Richard Arthur

“ Have we no pity for these children, who on the threshold of what might have been a bright and prosperous life, meet with woeful shipwreck, and instead of becoming the happy wives and mothers of the future, join the unspeakably sad ranks of the prostitute? ”

“ It is to be hoped that none will hold back from assisting on account of prudery, or false delicacy. The purest can and should aid in this crusade, and if they decline to do so from any selfish motive, and this reform is not carried, the blood of those who perished because this has not been done will be upon their heads. But we believe better things of the men and women of New South Wales, and are convinced that, with the help of God, 1896 will not pass till this most needed of all laws has been placed on our Statute Book. ”

“ Is not this a foul blot on this colony? Are there no men with chivalrous feeling and pity for the weak, whose blood boils when they hear of these things, are there no women whose hearts go out to these poor, fallen children to save them? ”

“ In New South Wales, at the present time, any girl of fourteen [Pg 4] years and a day, may be outraged, and unless it can be proved that actual violence was used, the law will do nothing to the man who has ruined her. In other words, the law of New South Wales gives its sanction to the seduction of every girl above fourteen, if this can be done without the employment of brute force. And experience shows that men are not slow to avail themselves of this license. ”

“ It is a significant fact that while the law holds the child of fourteen capable of defending her honour, it does not allow any girl who may possess property to manage or dispose of it in any way till she is 21 years old, and anyone marrying her without the consent of her legal guardians, even though she may be willing herself, is liable to severe punishment. ”

“ Any girl or any woman can bring a charge of indecent assault against a man, and the same evidence as is required in a case of seduction, would be needed here. Thus any man in this colony, whatever his position, is liable to the danger of false [Pg 9] accusation, and the age of the woman bringing the charge, makes no difference. Especially are medical men exposed to this danger, and yet they have never clamoured for additional protection from the law, but have so regulated their actions as to minimise the possibility of such false charges. ”

“ This moral indifference and tolerance of injustice, must be charged against the people of New South Wales. Their representatives in Parliament have so devoted themselves to the strife for office and the incidence of taxation, that the question of protecting by law, the chastity of young girls, has been ignored. ”

“ Girls at this age have little resisting power. Their vanity is easily appealed to, their ignorance of life leads them into situations which older women would avoid, often their affections are easily engaged, and under the caresses and blandishments of the man—generally much older than themselves, they are but as clay in the potter’s hands. ”

“ In Sydney, the Rescue Homes, the Lying-in Hospitals, and the lock wards are filled with girls, some about to become mothers, others suffering from loathsome diseases, all social outcasts, and with a future of woe and tragedy before them. ”

“ The only argument ever brought forward by those opposed to giving girls adequate protection, is that if this were done, false charges would constantly be brought against men for the purpose of blackmailing. ”

“ It is the parent’s boast that they are perfectly “innocent,” by which is meant that they know none of the facts of the genesis of life, and are totally unwarned against the dangers which may assail them at any moment. ”

“ Men who have any chivalrous feeling in their nature will gladly accept whatever increased risk there may be, in order that this further protection, till an age when knowledge and prudence are greater, may be given, and immoral men will have to learn that, if they do not wish to incur this danger, they must not place themselves in positions in which they will be liable to false charges. ”

“ In the United States, too, during the last eighteen months a well-organised agitation, in which the Women’s Christian Temperance Union has taken a leading part, has succeeded in obtaining the age of eighteen in eight States, and the agitation is still being continued to raise it to this in other States where the age is lower. ”

“ If this be so, the government will hasten to carry out the wishes of the people, and we will take rank with those who cherish and defend at all costs the honour of their daughters. All can help in this work. ”