cared for in some institution, where they

may be kept usefully occupied in gardening or farming, or in some

handicraft which will serve to keep them in health and help to recoup

the State some part of the cost of their maintenance. It is, of course,

most essential that they should not be allowed to reproduce their kind,

thus further enfeebling and deteriorating the national stock, adding to

the burden of the community and to the sum of human misery and

degradation. "To produce but not to reproduce" sums up the best scheme

of life for these unfortunates.

Looking at all the circumstances of the case, it appears to the

Committee that it would be better if the compilation of the register,

the provision of the farm and industrial colonies, and the after-care of

adult feeble-minded patients coming under Classes V and VI and "moral

imbeciles" were entrusted to a special branch of the Mental Hospitals

Department. It is essential that the feeble-minded shall be kept

separate from the insane, while the feeble-minded themselves, of course,

require careful classification.

It is very important that marriages with registered persons should be

made illegal, and, as a corollary to this, that it should be made an

indictable offence for any person knowingly to have carnal knowledge of

a registered person. It should also be provided that any parent or

guardian who facilitates or negligently allows any registered person to

have carnal intercourse with another person shall be guilty of an

indictable offence.

SECTION 10.--THE QUESTION OF STERILIZATION.

A question which has given the Committee much anxious thought is as to

whether sterilization should be adopted as a method of preventing the

propagation of the feeble-minded. That it would be an effective method

as regards the persons operated on goes without saying. The operation of

vasectomy in the case of males is a very simple one, which may be

performed with the aid of a local anæsthetic, and may be said for all

practical purposes to be unattended by any risk to the patient. In the

case of women a similar operation on the Fallopian tubes, which is known

as salpingectomy, is an abdominal operation and cannot be said to be

entirely free from danger, although it is not regarded as very serious.

Except for the prevention of fertility, the operation does not interfere

with the sexual powers of the patient and has little or no effect on

sexual desires. It has been stated that a process of sterilization by

means of X-rays can be applied to either sex. The only evidence

available, however, shows that this method is still in the experimental

stage, and the Committee, for this reason, cannot recommend it,

especially as there is a danger that it might damage the cells producing

the internal secretions which influence the secondary sexual

characteristics and so injuriously affect the general health and

mentality.

Several States in America have passed laws providing for the

sterilization of persons in State institutions who are--(1) Insane, (2)

feeble-minded, (3) criminalistic.

In some of the States an appeal was made to the Supreme Court, and, the

law being pronounced unconstitutional, no attempt was made to enforce

it. In other States the law has been allowed to become a dead-letter. Up

to the 1st January, 1921, the latest date dealt with by the most

recently published work on the subject, there have been 124 State

institutions legally authorized to perform operations for sterilization,

of which thirty-one have made more or less use of their authority, while

ninety-three have not. The total number of operations performed up to

the date mentioned was 3,233, divided into classes as follows:

Feeble-minded, 403; insane, 2,700; criminalistic, 130. Of this total of

3,233 operations the State of California contributed no less than 2,538,

and in this State a single institution (the State Hospital for the

Insane at Patton) is responsible for no fewer than 1,009 cases. A Bill

introduced in 1924 into the Senate to legalize sterilization of mental

defectives, &c., was rejected.

Dr. H. H. Laughlin, of the Psychological Laboratory of the Municipal

Court of Chicago, has devoted several years to the study of this

question, and has recently published the result of his researches in a

book entitled "Eugenical Sterilization in the United States." He

publishes the texts of all the laws past and present, gives his idea of

a model sterilization law, together with the necessary forms for putting

it into effect. He also deals with the physiological and mental effects

of sexual sterilization. A reviewer of his book, writing in the _Journal

of Heredity_ of October, 1923, states forcibly the case for the

opponents of sterilization. He expresses the opinion that "The release

of sterilized individuals with feeble inhibitions or anti-social

tendencies is the equivalent to the creation of so-many new and virulent

foci of venereal diseases and promiscuity."

Furthermore, the Central Association for Mental Welfare of Great

Britain, which was formed in 1913 to act as a co-ordinating and

representative body on all questions affecting mental defectives and

their relations to the community, not long ago referred the question to

their standing Medical Committee, who gave the considered opinion that

"sterilization at the present time is not a practical proposition."

The Committee of the Central Association being in complete agreement

with this view, the Association decided not to advocate the policy of

sterilization, because they consider that it would have only a limited

influence in preventing the increase of mental deficiency, that it would

be attended with certain harmful results in other directions, and

because its adoption is impracticable. The Association's statement on

this subject goes on to say: "It is very important to remember that

although propagation by defectives is one of the causes of mental

deficiency, nevertheless this is by no means the only social menace

attaching to their presence in the community. If left unguided and

unprotected, their lack of stability and control may lead them to commit

serious crime, such as theft, arson, assault, and even murder. Their

inability to maintain economic independence results in vagrancy and

destitution. Their helplessness in the face of obstacles frequently

brings about their complete collapse at the first rebuff which they have

to meet. The interest of the community can only be adequately protected

by the segregation of a considerable proportion of these persons in

suitable institutions. A sterilized defective would not be any less

liable to these happenings than would one who was unsterilized. A

defective woman, from the fact of her being sterilized and incapable of

bearing children, would be more prone to illicit intercourse, to adopt a

life of prostitution, and to spread venereal disease. It follows that

segregation would still be needed in the case of a very large proportion

of defectives, but, if they are segregated, sterilization is

unnecessary. On the other hand, there can be very little doubt that any

general adoption of sterilization would, in actual practice, lead to the

non-segregation of a large number of defectives who should be under care

and thus to an increase of the foul evils mentioned."

Having thus stated the arguments against sterilization the Committee

must now present the other side of the question.

In the first place, it is evident that, as far as the United States is

concerned, the extension of sterilization of the mentally defective has

received a grave set-back by reason of the declaration of the Supreme

Court of the United States that the laws in certain States permitting

sterilization are unconstitutional. This ruling, of course, does not

apply to New Zealand.

Further, opponents of sterilization ask to be shown its good results;

but obviously the results cannot emerge in one generation or in a

comparatively short space of time, but only in the ultimate lessening of

the proportion of mental defectives in the community by diminishing the

hereditary supply.

There is no doubt also that much confusion exists in the minds of the

public as to the meaning of sterilization and desexualization or

castration. The process of sterilization, as has been shown, involves

only a simple and safe operation and has the sole effect of preventing

reproduction. Sterilization, therefore, should not be loaded with the

objections which apply to the far-reaching effects of castration. The

former, unlike the latter, is not prone to produce harmful effects upon

the mind or morals of the sterilized individual.

The assertion that "sterilization at the present time is not a practical

proposition" is difficult to understand. It is certainly practicable,

and is as likely to be favoured as opposed by public opinion, especially

that section of the public that understands the difference between

simple sterilization and desexualization. As regards the suggestion that

sterilization may lead to new foci of venereal disease, it must be borne

in mind that the unsterilized feeble-minded are already prone to sexual

promiscuity, and there is no evidence that sterilization would increase

this tendency. The opponents of sterilization offer as an alternative

only permanent segregation to prevent the transmission of mental defect.

It is evident, however, that the cost of the segregation of all mental

defectives capable of reproducing other mental defectives would be

exceedingly heavy. The Committee advocates powers of segregation and of

sterilization, these powers to be placed in the hands of the Eugenic

Board, under proper safeguards and the right of appeal.

Sterilization in suitable cases is not a high price to pay for liberty.

There are in our mental hospitals to-day men and women who suffer from

recurrent insanity, who are admitted to the mental hospitals from time

to time and discharged when they are better, and in the intervals

between their admission cohabit with their wives or husbands, as the

case may be, and bring more defective children into the world. If

discretionary power were given to the Board as suggested it should, and

no doubt would, be exercised cautiously and tentatively.

Sterilization gives the patient liberty to do useful work in the

community, is less drastic than segregation for life, and on the whole a

much slighter interference with the rights of the individual, which are

surely subordinate in such cases to the rights of the State.

There are, of course, numbers of mental defectives who can never be

allowed their liberty, and in the case of these the question of

sterilization need not be considered. There are many cases of mentally

defective girls, liberated from institutions in New Zealand for the

purpose of engaging in domestic service or other work, returning

afterwards the mothers of illegitimate children, probably also mentally

defective. Unless such are to be maintained for years as wards of the

State in institutions, should they ever again be allowed their liberty

unless they undergo the operation of sterilization?

This is the question: Can the propagation of mental defect by mental

defectives and the debasing of the race thereby be greatly checked if

not completely prevented? The answer is assuredly, Yes, by segregation

and by sterilization.

The Committee recommends that both methods be placed in the hands of the

Eugenic Board, with powers to discriminate as to which method is the

more suitable for each individual case. The two methods are

complementary, not antagonistic, and suitable safeguards for the liberty

of the subject are provided.

The Committee recommends that the Eugenic Board should be given the

power in suitable cases to make sterilization a condition of release

from any of the institutions under the charge of the Department of

Mental Hospitals or removal of their names from the register on

probation, but that in no case should the operation be performed without

the consent of parents or guardians of the persons concerned.

The Committee consider that the persons so operated upon and liberated

should be released on probation and kept under supervision for a

reasonable period, and that they should be returned to institutional

care if found to be leading an immoral life, or unable to support

themselves, or for any other reason which the Eugenic Board may consider

sufficient.

If the recommendation as to sterilization being authorized under the

conditions specified is adopted, the Committee think it would be

advisable to introduce some provision as in the American Acts, making it

unlawful to perform operations whose object is the prevention of

reproduction in cases not authorized by the Board unless the same shall

be a medical necessity.

SECTION 11.--SEGREGATION.

It will be neither possible nor desirable to segregate all mental

defectives. Feeble-minded children who are receiving adequate care and

training in their own homes will, of course, be left there. When they

reach the age of adolescence the question of their disposal should be

considered by the Board. In many cases the inmates of special schools,

after they have received some training, would do well if returned to

their homes or boarded out in selected foster-homes under supervision.

The real difficulty arises, especially in the case of girls, when the

age of adolescence is reached.

In the opinion of the Committee it is of the utmost importance that

mental defectives should be prevented from reproducing. No person who

has been placed on the register should be allowed to marry until the

Eugenic Board has given its consent by removing the name from the

It is altogether wrong to suppose that there is any unkindness in taking

the feeble-minded, who are unable to battle for themselves, under the

care of the State and preventing them from bringing forth another

generation of defectives. The real unkindness consists in allowing such

unfortunates to be brought into the world.

In school, and still more in the after-struggle for existence, the

feeble-minded find themselves the butts of their fellows, and the

"inferiority complex" thus developed tends to make them sink lower in

the scale both in intellect and morals.

"On the other hand, it is the general experience of those who have had

many years' practical experience with defectives that the majority are

far happier in suitable institutions engaged in congenial occupations,

and having the companionship of their mental equals, than when they are

exposed to the difficulties of an outside world to which they are

incapable of adapting themselves. In many cases, indeed, such freedom

amounts to the infliction of positive cruelty."

This statement is taken from the memorandum of the Central Association

for Mental Welfare of Great Britain, to which reference has already been

made, and this Committee can, from their own observation, endorse the

views thus expressed.

It seems desirable, however, to point out the fallacy of a popular idea

that the world could easily stamp out defectives and degenerates by

merely adopting a vigorous policy of segregation and sterilization. Even

if it were possible by these means to prevent all manifest mental

defectives from reproducing, it cannot be expected that this class will

be thereby eliminated from the population, since mental defectives may

be the offspring of apparently normal stocks, or may be descended from

stock in which only minor manifestations of impaired nervous vitality,

such as instability, eccentricity, &c., have hitherto been evident, and

in a large proportion of cases they are no doubt the progeny of persons

belonging to the higher grade of distinctly degenerate stock--persons

who have not themselves necessarily shown any marked traits of

instability or degeneracy, and to whom therefore sterilization or

segregation would be inapplicable.

SECTION 12.--THE QUESTION OF EXPENSE.

It will probably be objected that the plan for cutting off as far as

possible further additions to the mental defectives of the Dominion will

involve increased expenditure. This is, unfortunately, the case; but

will it not be a much more costly process to allow the present

unrestricted multiplication of these defectives to continue in an

ever-increasing ratio? If they are allowed to multiply, their

unfortunate offspring will have to be provided for in one way or

another--some by means of charitable aid, some in our prisons, some in

our mental hospitals. Take the case of the defective couple, case No. 4,

page 9, themselves in receipt of charitable aid, who have already

produced eleven children, all of whom are being provided for by the

State, while, as the couple are still living together and the woman is

still of child-bearing age, it is quite possible that the total may yet

be increased. This family, it is estimated, will cost the State at least

£16,000. Will any one seriously contend that it would not have been

sound economy if this couple had been taken in the first instance,

placed in separate farm colonies where they would have lived fairly

useful lives, and been prevented from casting such an excessive burden

on the State? We might take each of the cases quoted in an earlier part

of this report, and many others which we have not quoted, and ask the

same question in regard to each. There is no doubt whatever that from

the purely financial point of view it is very much to the interest of

the community that this problem should be taken boldly in hand at once

while the evil is within fairly manageable proportions, instead of

allowing it to grow into an intolerable burden.

Consider the humanitarian aspect. Surely it is a kindly act to give the

protective care of the State to those unfortunate persons who are unable

to hold their own in the struggle for existence, and who, if left to

their own devices, will fall miserably by the way and in many cases

become a menace to society.

Lastly, there is the national question to be considered. Surely it is

important that our stock should be kept as sound and virile as possible,

and that where a process of deterioration has been detected every

attempt should be made to stop it as soon as possible and by every means

in our power.

SECTION 13.--IMMIGRATION.

The Committee feel very strongly that any attempt to check the

multiplication of mental defectives in the Dominion will to a large

extent be labour thrown away if the greatest care is not at the same

time taken to prevent the introduction of feeble-minded and other

undesirable persons from overseas. The distance of New Zealand from

Europe and the cost of the long passage have on the whole had a

selective influence on the character of the immigrants and tended to

keep up the standard of quality. As already mentioned, however, serious

mistakes were made in the "seventies" of last century. Very striking

testimony to this effect is contained in the report of the late Dr.

Macgregor, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Charitable Institutions,

presented in 1888, an extract from which appears in the Appendix of this

report. In the brief space of fifteen years the dire consequences of the

mistakes made in previous immigration without due regard to its quality

had already become apparent, and in the most impressive terms Dr.

Macgregor, who was an exceedingly able and far-sighted public servant,

pointed out that the evil done by the introduction of an undesirable

class of immigrant is never finished.

"The impaired health, low morality, and insanity descend to the

offspring, and are a continued drain upon this community."

The benefit of a well-regulated stream of immigration into this country

is not open to question. A substantial addition to our population is now

more than ever needed if this country is to progress and its resources

are to be developed sufficiently to enable it to bear with ease the

heavy burden imposed on the community by the Great War. The point which

it is desired to emphasize is that constant vigilance is necessary to

keep up the standard of quality of the new-comers in view of the very

natural desire to send off to a new land those who are physically or

mentally unable to maintain themselves in the land of their birth. Such

vigilance, it need hardly be pointed out, is especially necessary at the

present time when the volume of immigration is greatly increased owing

to the condition of affairs in the Mother-country.

As a matter of fact, there seems no doubt that immediately after the

conclusion of the war the system of control and medical inspection was

not so strict as it should have been, especially in the case of the

Imperial Government's overseas settlement scheme for ex-service men and

women. The New Zealand Government, however, sent Home an officer from

the Immigration Department to rectify matters and to provide for a more

thorough examination of assisted immigrants.

Under the system at present in force a special roster of medical

referees has been compiled, and no person is accepted as an assisted

immigrant without a certificate of physical and mental fitness from one

of these doctors. The medical examiner, in the instructions, is

particularly requested "To satisfy himself that the applicant is in

every way a fit subject to pass a thorough medical examination, as

applicants are liable to rejection both at the port of embarkation and

at the port of arrival." Finally, the doctor is required to sign the

following statement: "Having read and made myself conversant with the

instructions contained in Form KA supplied me, I certify that I have

this day examined the above-named, and am of the opinion that ----

is in ---- health and of sound constitution. ---- is not suffering from

any mental or bodily defect which in my opinion would unfit ---- for

earning ---- own living as a ----."

The form provides for a very complete examination, but as regards

certain conditions, especially previous mental diseases, the examiner is

necessarily dependent on the statements of the applicant.

The Committee were informed that New Zealand has now the reputation with

the Imperial authorities of being the hardest and most exacting of all

Dominions regarding the health and physical fitness of immigrants.

The Committee think that, in addition to the precautions already taken,

inquiry should be made, as far as may be possible, into the family and

personal history of assisted immigrants, particularly as to whether they

disclose any cases of insanity, epilepsy or feeble-mindedness, crime, or

dependence on charitable aid.

The Committee are further of opinion that the time has now arrived when

closer supervision should be exercised over those persons who come as

ordinary passengers with the intention of remaining in the Dominion.

The Immigration Restriction Act, 1908, provides that "When any passenger

arriving on board any ship is either lunatic, idiotic, deaf, dumb,

blind, or infirm, and is likely to become a charge upon the public," the

owner, master, or charterer of the ship shall be required to enter into

a bond in the sum of £100 for every such passenger, the person entering

into the bond and his sureties being bound to pay to the Minister all

expenses incurred within the space of five years for the maintenance of

such passenger.

Under the Act the following are made "prohibited immigrants":--

"(_b._) Any idiot or insane person."

"(_c._) Any person suffering from a contagious disease which

is loathsome or dangerous."

"(_d._) Any person the date of whose arrival in New Zealand is

earlier than two years after the termination of any offence

which, if committed in New Zealand, would be punishable by

death, or imprisonment for two years or upwards, not being a

mere political offence, and no pardon having been granted."

By Order in Council tuberculosis is gazetted as a contagious disease

which is dangerous within the meaning of the Act, and syphilis and

leprosy are contagious and loathsome diseases within the meaning of the

Act.

To any one who has seen a medical inspection of passengers arriving in

an overseas vessel it is obvious that any degree of feeble-mindedness

short of manifest imbecility or dementia would be liable to be admitted,

and a good many cases of tuberculosis escape detection. Other countries

are now alive to the importance of greater care being taken to guard

against the admission of these who are likely to lower the mental and

physical standard of the race, and in the opinion of the Committee

stricter precautions should be taken in New Zealand. The smallness of

this country makes it all the more important that it should be occupied

and developed by a selected population, while its attractiveness as a

field of settlement and the limited amount of land available place it in

a position of independence in which it is able to insist on the

maintenance of a high standard of fitness on the part of those desiring

to share in its advantages.

SECTION 14.--SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

The Committee find--

(1.) That the unchecked multiplication of the feeble-minded

and epileptic is leading to a continually growing addition to

the sum of human misery, an ever-increasing burden on the

State, and the serious deterioration of the race.

(2.) That it would be sound economy, as well as in the best

interests of humanity, to deal with the problem at once, even

though it involve a substantial expenditure.

The Committee therefore recommend:

(1.) That to the definitions in the New Zealand Mental

Defectives Act, 1911, there should be added a further

definition--namely, that of "moral imbecile" contained in the

English Act.

(2.) That a special branch of the Mental Hospitals Department

be established to deal with all classes of mental defectives

who are not inmates of mental hospitals, and to act as an

"after-care" Department to look after patients discharged from

mental hospitals.

(3.) That a Eugenic Board be appointed, to include a skilled

psychiatrist, another member of the medical profession, and to

be presided over by a Magistrate as Chairman.

(4.) That the duty of the Department shall be to keep a

complete register of persons coming under the following

definitions in cases where the Eugenic Board has decided that

the patients in their own interests or in the interests of

society should be placed on the register:--

(_a._) Mental defectives who are not inmates of mental

hospitals who in the judgment of the Eugenic Board come within

the definition of "feeble-minded" in section 2, Class V, of

the Mental Defectives Act, 1911.

(_b._) Persons afflicted with epilepsy associated with

automatism or other conditions rendering them especially

liable to dangerous, immoral, or otherwise anti-social

manifestations, and in the case of juvenile epileptics the

mere frequency of fits rendering them unsuitable for

attendance at ordinary schools.

(_c._) Moral imbeciles as defined in the English Mental

Deficiency Act, 1913.

(_d._) Persons discharged from mental hospitals.

(5.) That the care of backward and feeble-minded children, so

long as these remain in an educable stage, shall be the duty,

as at present, of the Education Department.

(6.) That the Education Department obtain the services of

psychological experts with a view to creating a comprehensive

system providing increased facilities for the study of the

individual child in school, for the classification of children

according to their mental capacities, and for the adaptation

of the curriculum to the needs of special children. This may

necessitate the establishment of an increased number of

special classes, an extension of the residential special

schools, and also provision for social readjustment of the

children when required.

(7.) That fuller provision be made in connection with our

Universities and training colleges for the education of

teachers in child psychology and its practical application,

and for their training for service in special classes and

special schools.

(8.) That full use be made of residential special schools for

those cases who fail to benefit by attendance at special

classes, but who are considered capable of training in manual

work or handicrafts. The lower grades of the feeble-minded who

require merely custodial care should, as a general rule, be

excluded from special schools, but where there is any doubt as

to a child's degree of mentality or aptitude for manual

training admission to a special school for a probationary

period should be arranged.

(9.) That the Education Department shall report to the Eugenic

Board those inmates of special schools found incapable of

receiving benefit from further residence in such schools, and

the Eugenic Board shall be empowered to place on the register

such as they consider should be so dealt with.

(10.) In regard to those on the register, the Eugenic Board

shall have the power to order the removal of feeble-minded

persons and moral imbeciles to a farm or industrial colony to

be provided for the care and training of such persons.

(11.) That any person alleged to be feeble-minded, or the

parents or guardians of such person, shall have the right of

appeal to a Judge of the Supreme Court against the placing of

his or her name upon the register, and the parents or

guardians of any person on the register shall have the right

to apply to a Judge of the Supreme Court for the removal of

the name of such person from the register, or for his or her

release from any institution established under the Act.

(12.) The Committee recommend the establishment of farm or

industrial colonies where feeble-minded or delinquent persons

who are custodial cases may be usefully and, as far as

possible, profitably employed, and where they may receive the

care and protection required by their condition.

(13.) In regard to sterilization, the Committee find that the

operation of vasectomy in men can be carried out under local

anæsthesia, and is free from risk. The analogous operation of

salpingectomy in women is an abdominal operation, but the risk

is not considered serious. These operations are effective in

preventing procreation, but do not otherwise interfere with

the sexual powers of the patient. In the case of persons

suffering from recurrent insanity or idiopathic epilepsy,

high-grade morons, and others who in the interests of

themselves and of society ought not to be allowed to

reproduce, but who do not for other reasons require custodial

care, it is desirable that the operation of sterilization

should be considered by the Eugenic Board.

(14.) The Committee recommends that the Eugenic Board should

be given the power in suitable cases to make sterilization a

condition of release from any of the institutions under the

charge of the Department of Mental Hospitals, or removal of

their names from the register on probation, but that in no

case should the operation be performed without the consent of

parents or guardians of the persons concerned.

(15.) The Committee consider that the persons so operated upon

and liberated should be released on probation and kept under

supervision for a reasonable period, and that they should be

returned to institutional care if found to be leading an

immoral life, or unable to support themselves, or for any

other reason which the Eugenic Board may consider sufficient.

(16.) The Committee consider that marriage with any registered

person should be made illegal, and that it should be an

indictable offence for any person to have carnal knowledge of

any registered person. It should also be provided that any

parent or guardian who facilitates or negligently allows any

registered person to have carnal knowledge of another person

shall be guilty of an indictable offence.

(17.) In view of the fact that feeble-minded persons and

others likely to become a burden on the community have in the

past been introduced from overseas, the Committee recommend

that, in addition to the precautions already taken in regard

to assisted immigrants, inquiry should be made into the family

history, especially as to whether it discloses any cases of

insanity, epilepsy, or feeble-mindedness, and that applicants

unable to produce satisfactory evidence on this point should

be excluded. The Committee are further of the opinion that

closer supervision should be exercised over persons who come

as ordinary passengers with the intention of remaining in the

Dominion.

PART III.--SEXUAL OFFENDERS.

SECTION 1.--SCOPE AND ORIGIN OF THE INQUIRY.

The second section of the order of reference requires the Committee "To

inquire and report as to the necessity for the care and treatment of

mental degenerates and persons charged with sexual offences, and to

recommend forms of treatment for the various types of cases."

The Committee's finding and recommendation in regard to the "care and

treatment of mental degenerates" who have not been charged with criminal

offences are embodied in the first part of this report.

The origin of the inquiry, in so far as it concerns the care and

treatment of mental degenerates and sexual offenders who appear before

the Courts, is to be found in the resolution of the Prisons Board first

appearing in their annual report for the year 1920 and repeated in their

reports for 1921 and 1922.

The resolution is as follows:--

"Whereas an increasing number of sexual offences has been the subject of

frequent and serious judicial comment, especially in cases where young

children were the victims, or the very serious nature of the charge

connoted a perversion dangerous to the moral well-being of society; and,

as the experience of the Board in dealing with prisoners of this class

accords, as far as it goes, with the now generally accepted opinion

that, with certain exceptions, persons committing unnatural offences

labour under physical disease or disability, or mental deficiency or

disorder, or both, which accounts for the sexual perversion and the

morbid character of the offence charged: It is resolved by the Prisons

Board strongly to recommend to the Government an amendment of the Crimes

Act under which such offenders could be dealt with scientifically--

"(1.) Before sentence is pronounced, by furnishing expert

medical or surgical reports or evidence:

"(2.) By sanctioning an indeterminate sentence:

"(3.) By segregating persons so sentenced and subjecting them,

under proper safeguards, to any medical or surgical treatment

which may be deemed necessary or expedient either for their

own good or in the public interest."

The repeated occurrence of gross offences of the character described by

the Prisons Board, both before and since the Committee commenced its

sittings, has focussed public attention more strongly upon the

necessity for immediate action in regard to the more adequate treatment

of this class of degenerate than upon the much larger and relatively

more important class of mental defective covered by the first section of

the order of reference.

The bulk of the evidence heard by the Committee and practically the

whole of the information obtained from various sources bore more

particularly upon the question of the care and prevention of the

propagation of the mentally defective part of the population coming

under the general designation of "feeble-minded." While, however, the

evidence obtained regarding the prevalence of sex offences and the care

and treatment of the offenders was not great in volume, it was eminently

practical in character. Apart from this, the flagrant cases reported in

the daily Press during the past few months in connection with the

Supreme Court Sessions in the various centres offer sufficient proof of

the necessity for some drastic amendment of the law on the lines

suggested by the Prisons Board.

SECTION 2.--SERIOUSNESS OF THE EVIL.

That the order for an inquiry into this question was by no means

premature was made apparent to the Committee by the presentation at its

first sitting of a return furnished by the Prisons Department, which

appears in the Appendix to this report, page 30, showing the number of

sexual offenders of the various classes who were actually serving

sentences on the 10th May, 1924. The total number of the sexual

offenders in the prisons of the Dominion on that date was 185. This

number represented 17.273 per cent. of all the prisoners then in

custody. Unfortunately, this percentage has since been increased by

recent commitments of cases of the most serious types.

A return compiled by the Government Statistician (Mr. Malcolm Fraser)

shows that during the five years, 1919-1923, there were 331 persons

sentenced in the Supreme Court for sexual offences as follows: Rape, 5;

attempted rape, 19; indecent assault on a female, 150; indecent assault

on a male, 50; unlawful carnal knowledge, 49; attempted unlawful carnal

knowledge, 18; incest, 17; unnatural offence, 23: total, 331.

SECTION 3.--TYPES OF OFFENCES.

It is obvious that included under the heading of sexual offences are

cases which vary so greatly in their gravity and in their very nature as

to have little in common. There is a great gulf between the lad

convicted of unlawful carnal knowledge with a girl who is under the

legal age of consent, but who in some instances may even be the actual

instigator of the offence, and the miscreant who tampers with little

girls of tender years, or sets himself deliberately to corrupt boys. It

was this class which the Prisons Board had in mind when it passed the

resolution quoted, and no doubt it is the class which the Committee's

order of reference is intended to cover.

This class of offence is held in so much detestation by normal persons

possessing ordinary healthy natural instincts that they find it

impossible to consider the question from a judicial and coldly

scientific point of view. It is evident, however, that this must be done

if we are to entertain any hope of finding and applying an effective

remedy to this cancer in the social organism. The evidence given before

the Committee leads them to the belief that the evil is much more

prevalent than is generally supposed--that the cases which come before

the Court constitute only a percentage of those which actually occur.

The ignorance of the general public in regard to these matters

occasionally leads to an unjust attitude of mind towards some of the

offenders brought before the Courts. Take the case of an old man charged

with "exhibitionism." To the normal mind this seems a particularly

disgusting proceeding, and the offender's age is regarded as an

aggravation. The explanation is that the higher nerve-cells of the old

man are degenerating, that he may be thus unable effectively to control

his morbid sexual impulses, particularly if stimulated by an enlarged

prostate. Such a person is a subject for pity rather than punishment; he

must be restrained from annoying others by his offensive behaviour, but

it is really a case for medical treatment.

Another class to be considered is the confirmed homosexualist. There are

well-known examples of men eminent in the arts and literature given to

this unnatural practice, and of the offenders who come before the Courts

only a small proportion can be described as feeble-minded. The practice

is not confined to the male sex, although for reasons which will be

apparent it is only males who come before the Courts charged with this

specific offence. Many parents are unaware that girls as well as boys

may contract bad habits and fall into sexual abnormalities, but it is a

fact which they ought to know in order that the danger may be guarded

against.

Mr. Hawkins, Inspector of Prisons, whose experience extending over forty

years in charge of prisoners in New Zealand makes his opinion of great

weight, says there are two types of sexual offenders to be found in our

prisons: First, there are those who yielded to sudden temptation,

assaulted women or young female children, sometimes under circumstances

exhibiting extreme brutality. In the majority of these cases, he says,

the offenders are curable under a proper system of treatment, and it is

seldom that they again offend. He goes on to say: "The real sexual

pervert, however, who is continually tampering with young children is

different, as is also the case when young boys are the victims. The

worst pervert of all is the one who flagrantly offers himself for the

purposes of sodomy. Strange as it may seem, there are quite a number of

such degenerates in our prisons to-day; middle-aged and elderly men

being the chief offenders of this class. In my opinion segregation for

life is the only course, and my years of experience among such a class

have convinced me of this, their case being absolutely hopeless when

this stage has been reached, and no cure is possible in such cases."

This pessimistic view, unfortunately, is fully confirmed by the records

of cases examined by the Committee. Long terms of imprisonment, though

combined with the lash, have proved quite ineffective as a deterrent,

even to the individual concerned. In some cases the offender within a

short time after his release has been detected in the same practices and

rearrested. Still less does such a punishment act as a deterrent to

other addicts, if for no other reason than that each individual

cherishes the conviction that he will not be found out.

Records of a number of illustrative cases are set out in the Appendix,

pages 31-33.

SECTION 4.--SUGGESTED REMEDIES.

As regards the infliction of corporal punishment which is often

advocated, Dr. Murray, Medical Officer to the Mount Eden Prison at

Auckland, who has had a good deal of experience with sexual offenders,

said he had seen a good many flogged, and he did not think it had any

effect as a deterrent. He added, "Nothing will deter men once they have

taken on that line. I think you will find in some cases where a person

has been addicted to those practices before marriage he will drift again

into the same course after a certain number of years. It seems a

perversion they have no control over, and after a certain number of

years it masters them."

The general opinion of those who have been in touch with this problem

for many years is well expressed in the following extract from a very

valuable report furnished to the Committee by Dr. F. S. Hay,

Inspector-General of Mental Hospitals, on the different questions coming

within the scope of the inquiry:--

"As a member of the Prisons Board I have had the matter of the sexual

offender brought under my notice and have come to some very definite

conclusions.

"I think that he should be brought to trial in the ordinary way, with

perhaps suppression of publication of names of the offender and victim.

If found guilty, he should be given an indeterminate sentence, and be

removed to a farm reformatory prison, where he would be brought under

skilled medical and lay observation, and his case studied in respect

to--_Mentality_, when if afterwards it is decided that he is mentally

defective or deficient in terms of the Act he can be transferred to the

proper institution; _physical condition_, when if there is any disorder

it can be remedied. If the disorder is causative (_e.g._, prostatic in

the elderly) and surgical or medical interference is necessary, it will

be carried out and its results carefully watched and reported on.

"At present the sentences vary from, say, a year to ten years or more,

the seriousness of the case being one determining factor; but often

similar cases have years of difference in their sentences, and at the

end of the sentence they once more enter the world, and a fair

proportion repeat the offence. The people in the reformatory prisons

can, with experience of a case lasting over some years, foretell the

failure fairly accurately.

"The degree of sexual perversion being measured by the amount of

interference with children, which accounts for the measure of the

sentence, means no essential difference in the intent or in the

likelihood of repetition, and therefore scientifically the sentences

should be equal. I suggest that they should be made equal by being made

indeterminate.

"Those of whom the Medical Officer cannot report favourably would

continue on. They could be given a right of revision. Those of whom he

can report very favourably could be released on probation, and so on.

The essential feature is that no hurried diagnosis is made before trial,

but diagnosis and prognosis are arrived at after months and maybe years

of close observation and by a staff gaining experience daily."

_Sterilization and Desexualization._

The increase of sexual offences during recent years and the disgust felt

by all normally disposed people when contemplating cases of sexual

perversion and assault upon young children have created a strong public

opinion in favour of dealing with these offences as radically as

circumstances will permit.

Demands are constantly made that the offenders should undergo "a

surgical operation," which is intended to imply either castration or

simple sterilization.

The British Medical Association, at their annual Conference held in

Auckland in April, 1924, resolved that the following motion be adopted

by the Council: "That this Conference can make no recommendation for

surgical desexualization in the treatment of the adult sex pervert. The

only safeguard for young children in this matter is the permanent

segregation of the offender, either in prisons or in farm colonies. The

Conference emphasizes the importance of the sterilization of the chronic

mentally or morally unfit that a future generation may benefit thereby."

The Committee therefore considers it necessary to set out as clearly as

may be possible the result of such operations and its deductions from

the evidence taken and authorities consulted as to the probability of

the achievement of the result desired.

To consider in the first place the operation of simple sterilization

(vasectomy or salpingectomy). It is quite clear that this operation,

when properly carried out, prevents procreation by the individual

operated upon. Although the knowledge of the loss of this power may

modify the views of life held by the individual the operation _per se_

does not affect his physical or mental health. This would be

anticipated, as the production of the internal secretion of the sexual

glands in either sex (ovaries or testes) continues.

Sexual desire and capacity for coitus are not usually appreciably

impaired by this operation, and it clearly could not be expected to

restrain the sexual offender from the pursuit of his perverted modes of

gratification. As, however, it appears that in a proportion of cases of

sexual perversion the tendency is an hereditary one, these operations

would, as in the case of the feeble-minded, tend to restrict the number

of individuals in the community afflicted in this manner. The Committee

would therefore recommend that simple sterilization be considered by the

Eugenic Board in relation to sexual perverts.

_Castration (Desexualization)._

The operation of desexualization implies the removal of the sexual

glands (ovaries or testes), and involves other considerations than the

operation of simple sterilization.

The loss of the internal secretion of these glands may produce physical

and mental changes in the individual. These effects vary greatly in

degree according to the age at which the operation is performed.

The earlier it is done the more decided the result. If performed _before

puberty_ the secondary sexual characteristics fail to develop. The voice

does not change in the male; the development of hair is more sparse; the

general physical development is less masculine; and mentally the

individual is less aggressive. Most pertinent of all as bearing upon the

question under review, sexual desire and capacity do not develop, either

at all, or at any rate, not to the same degree as in a normal

individual. This result, however, is not constant, and depends

principally upon the age at which the operation is performed.

_After puberty_ the operation is very much less effective. The secondary

sexual characteristics have been already established and persist. It

occasionally occurs that certain mental effects are produced. In women

these resemble, generally speaking, those occurring at the climacteric.

In both sexes, however, mental disturbances may occasionally arise.

The immediate effect upon sexual desire and capacity is slight. It would

appear, however, from the small amount of evidence available on this

point that the tendency is to a gradual diminution of sexual desire,

possibly even to disappearance after some years.

As it is generally after puberty that sexual perversion becomes

manifest, it is clear that much cannot be expected from this operation.

The problematic result and the extent of the mutilation restrain the

Committee from any suggestion that such an operation should be made

compulsory.

The Committee feel that the information at present available in regard

to sterilization or desexualization of sexual offenders is quite

inadequate to permit of a sound and final judgment as to the value of

the procedure. They recommend, therefore, that the whole question be

remitted for careful investigation to the Eugenic Board which it is

proposed should be set up.

SECTION 5.--SCIENTIFIC TREATMENT AND SEGREGATION WITH INDETERMINATE

SENTENCE.

After very careful consideration the Committee have come to the

conclusion that it is most desirable, in continuation of the system of

prison reform which has been inaugurated with so much success in this

country, that every person charged with a serious sexual offence should

be carefully examined by a medical man and skilled psychiatrist before

his trial, and evidence given to the Court of any physical or mental

defect having a bearing on the case.

In the judgment of the Committee, the best way of dealing with persons

guilty of sexual crimes is by means of the indeterminate sentence. Each

case should be examined by a psychiatrist as well as by the Prison

Medical Officer, and the length of the period of detention should be

determined by the Prisons Board after looking into the nature of the

offence and considering the report of the psychologist and evidence as

to the conduct of the prisoner while under detention. In cases of the

worst type the indeterminate sentence would doubtless resolve itself

into detention for life.

At all costs the women and children of the community must be protected

against this class of offender. The evidence of Mr. Hawkins as to this

class is emphatic and very much to the point:--

"Personally I have never yet seen a complete cure in the case of a real

sexual pervert. Years of imprisonment, to my own personal knowledge,

have failed to do any good whatever. Treat them kindly, give them useful

work, and make their lives as pleasant as possible, but never let them

loose on society again. Even if this were done, the trouble with such

individuals is by no means ended, as if it is intended to prevent them

following their beastly tendencies constant unremitting supervision will

be necessary. The average citizen has not the slightest conception of

the utter depths of depravity to which a confirmed male sexual pervert

will descend. Instances of such depravity have occurred to my knowledge.

Many of the men referred to are not fit to live, but it must be

remembered that in many instances the evil tendencies have been

inherited, while in others environment has played a prominent part."

The information placed before the Committee, which is summarized in the

foregoing paragraphs, leads to the conclusion that the requirements of

the position are fairly well covered by the terms of the Prisons Board's

resolution.

SECTION 6.--SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS.

The Committee recommend,--

(1.) That the Crimes Act be amended to provide for the passing

of an indeterminate sentence upon persons convicted of sexual

offences. The Courts to be given full discretion as to whether

the sentence shall be definite or indeterminate.

(2.) That the Prisons Board be vested with the same power of

recommendation for the release on probation or final discharge

of prisoners under an indeterminate sentence as they have now

in regard to all other prisoners.

(3.) That a psychiatrist be appointed to advise the Prisons

Department as to the classification and treatment, and that he

be available to the Courts for the examination, before

sentence, of sexual offenders, or of offenders who are thought

to be irresponsible on account of mental defect.

(4.) That the Prisons Board be advised by the Eugenic Board in

regard to the release on probation or final discharge of all

sexual offenders or feeble-minded offenders coming under its

jurisdiction.

(5.) The Committee feel that the information at present

available in regard to sterilization or desexualization of

sexual offenders is quite inadequate to permit of a sound and

final judgment as to the value of the procedure. They

recommend, therefore, that the whole question be remitted for

careful investigation to the Eugenic Board which it is

proposed should be set up.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

It goes without saying that the work of the Committee in pursuing their

investigations has been of a very painful and depressing character. We

need not refer to the depth of human degradation and the revolting

pathological details which had to be explored in dealing with the second

order of reference, beyond saying that the witnesses who faced the

unpleasant task of giving evidence deserve the thanks of the public for

discharging what they evidently felt to be a public duty. In the inquiry

into the problem of the feeble-minded the most saddening experience of

the Committee was the sight of so many children deprived of their full

share of the light of reason, often maimed and stunted in body as well

as in intellect. The sight was made sadder still by the reflection that

unless prompt and effective action is taken the multiplication of these

degenerates will increase and the race will steadily deteriorate.

Professor William MacDougall, the noted psychologist of Harvard

University, speaking at Toronto recently in reference to the disregard

of eugenic methods in America in maintaining and improving the national

stock, said: "As I watch the American people speeding daily with

invincible optimism down the path that leads to destruction I seem to be

watching one of the greatest tragedies of history."

New Zealand is a young country already exhibiting some of the weaknesses

of much older nations, but it is now at the stage where, if its people

are wise, they may escape the worst evils of the Old World. It has

rightly been decided that this should be not only a "white man's

country," but as completely British as possible. We ought to make every

effort to keep the stock sturdy and strong, as well as racially pure.

The pioneers were for the most part an ideal stock for a new offshoot of

the Mother-country. The Great War revealed that from their loins have

sprung some of the finest men the world has ever seen, not only in

physical strength, but in character and spirit. It also revealed that an

inferior strain had crept in and that New Zealand was already getting

its share of weaklings. Surely our aim should be to prevent, as far as

possible, the multiplication of the latter type, and to increase the

elements of the mental, moral, and physical strength of the nation. In

these beautiful and richly dowered islands we have a noble heritage--to

be in keeping and to ensure the full development of their resources and

enjoyment of their blessings the inhabitants should be of the highest

type obtainable by human effort.

This is the lesson which has been impressed upon the minds of the

Committee during their investigations, and they have been sustained in

their saddening experience by the hope that this lesson will be taken to

heart by both the Parliament and the people of the Dominion.

W. H. TRIGGS, Chairman.

D. MCGAVIN.

F. TRUBY KING.

J. S. ELLIOTT.

ADA G. PATERSON.

CHAS. E. MATTHEWS.

J. BECK.

J. W. BUCHANAN, Secretary.

APPENDIX.

PAST MISTAKES IN IMMIGRATION.

EXTRACT FROM REPORT ON HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS OF THE

COLONY, 1888, BY THE LATE DR. MACGREGOR, INSPECTOR-GENERAL.

Many causes have conspired in our history as a colony to intensify the

good-nature of our people--at any rate, so far as extravagance in

vicarious charity is concerned. Our sensitiveness to suffering has been

greatly stimulated by the comparative absence from our towns of those

sights of misery and squalor that deaden the feelings by familiarity;

and the lavish life we have led since 1870 has made us free-handed to

the poor and impatient of the trouble required to find out whether our

charity was wisely or mischievously given.

During our years of plenty, when borrowed money was being largely spent,

and the prices of wool, &c., were high, I was in charge of the Dunedin

Asylum, and remember with what forebodings I regarded the quality of the

immigrants that were being poured into the country after the despatch of

instructions in October, 1873, to the Agent-General "To grant free

passages, and also, if necessary, advance expenses to port of

embarkation and outfit."

Twenty thousand immigrants were, if possible, to be sent out in six

months. With wonderful rapidity the results became apparent. From all

parts came reports of the evil quality of the immigrants. The

Immigration Minister, writing to the Agent-General in June, 1874, says:

"I have already called your attention to the fact that the shipment by

the ... included a number of girls out of the Cork Workhouse, and I took

the opportunity of remarking on the very undesirable character of such

immigration. A perusal of the report of the Immigration Officer at

Dunedin will, I think, convince you how very disastrous it is likely to

prove to the cause of immigration if such modes of selection as those

adopted by Mrs. ---- (who was paid per emigrant) are under any

circumstances permitted. The result in the colony of the landing and

distribution of such women as these complained of, and of such

immigrants as the "young men" whom Mr. Allen states he has ascertained

to be professed thieves, and one of them a ticket-of-leave man, is

naturally a feeling of indignation and dismay."

No doubt this was an extreme case, but, nevertheless, it is plain that,

what with the great influx of a low class of navvies during the height

of our public works, and the vicious and degenerate people, of whom so

many were introduced at this time, the average of our population in

point of quality was considerably deteriorated. My experience as Medical

Officer of our largest asylum for so many years has convinced me that

the ultimate cost of this degraded class of people to this country is

enormous. For instance, here is an account of two families and their

asylum history:--

+--------+-------------------------------+---------------+-------------+

+--------+-------------------------------+---------------+-------------+

| | | £ s. d.| £ s. d.|

|I | A.B. (brothers) | 80 2 0 | |

|II | C.B. | 274 4 0 | |

|III | D.B. | 230 2 0 | |

|IV | E.B. | 8 2 0 | |

|V | F.B. | 8 2 0 | |

| | |---------------+ 600 12 0 |

|I | A.C., wife | 472 2 0 | |

|II | B.C., husband of A.C. | 418 0 0 | |

|III | D.C., daughter of A.C. | 834 2 0 | |

|IV | E.C., " | 1,318 2 0 | |

|V | F.C., illegitimate daughter | 169 8 0 | |

|VI | G.C., husband of F.C., but no | 5 2 0 | |

| | |---------------+ 3,216 16 0 |

| | | |-------------|

| | | |£3,817 8 0 |

+--------+-------------------------------+---------------+-------------+

Such people and their offspring are at this moment a fruitful source of

those idle and useless persons who bring discredit on the cause of that

portion of our people who cannot find employment. They fill our gaols,

our hospitals, and our asylums, and, like a swarm of low parasitical

organisms, they have, to an extent that is almost incredible, absorbed

the outdoor relief that was meant for the self-supporting and struggling

poor. I am sure that by far the largest proportion of the aid that has

been so abundantly distributed by the various charitable agencies,

especially in our large towns, has been spent in supporting a great many

idle and vicious persons whose example has had the most pernicious

effect in pauperizing the people. It should never be forgotten that the

evil caused by the introduction of this class is never finished. The

impaired health, low morality, and insanity descend to the offspring,

and are a continual drain upon the community.

THE HEALTH OF SCHOOL-CHILDREN.

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF SCHOOL

HYGIENE, 1924.

The fundamental necessities of healthy growth are simple, and it is

doubtful if there is any country in the world to-day where they are more

universally procurable. Fresh air, sunlight, food of the right type and

amount, adequate sleep and rest, wholesome exercise, are available for

all but that small section of the people already mentioned. Sir

Frederick Mott, in an address recently published in the _British Medical

Journal_, quotes Voltaire: "Regime in diet is better than medicine. Eat

moderately what you know by experience you can digest, for that which

you can digest only is good for the body. What is the medicine that

makes you digest? Exercise. What will repair your energy? Sleep."

To this text he adds the benefits of sunlight and pure air.

Reports from School Medical Officers continue to record that tea, white

bread, and meat play the chief part in the dietary of many homes. Fresh

fruit and vegetables, even in rural areas, are not eaten sufficiently.

Frequent eating between meals takes away appetite and retards digestion.

Many children bring to school substantial "play-lunches" to be consumed

at the mid-morning interval. Others consume large quantities of sweets.

Healthy hunger they rarely know. A noteworthy fact is that in New

Zealand the consumption of sugar per head per annum is 117 lb., as

against rather more than half that quantity in Britain and much less in

other countries. Apart from its directly deleterious influence on the

teeth, the alteration of food values in the dietary necessitated by the

inclusion of so much sugar results in digestive troubles and disturbed

nutrition. In this country, with its many sources of supply, eggs, milk,

cheese, butter, fresh fruit, and vegetables should be available in

sufficient abundance and at low-enough prices to displace to a greater

extent the meat that is such a prominent article of diet in many

households.

The value of rest, both physical and mental, for children is not

adequately recognized. In the country many children work early and late

at farm-work, as milking, &c., and in the city children earn money as

newsboys, message-boys, &c. Where the family exchequer needs to be

augmented in this way excuse must be made, but in many comfortable homes

children do not rest sufficiently. Mr. Cyril Burt, psychologist for the

London City Council, was recently reported as deploring the tendency in

modern education to attach undue value to the dramatic and theatrical.

Children who possess talent are made to drag it prematurely into the

light of publicity. They are over-trained and over-stimulated. Nearly

all children are taught to regard frequent amusement as essential to

happiness. To leave them to develop their own resources and allow them

to find interest in simple and natural things would be to extend widely

their chance of future happiness.

It is the wrongly fed, insufficiently rested child that most readily

develops physical deformity. The fatigued nervous system is expressed in

general bodily slackness. There is deficient muscular and ligamentous

tone. The typical faulty posture is thus acquired, with drooping head,

flat chest, wing shoulders, prominent abdomen. Vitality is depressed and

the bodily mechanism out of gear. The grosser bony deformities so often

found in older lands associated with rickets are rarely seen in New

Zealand, but less evident manifestations of faulty diet and regime are

frequent. It is fortunate that in this country we cannot altogether

escape, however we seek our pleasures in stuffy rooms or dark,

ill-ventilated places of entertainment, those powerful and beneficial

agents for promoting healthy growth--sunlight and fresh air. For the

prevention of defect it is essential that the classroom should offer

hygienic conditions--_e.g._, good lighting and ventilation, suitable

furniture, &c. Another contributory factor in poor physical development

is the use of incorrect clothing and footwear. It is a common thing to

find from six to eight layers of tight garments constricting the chest

even in a child whose legs are scantily protected from cold. Shoes which

are too tight or too short, or which have heels so high as to prevent

correct body-balance, are very harmful. Clothing should offer adequate

protection, but should not prevent the most absolute freedom of

movement.

SEXUAL OFFENDERS IN NEW ZEALAND.

The Prisons Department has furnished the following return of

sexual offenders serving sentences in New Zealand prisons in 1924:

The total number of sexual offenders, 192; the total number of

sexual offenders born in New Zealand, 126; the total number of

sexual offenders born out of New Zealand, 66; the total number of

persons in the prisons serving sentences exceeding three months,

980; the total number of New-Zealand-born prisoners, 673;

proportion of sexual offenders--New-Zealand-born to total number

of New-Zealand-born criminals, 18.722; total number of prisoners

born outside New Zealand, 307; proportion of sexual offenders born

outside New Zealand to prisoners born outside New Zealand, 21.498.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF SEXUAL OFFENDERS SENTENCED UNDER THE

RESPECTIVE HEADINGS IN NEW ZEALAND PRISONS AS ON 31ST AUGUST, 1924.

Carnal Knowledge and Attempted Carnal Knowledge. 30

Indecent Assault. 106

Indecent Act. 3

Indecent Exposure. 9

Incest and Attempted Incest. 18

Sodomy and Attempted Sodomy. 23

Rape and Attempted Rape. 19

Manslaughter. 1[A]

TOTAL 209[B]

[Footnote A: Victim an old lady, aged 71, who died as the

result of a struggle, in which prisoner committed rape upon

her.]

[Footnote B: Number includes 17 prisoners who appear under

more than one of the above headings, therefore the actual

number of individual offenders total 192.]

Number of sentenced prisoners (exceeding three months) in custody on the

31st August, 1924, was 980, therefore sexual offenders (192 individuals)

represent 19.592 per cent. of the sentenced prison population serving

periods exceeding three months.

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE AND ATTEMPTED CARNAL KNOWLEDGE.

____________________________________________________________

+---------+-------+---------+--------------+---------+-------+

| 28 | 13 | 43 |Several young | 34 | 14 |

| 18 | 7 | | children | 22 | 15 |

| 18 | 7 | 52 | 14 | 30 | 9 |

| 34 | 15-5/6| 23 | 14 | 35 | 15 |

| 72 | 13-1/2| 25 | 9 | 27 | 12 |

| 21 | 8 | 44 | 6 | 28 | 9 |

| 29 |15-7/10| 37 | 15 | 37 | 14 |

| 29 | 13 | 29 | 15 | 35 | 3 |

| 40 | 14-1/2| 44 | 13 | 17 | 12 |

| 27 | 8 | 31 | 15 | 43 | 15 |

| 23 | 15 | | | | |

+---------+-------+---------+--------------+---------+-------+

SOME ILLUSTRATIVE HISTORIES.

CASE NO. 1.

____________________________________________________

|Number of |Age of | |

|Successive |Offender | |

|Convictions.|when | Offence. |

| |offence | |

| |committed.| |

+------------+----------+----------------------------+

|A. 1 | 19 |Indecent assault on a male |

| 2 | 23 |Idle and disorderly |

| 3 | 26 |Indecent assault on a male |

| | | |

| 4 | 37 |Indecent assault on males |

| | | (three charges) |

+------------+----------+----------------------------+

__________________________________________________________________

+-------------------------+----------+--------+--------------------+

|4 years' hard labour | 21/12/06 |21/12/09| 2-1/2 months. |

|12 months' hard labour | 4/ 3/10 |29/12/10| 2 years 2 months. |

|10 years' hard labour | 17/ 3/13 |16/12/21| 2-1/2 years. |

+-------------------------+----------+--------+--------------------+

NOTE.--Offender was born at Auckland and is the third eldest of

a family of eight. He was evidently dull at school, as he passed the

Third Standard only at the age of 13. At the age of 16 he was charged

with the offence of vagrancy, convicted and discharged. The victims in

all his offences were children varying in age from 6 to 13 years.

CASE NO. 2.

______________________________________________________

|Number of |Age of | |

|Successive |Offender | Offence. |

|Convictions.|When Offence| |

| |committed. | |

+------------+------------+----------------------------+

| B. 1 | 23 |Theft (four charges) |

| 2 | 24 |Rogue and vagabond; vagrancy|

| 3 | 37 |Rape |

+------------+------------+----------------------------+

_______________________________________________________________

| | | | |

+---------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+

|1 month | 29/10/00 | 28/10/00 | 1 year. |

|3 months' hard labour| 5/11/01 | 4/ 2/02 | 1 year 9 months. |

|Hard labour for life | 1/ 2/04 | 3/12/23 | |

+---------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+

NOTE.--Offender is a native of New Zealand. The most serious of

his offences (No. 3) was committed on a girl 8½ years of age. After

serving six years of his term of life imprisonment the prisoner showed

signs of being mentally unsound, and in March, 1910, he was transferred

to a mental hospital. He remained a patient in a mental hospital until

March, 1915, when he escaped. It was afterwards ascertained that he was

aware of the fact that he was about to be returned to prison as being no

longer an insane person--hence his escape. After his escape he married,

and subsequently served two years with the Expeditionary Force. He was

returned to New Zealand as medically unfit and was arrested at Auckland

and returned to prison in August, 1917. Two members of his family--a

sister and a brother--have been convicted of theft and "conducting a

house of ill fame."

This man was released on probation, on the certificate of an expert in

mental diseases, after serving the full life term of twenty years, but

soon after release gave clear indications of return to former criminal

perversions, and his rearrest was ordered.

CASE NO. 3.

______________________________________________________________________

+------------+------------+------------------+-------------------------+

| C. 1 | 25 |Obscene exposure |3 months' hard labour |

| 2 | 26 | " |6 months' hard labour |

| 3 | 26 | " |12 months' hard labour |

| 4 | 27 |Wilful damage |14 days' hard labour |

| 5 | 27 |Obscene exposure |12 months' hard labour |

| 6 | 30 |Assault |2 months' hard labour |

| 7 | 31 |Obscene exposure |3 months' hard labour |

| 8 | 31 |Rogue and vagabond|1 month's hard labour |

| 9 | 31 | " |12 months' hard labour |

| 10 | 32 |Obscene language |2 months' hard labour |

| 11 | 33 |Indecent assault |6 years' hard labour and |

| 12 | 40 |Indecent assault |7 years' hard labour |

+------------+------------+------------------+-------------------------+

________________________________________

|Sentenced |Released |Period at Large |

| (Date). | (Date). |before Arrest |

| | |on Further Charge. |

+----------+---------+-------------------+

| 19/ 6/06 | 18/9/06 | 8 months. |

| 15/ 5/07 |22/10/07 | 1 day. |

| 23/10/07 | 15/8/08 | 3 months. |

|} 6/11/08 | 28/8/09 | 10 months. |

|} | | |

| 13/ 6/10 | 5/9/10 | 4 months. |

| 6/ 1/11 | 5/4/11 | 6 days. |

| 11/ 4/11 | 10/5/11 | 1 day. |

| 11/ 5/11 | 2/3/12 | 1 month. |

| 2/ 4/12 | 1/6/12 | 8 months. |

| 5/ 2/13 | 23/9/19 | 2 years 1 month. |

| | | |

| 31/10/21 |Still in | |

| |prison. | |

+----------+---------+-------------------+

NOTE.--C. is a single man, aged 40 years, and a native of New

Zealand. He is a cabinetmaker by trade and said to be an excellent

tradesman. He appears to have been in trouble since he was 25 years of

age, and has constantly been in prison, the majority of his offences

being of a sexual nature. He is described as a highly dangerous criminal

and a menace to society.

CASE NO. 4.

_____________________________________________________________________

+------------+------------+-----------------+-------------------------+

| D. 1 | 15 |Theft |6 months' probation |

| 2 | 26 |Carnal Knowledge |20 years' hard labour |

| 3 | 38 | (1.) Indecent |(1.) 2 years' reformative|

+------------+------------+-----------------+-------------------------+

+----------+---------+-------------------+

|Sentenced |Released |Period at Large |

| (Date). | (Date). |before Arrest |

| | |on Further Charge. |

+----------+---------+-------------------+

| 30/7/01 | ---- | |

| 1/2/12 | 20/2/22 | 2 years 6 months. |

| | | |

| 28/7/24 |Still in | |

| | prison | |

+----------+---------+-------------------+

NOTE.--D. is a native of New Zealand, aged 38 years and

married. His second offence, a very serious one, was committed on a

female child of 9 years, the child being subjected to great violence and

raped. He was released from prison on license on 20th February, 1922,

when he married a respectable woman who knew nothing of his past

history. She states that he was a good husband. There is one child of

the marriage, a female of 11 months. He is addicted to drink, and is

said to have been under the influence of liquor when he committed his

last offence. He is not a fit subject to be at liberty, as it was the

merest accident that his last offence did not become as serious as that

he committed in 1912. Offender has two brothers, both criminals.

CASE NO. 5.

__________________________________________________________

|Number of |Age of | |

|Successive |Offender | Offence. |

|Convictions.|when Offence| |

| |committed. | |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------+

| E. 1 | 14 |Breaking, entering, and theft |

| 2 | 15 |Absconding |

| 3 | 15 |Breaking, entering, and theft |

| 4 | 19 |Drunk |

| 5 | 19 | " |

| 6 | 20 |Sodomy |

| 7 | 38 |(1.) Indecent assault on a male |

| | |(2.) Common assault |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------+

____________________________________________________________________

| | | | |

+--------------------------+----------+----------+------------------+

|Committed to Burnham | 26/11/00 | ---- | |

|Returned to Burnham | 24/ 2/01 | ---- | |

|12 months' hard labour | 18/ 4/01 | 15/ 2/02 | 2 years 3 months.|

|Fined 5s. and costs | 23/ 5/04 | ---- | |

|Fined 5s. and costs | 3/11/04 | 3/11/04 | 3 months. |

|Life | 15/ 2/05 | 21/ 6/21 | 2 years 4 months.|

+--------------------------+----------+----------+------------------+

NOTE.--E. is a native of New Zealand, aged 39 years and

married, with one child. He is reported to suffer from injuries to the

head caused by a fall from a tree when eleven years of age, and to be

subject to uncontrollable fits of temper and loss of mental balance

since that age. Offender was educated in Auckland, and passed the Third

Standard only at the age of 13. He was committed to Burnham at the age

of 10 for two years, from which institution he absconded on several

occasions. According to his own statement, during his term at Burnham

the practice of sodomy was fairly common, and the boys often talked

about it, but in his opinion did not regard it as a serious offence. He

states they were flogged for it, but did not think much of that either,

because they were flogged for many other things which he knew were not

serious. He says he also met boys from another industrial school who

were sent to Burnham, who also did and talked about the same practice.

Altogether, therefore, he knew he was doing wrong, but he will not admit

that he regarded it in any way as a serious offence. In 1903 he went to

sea, and states that his chief companion was a member of the Salvation

Army, also a seaman. He affirms that during all the time he was at sea

he never heard the offence referred to. The men talked of women but

never of sodomy. From 1903 to 1905 he apparently lived a reasonably good

life. In 1905 he was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to life

imprisonment. He was released on license on the 20th June, 1921, and

followed the occupation of gardener around Auckland. He married in June,

1923, and is at present serving a long sentence. Offender alleges having

made arrangements to be sterilized, but states doctor refused to perform

operation. Drink appears to have had some effect upon his life.

CASE NO. 6.

________________________________________________________

|Number of |Age of | |

|Successive |Offender | Offence. |

|Convictions.|when Offence| |

| |committed. | |

+------------+------------+------------------------------+

| F. 1 | 12 | Theft |

| | | |

| 2 | 12 | " |

| 3 | 20 | " |

| 4 | 20 | " |

| | | |

| 5 | 21 |Breaking, entering, and theft |

| 6 | 22 |Vagrancy |

| 7 | 24 |Indecent assault |

| 8 | 25 |Escaping from custody |

| | | |

| 9 | 28 |Indecent assault |

| 10 | 37 | " |

| 11 | 43 |Indecent assault on a female |

| | | (two charges) |

| | | |

+------------+------------+------------------------------+

___________________________________________________________________

| | | | |

+-------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+

|To come up when called | 8/10/92 | ---- | |

|Sent to Burnham | 5/12/92 | ---- | |

|7 days' hard labour | 28/ 4/00 | ---- | |

|To come up when called | 24/10/00 | ---- | |

|12 months' hard labour | 26/ 2/01 | 21/12/01 | 3 months. |

|3 months' hard labour | 13/ 3/02 | 21/ 6/02 | 1 year 8 months. |

| 5 years' hard labour | 17/ 2/04 | 23/12/07 | 9 months. |

| 4 months' hard labour, | 17/ 5/05 | " | |

|7 years' hard labour | 8/ 9/08 | 8/12/13 | 3 years 5 months. |

|7 years' hard labour | 14/ 5/17 | 20/11/22 | 6 months. |

+-------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+

NOTE.--F. is a native of New Zealand, born in Napier, February,

1880, and is a labourer by occupation. He was convicted of theft at

Napier when a boy and sent to the Burnham Industrial School, from which

place he escaped on several occasions. He was discharged from the school

on the 30th April, 1898, and since then has continued his criminal

career, his further offences being of a sexual nature. He is given to

tampering with little girls, and has on four occasions committed

indecent assault of a more or less serious nature. He is undoubtedly a

menace to society and not fit to be at large. Offender is a temperate

man, and when out of gaol appears to have wandered about the country

doing an odd day's work here and there. His parents are dead.

_Approximate Cost of Paper._--Preparation, not given; printing (575

copies), £42

* * * * *

By Authority: W. A. G. SKINNER, Government Printer,

Wellington.--1925.

_Price 1s._

Mental Defectives and Sexual Offenders Report of the Committee of Inquiry Appointed by the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, K.B.E., C.M.G., Minister of Health · 第 15 / 15 章

In the first place, a comprehensive system of notification is essential