Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents | Page 4

hundreds
of newspaper clippings, relating to this topic. Some days were occupied
in the sorting and reading of this material in anticipation of the task
which lay ahead.
The Committee commenced the hearing of evidence at Wellington on
Tuesday, 3 August. It sat in Christchurch for the convenience of people
in the South Island on 31 August and 1 September, and in Auckland
from 6 September to 10 September.
Altogether 145 persons (18 on more than one occasion), appearing
either in a representative capacity or as private individuals, were heard.
In addition, 203 written submissions were made by interested
organizations and private persons, and a large volume of relevant
correspondence, addressed direct to the Committee, was considered. A
list of the persons who appeared before the Committee and of the
organizations or societies which made either written or oral

representations is attached.
It should here be observed that the Committee, not having the powers
of a Commission of Inquiry, could not summon witnesses before it. All
officers of the Crown, and all public agencies from whom information
was sought, were helpful. Much of the evidence, however, was
secondary or hearsay evidence. The Committee had not the power to
trace some of the stated facts back to their source.
It was thought undesirable to interview any of the children involved in
recent happenings. Reliance had to be placed on information regarding
each individual made available by the police and Child Welfare
Officers, and, in some cases, by the heads of their respective schools.
Similarly, there was much secondary evidence of indecent behaviour
and of other facts said to have been derived from reliable sources. The
absence of direct evidence on some of these matters, however, did not
prevent the Committee from looking at the problem in its broad general
aspects, and from reaching conclusions which could not be affected by
a closer scrutiny of some of the individual matters narrated to the
Committee.

III. Narrative
=(1) The Hutt Valley Cases=
Before proceeding to examine the extent of sexual laxity among
children and adolescents it is convenient to narrate the factual
happenings which caused this problem to assume such large
proportions in the public mind in July and August last.
On the 20th day of June 1954 information was sought from the police
concerning the whereabouts of a girl 15-1/2 years of age who was
missing from her home at Petone. A few hours later this girl called at
the Petone Police Station. She stated that, being unhappy at home with
her stepfather, she had, since the previous Christmas, been a member of
what she called a "Milk Bar Gang" which (in her own words) met

"mostly for sex purposes"; she had "become tired of the sex life", was
worried about the future of its younger members, and desired the police
to break up the gang. She gave the names of other members of the gang
to the police. By interviewing persons named by this girl, and then
interviewing others whom they in turn named, the police were able,
without difficulty, to obtain admissions and evidence of sexual
misconduct by 65 children.
The procedure followed was for the parents to be visited at their
residences by a constable in plain clothes, told the nature of the inquiry,
and informed of the desire of the police to interview the children at the
police station. When a parent and child attended at the time appointed
the parent was informed that, either through a sense of shame or fear of
the parent, the child might not make a full disclosure of the facts known
to her. Some parents consented to their children being interviewed
alone; others desired, and were allowed, to remain for the questioning.
After each interview the parents were permitted to read the statements
of their children and to sign them before the children themselves were
asked to sign.
The disclosures thus made, immediately recalled certain similar
occurrences in the same district during October/November 1952. It
speedily became apparent that the 1954 situation was much more
serious in that there were approximately three times as many children
dealt with and that three of the children had been involved in the earlier
trouble.
For purposes of comparison the Hutt Valley cases are set out as
follows:
Girls involved 6 17 Girls pregnant 2 ... Boys involved 11 37 Boys over
eighteen ... 5 Charges laid 61 107 Committed to care of State 3 girls 5
girls 1 boy Placed under supervision 3 girls 4 girls 7 boys 7 boys
Admitted to probation 1 boy 6 boys Admonished and discharged or
otherwise dealt with 3 30 Dismissed in Children's Court ... 3 Acquitted
in Magistrate's Court ... 1 Acquitted in Supreme Court ... 3 (One boy
appeared in both Supreme Court and Magistrate's Court; thus showing