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Sixty years ago, in 1954, moral panic swept the country following revelations about sexual activity amongst teenagers in the Hutt Valley. The government responded by appointing the Queen’s Counsel, Dr Oswald Mazengarb to chair a Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents.
Former Naenae College pupil, Sir Robert Jones describes just how restricted and confirming life was in 1950s New Zealand and factors that fed into the perceptions of clergy, politicians and others concerned with ‘moral values’. An [unidentified] female interviewee describes the use of “easies” below women’s clothing to flatten and remove curves and “panty parades” that ensured bloomers were being worn by all.
Les Bailey was seconded to the Dept. of Education to address the lack of organised youth activities and children’s play space in the area and believes the “play-way” objection, to his idea of a school camp during school term, resulted in an over-flowed public meeting that eventually blew into the McCombs Report on Education.
In July 1954 the headlines for the New Zealand Truth paper read, “Moral Delinquency said to be Widespread”. A shocking statement in a time when sex before marriage was un-thinkable by adults. The [unidentified] female interviewee describes how children were segregated before being instructed to watch a sex education film that left her bewildered. She explains ‘that talk’ never happened with her parents.
The Holland government appointed a special committee to research the perceived problem. The committee included the (then) Chairman of the Interchurch Counsel on Public Affairs, the Rev Dr John Sommerville and President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Nigel Stace who both speak to the strongly held views of the time. The church appeared to blame allegedly salacious films, songs, advertisements and books however the educational and medical authorities ridiculed and dismissed these views.
An American woman was invited to speak to the counsel on “acceptable” petting (above the waste). The counsel looked at police evidence and enquiries where made into Ellbe’s Milk Bar which was suspected of supporting gangs that met for sexual purposes. Brian [Lumas] worked at his family’s run, Ellbe’s Milk Bar for years and describes the mid-1950s scene. Hutt Valley High School students and Milk Bar Cowboys talk about the importance of looking good and being seen by the opposite sex.
Within two months Mazengarb reported back and blamed promiscuity ‘on the absence of working mothers in the home, the availability of contraceptives and young women who entice men into having sex.' Copies of the Mazengarb Report were sent to almost 300,000 families. It was noted that 'the new pattern of juvenile immorality is uncertain in origin, insidious in growth and has developed over a wide field.’