AGE OF A WOMAN.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 8 September 1925, Page 3

AGE OF A WOMAN.

DIFFICULT TO JUDGE

PAINT AND GIN SLINGS.

Why cannot the men of to-day make anything like a close guess at the age of a woman ? Some of the reasons—there are many —were given in the Magistrate’s Court at Christchurch the other day as follows: Paint, gin slings, bobbed hair, modish hats, powder, jazz, short skirts, frocking. These details were advanced in a case in which the decision turned on whether mere men were justified in assuming that two young things, too young to bo drinking gin slings, were over 20 years of ag©. Mr Wyvcrn Wilson, S.M., presided. John Idrvs Pickard, a barman, was charged with being a person,' other than the licensee, he supplied .liquor to Pearl Amelia Nicholls and Hannah Vera Garnett, , persons apparently under the age of 21 years. He pleaded not guilty. • . Hanali Vera Garnett, now an inmate at Point Halswell, said that on July 13 she went to the Occidental Hotel with two men whose names she. did not know. Pearl Nicholls was with the party, which went into one of the rooms. The men ordered the drinks • namelv, whisky, gin slings and) shandy. Sub-Inspector J. M. Mathew.- What are gin slings made of?—Gin and ginger ale and bitters. How old are you?—Sixteen and a half. - ■ v , Mr- C. S. Thomas (for Pickard): A gin sling is known as “hard tack”? — Yes. v . You used powder and paint before you were sent to Point Halswell ? ■ Yon .were picked up on the road from Brighton?—Yes. You were cold, and wet, and the men topk you into the hotel? —Yes.. The Magistrate: You were wearing the same hat and coat that you have now ?—Yes. , Pearl Nicholls, aged 16, said that she had a whisky at the hotel. Mr Thomas: Have people told you that -von look older than you are? —• Yes. How do voti know your age?—My mother told me. And you were -painted and powdered oil that day at the hotel ?—Yes. Do vou usually take whiskv “neat”? —Yes! You had been carrying on with men? • —I had, certainly gone out with men. The Magistrate: Did vou say what your drink was to be?—Yes. A statement was- read setting out that the barman, Pickard, thought that the young women were 22 years of age. The girls did not finish, their drinks. Mr Thomas said that the girls were painted and powdered and sat down in the hotel in such a way that Pickard could not help thinking they were over 20 years of age. It was submitted that nowadays, with bobbed hair, short skirts, gin slings, jazz. paint and powder, it was- very difficult to determine the age of females. It was hard to tell grandmothers from the young Women. The Magistrate: The difference between 20 and 40. Mr Thomas said that both girls had had their face's washed and had benefited by the regulated lives which they had lived since being arrested. _ Ho pointed out that the hotel incident hanpened at 3 p.m. In dismissing the charge, the- Magistrate said that he agreed that it was very difficult to judge the ages of women. Tt was more difficult when girls covered youthful complexions with powder and wore hats which partly covered the face. Both girls powdered, and. seated as they were, might very easily ho taken for over 20 years of a Re. As a matter of fact, the younger of the girls looked the elder. They were not small gilds. A good illustration was given of the way women could disguise themselves by what was seen on the, stage. An old woman could make herself look in the twenties, and the use of powder would also make women look older. The girls were dressed as women.