Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Page 3

girls participate in lewd
rituals, swear a profane oath on "the bodgies' bible" and worship at a
"bodgies' altar".
Following these sensational allegations, four men were arrested. Police
expect to arrest another seven. Disappearance of the 15-year-old
daughter of a respected Erskineville family started the police
investigation which uncovered the sex cult. Both the girl and the "high
priest" undressed, and, as she lay on a bed, he compelled her to engage
in grossly obscene acts with him.

Then, while the "high priest" performed a gross act of indecency, the
girl swore the "widgies' oath" on the "bodgies' bible".--Sydney "Truth"
27 June 1954.
(c) South Australia
ADELAIDE POLICE SEIZE TEENAGERS IN SWIFT RAIDS
In a series of lightning raids Port Adelaide police have arrested six
teenagers who they claim are members of a sex cult. Vice Squad
detectives say the cult indulged in sex and drug parties. The Port
Adelaide Police Chief Inspector, G.E. Mensfort, said that when the
cases came to Court he suspected revelations similar to those in the
Hutt Valley, which recently shocked New Zealand. A number of
teenage youths have already appeared in Port Adelaide Police and
Juvenile Courts on carnal knowledge charges ...--Telegram in the
"Dominion", 30 July 1954.
(d) London
MANY GIRLS IN BAD COMPANY
One black spot in an otherwise more optimistic report by the Police
Commissioner on crime in London is a disturbing increase in the
number of 17-and 18-year-old girls who are coming under the notice of
policewomen on their beat, says the Daily Mirror.--N.Z.P.A. to
"Evening Post", 2 September 1954.
=(3) A World-wide Problem=
There have been waves of sexual crime in various countries at various
times.
Juvenile delinquency itself has been the subject of much research
(especially in the United States) during the past fifty years. But
although such offences as indecent exposure and sexual assault by
juniors have been included in published figures, no special mention has
been found by this Committee of the aspect of sexual delinquency now

being discussed in New Zealand. What is entirely new in New Zealand
(and probably in other places, too) is the attitude of mind of some
young people to sexual indulgence with one another, their planning and
organization of it, and their assumption that when they consent together
they are not doing anything wrong.
Clergymen and publicists in various parts of the world have been
declaiming about illicit sexual practices and their effects on young
people, but this is the first time that any Government has set up a
Committee to sift the available data on sexual misbehaviour with a
view to finding the cause and suggesting a remedy.
While this report was being typed there appeared in the local
newspapers the following telegram despatched from London on
September 14:
INQUIRY INTO VICE WAVE IN BRITAIN
A Government committee, including three women, is to open tomorrow
a searching probe into Britain's homosexuals and prostitutes, to decide
whether the country's vice laws should be changed.
The Government's decision to set up the committee followed public
alarm at the vice wave in Britain, highlighted by a steep increase in
homosexual offences.
The Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, has charged the
committee with considering the law and practice relating to
homosexual offences and the treatment of persons convicted of such
offences, and offences against the criminal law in connection with
prostitution and solicitation for immoral purposes. According to the
police, prostitutes in London alone have soared to a record of more than
10,000. Convictions for sexual offences exceed 5,000 a year, compared
with the immediate pre-war total of 2,300. The figures for male
homosexual offences have bounded even more sharply.
The extent of juvenile immorality in New Zealand may have been
greatly magnified abroad. If the good name of this Dominion has been

sullied by these reports, the Committee hopes that any damage may be
repaired by setting out the facts in their true perspective and by
demonstrating that we can, and will, do something in the interests of
morality which may also give a lead to other countries.

II. Order of Reference and Procedure Followed
On 23 July 1954 a Special Committee was appointed by the
Government with the following Order of Reference:
To inquire into and to report upon conditions and influences that tend
to undermine standards of sexual morality of children and adolescents
in New Zealand, and the extent to which such conditions and influences
are operative, and to make recommendations to the Government for
positive action by both public and private agencies, or otherwise.
The Committee held its first meeting on Tuesday, 27 July, to determine
points of procedure and to make arrangements to hear all who desired
to make submissions. There were placed before the Committee files of
letters which had been written to Ministers of the Crown, and