SYDNEY "PUSHES"

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 65, 19 March 1925, Page 9

SYDNEY "PUSHES"

The brutal assault, in one of the city parks recently, upon a young man who chivalrously went to the aid of a girl', and who now lies in a critical condition m the hospital, and is likely to be rendered speechless for -life, has' directed attention to the fact that the "pushes" who a few years ago made it unsafe for one to go through some parts of the city and suburbs at night, have not been wholly wiped out. Collectively these youths are as brave as lions -but mdividually they are abject cowards'; Ihe difficulty, however, is to catch them singly. The big green spaces which border the city, and which, as " lungs of the city " have been dedicated to the public for rest and recreation are so constantly the resdrt of '"pushes " and drunkards, and the scene of indecent behaviour, that decent citizens are inclined to avoid them. The latest- assault, one of the most brutal arid callous in bydneys history, has given rise to a public agitation for the better lightingof the parks and for the more efficient supervision of them by. the police. The attitude of the Inspector-General of police and of the Lord Mayor suggests that the agitation is likely to be fruitful of good results. The outcry will probably also strengthen the demand lor increasing the police for*, for it seems clear that if more men^re to be detailed for the supervision of Sydney's big stretches of parks, police protection m other districts will be weakened. Not only is the force undermanned, but there is the absurd spectacle of constables being called on to perform multifarious governmental duties which are quite foreign to police^ work. That larrikinism and its attendant evils are not to be treated with impunity is evident from a sentence a day or two ago at Darlinghurst sessions, when one of a gang of larrikins was given twelve monflis' imprisonment for assault? It has not been safe to venture about alone after niehtquarteV 6 -m °£ m°re con^e"ted