WOMEN VAGRANTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 9

WOMEN VAGRANTS

THIRTEEN ARRESTED. ONE MOTHER OF NINE. SOCIAL WORKER'S ALARM. "BREKIXO BECOMING FEARFUL." "It is a most fearful thing with all these women about the streets. The city is simply alive with them. Drinking by women is becoming such a fearful thing that we social workers are taking up the matter seriously. Only last week I had two young girls under sixteen who had been drunk again and again." This statement was made in the Police Court this morning by Major Annie Gordon, of the Salvation Army, when stressing the necessity of making an example of thirteen women who appeared before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., to answer a charge of being idle and disorderly in that they habitually consorted with reputed thieves and prostitutes. All the women had been under the observation of Constable Christiansen and Acting-Detective Moore since April 14, who reported that they had been seen regularly patronising certain city hotels. Some of them were married, and one was the mother of nine children. Record Clean Up. "I would like to have a word or two with some of the publicans who supply them with drink," said Mr. Hunt. The round up of the vagrants was made yesterday and is the biggest drive by the police to clean up the city for many years. Sentence of three months imprisonment was passed on Margaret Royal (35), Hilda Gilkes (30), Susannah Harle (46), May Stokes (47), Annie Hartley (54), Mabel Jackson (29), Jean Andreson (49) and Phyllis Hunt (26). Margaret Helen Stockley (45), the mother of a large family, came near to being sent to Pakatoa Island for women inebriates, but Mr. Hunt decided to order her to take out a prohibition order and come up for sentence if called upon within twelve months. Lilian Bartholomew (29) and Beryl Gladys Macpherson (37) were similarly dealt with. Constance Olliver (38), who was said to be separated from her husband, was convicted and sentenced to a month's imprisonment, while Margaret Barker (43) who had been continually round the hotels and in company of several of the women who had pleaded guilty to the offence with which they were charged, was convicted and committed to Pakatoa Island for a period of twelve months. When Mr. Smyth appealed that one woman's name be suppressed from publication because her husband was a respectable man and his position was likely to be jeoardised, the magistrate said that if women drank they were not going to get any consideration, and the public would know that they had been before the court. He refused the application. Other Vagrancy Charges. In the course of their investigations Constable Christiansen and ActingDetective Moore also arrested John Reid (38) and Ada Reid (39), who were each convicted and sent to gaol for three months on a charge of being idle and disorderly in that they had insufficient means of support.

"This couple has "been known to me for some years," said Acting-Detective Moore. "They associate with most undesirable individuals, and are continually drinking about the hotels." The male accused was a fisherman and occasionally went to sea. Mr. Hunt: He more often goes to gaol. The woman, continued the actingdetective, had been prohibited and was often seen in taxi cars with men. The pair occupied a dilapidated flat place in Grey Avenue and so far as he was aware had no means. They were the worst two the police had had in Auckland for years. Mr. Noble, who appeared for accused: Reid says you have him "snouted" because he won't tell you about two fellows arrested for assault? —I am not looking for information about those particular individuals. Mr. Noble said that Reid declared that during his past two months he had received £60. He had a wife and sis children. Mr. Hunt: All the children are in the care of the State. Why has that money not been paid for maintenance?