SECTION 1.--EDUCATION AND MORAL CONTROL.

There is no question that the most effective way of avoiding venereal
disease is to refrain from promiscuous sexual intercourse. The problem
which the Committee have been asked to consider has very important
medical aspects, but, while these must not be neglected, it is essential
to the health and well-being of the nation that the enemy should be
attacked with every moral and spiritual weapon:--

Self reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,--
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.

The absence of proper training and instruction of the young is
undoubtedly responsible for a great deal of the evil which has been
shown to exist. Children are led into bad habits through ignorance, and
young men and young women grow up with utterly false ideals of life, and
in many cases fall into deplorable laxity of conduct.

There is an impression among many young men that chastity is either
impossible or at least is inconsistent with physical health. There is
the highest medical authority for stating that this notion is absolutely
wrong, while there is no difference of opinion whatever as to the
serious risks of contracting diseases of a very loathsome character
incurred by those who do not restrain their passions. Apart from this
aspect of the question, it must be obvious to every thinking person that
looseness of conduct between the sexes such as is shown to exist in New
Zealand is destructive to the high ideals of family life associated with
the finest types of British manhood and womanhood, and if not checked
must lead to the decadence of the nation.