PEEPING PEST PINCHED

NZ Truth, 15 March 1924, Page 3

PEEPING PEST PINCHED

<» ■ ■; — Queer Caper At Cobden Floor-Crack Views Of Venus. (From "Truth's" Greymouth Rep.) Woman may be an enigma, but that does not justify male intrusion into domains sacred to her ih search of" a solution, as a morbid meanderer of Mawhera learned to his sorrow at the Police Court last week. The actions of this gentleman, John Rupert Moran, caused quite a little stir for a few days, during which, among the fair swimming enthusiasts even the latest shipments of bathing caps and the most recent "affaire d'amour" paled into comparative insignificance. While a school of merry maidens were divesting themselves of their glad rags m the ladies' shed at Cobden preparatory to a dip m the languid waters of the Lagoon, and transferring their sylph-like forms into the conventional^ toggery of the modern mermaid, a Cobden matron passing along the street saw, lying under the ricketty floor of the upraised dressing shed, the reclining figure of a He! A LADY OF RESOURCE. Now, this matron was not made of the screaming stuff. She grabbed her courage with both hands, summed up the position m a jiffy, and put the inmates of the shed wise to the situation. The merry * laughter subsided like a burst balloon, and the astounded young women pulled their pretties on and shuddered like an old maid who forgets to look under the bed and wakes up with a" ticklish sensation at the ' soles of her feet. Meanwhile, Moran was disturbed and made his getaway just m time to escape the attentions of a crowd of irate male bathers who heard of the business. To prove the rule that some people don't know when to go while the going's good, the lascivious laddie returned and once more took up his reposeful attitude below the cracks ofthe dressing shed floor. His second little anatomical investigation was short-lived, however, as burly Constable " Baird rushed m where angels feared to- tread, and dragged Moran from his inglorious position, arresting "'him on a charge of drunkenness. After a week-end m the lock-up he appeared before Mr. W. Meldrum, S.M., charged with drunkenness* and as a statutory second offender was fined 10s. Sergeant Henry Fryer mentioned that the circumstances of the case were very peculiar. Accused had been found by Constable Baird under the ladies' dressing shed at Cobden, and had caused a good deal of alarm to the young ladies there. "Is this charge of drunkenness the only one against him:?" asked the Magistrate. "Yes," said the Sergeant. ■ "Are you going any further?" queried' Mr. Meldrum. \ "Yes, sir," replied Sergeant Fryer. "Inquiries are now being made." "A VERY RARE CASE." Evidently the police struck a hot trail, as Moran was again haled before the Magistrate two days later, and charged under Section 3 of the Police Offences Act with using insulting behavior m a public place with intent to commit a breach of the peace. He pleaded guilty. "This is a very rare case so far as Greymouth is concerned," said Sergeant Fryer. A woman, he continued, had detected Moran lying under the shed and informed a girl, who told the ladies inside the shed of what was going on. Defendant was cautioned and went away, but Constable Baird found him under the, shed" one v and a half houifi afterwards, and arrested him for drunkenness. Moran must have' known what he was doing as he had previously been warned. Moreover, the police had good reason to believe that he had been at the same caper before. Had it not been for the presence of the constable the defendant would have been roughly handled by a number of young men wjio were ln another shed at the time. "What is his record?'' asked the Magistrate. / "He is a second offender for drunkenness," said the Sergeant. The Magistrate said he could not deal with the case lightly. The accused had been guilty of behavior m which no man would indulge, and the offence had been repeated. He would be fined £5, m default seven days' Imprisonment. It is understood that Moran, a young man of 26 yearr, was a prisoner of war m Germany for three years. He will be a civil prisoner for the term mentioned by the Magistrate m fixing the default as the fine was not paid. During his leisure hou.3 he may come to the conclusion that the pursuit of Bacchus and Venus Is not a paying proposition.