THE FLEET SAILORS

Grey River Argus, 2 September 1908, Page 4

THE FLEET SAILORS

A French philosopher, with a reputation for cynicism, once remarked that the beat of the public pulse when holiday-making was reflected in the Police Court the next morning. The behaviour of Sydney and the suburbs on Thursday, the day on which the American Fleet arrived in Sydney Har bcui, judged on such premise, must ma.-lc a record in perfection (says the "Sydney Daily Telegraph") At the. Water Police Court there was a strange absence of familiar names on the charge-sheet, while at the Central Police Court the offences were all of a comparatively mild nature. There cer tainly were a number of instance? whore exuberant individuals had toasted the arrival of the Fleet injudiciously, but a fine of 5s and costs wiped" out the offence to the satisfaction of both Magistrate and culprit. A number of curious visitors with a tjurn for the melodramatic waited patiently in the portion of the Courts reserved for the public for something startling, evidently believing that thousands of people could not congregate together without the customary aftermath, but they left disappointed,: saddened by the reflection that the owners of the old familiar faces. had evidently turned over a new leaf. Questioned as to the cause of this sudden reformation in the annals of rowdyism, a policeman expressed the opinion that it was due solely to the fact that the majority of evil-doers had' gone out; to South Head to witness the arrival- of the Fleet, and, having to walk there and back, were too busily occupied to g-et into serious mischief.