DANCE HALL REGULATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20570, 22 May 1930, Page 14

DANCE HALL REGULATIONS.

Sir,—ln (he recent as-,-ml! case at Hamilton, Mr. Justice Smith's remarks in tliQ Supremo Court will be re-echoed by. parents and all interested in social welfare. Why do we not insist on strict regu. lations to protect our young people in the dance halls? Other countiies ahead of us in this matter have laid down such regulations, which briefly follow these lines:—(l) Xo girl under eighteen to bo admitted to any dance hall without parent or guardian; (2; no liquor of any, strength to be introduced, drunk, or sold at, any public dance; (3) all dance halls to be licensed by the police, even when used for one night only, in towns or country places; (4) halls where" a dance is held to be brilliantly lighted through, out the evening, and no "shadow danccs'J allowed; (5) dancers leaving the hall to pay full chargi-s on re-entering: (6) no licence to be issued for even one night until an official "hostess" is appointed sanctioned by the police inspectors and responsible to them for seeing that all regulations are strictly absolved. With a population so small as our-own these regulations could easily 'be made universally applicable by Statute, and they represent the minimum of protection which our young people of both sexes are entitled to in a civilised country. Too often they first learn the liquor habit as mere children at the dance halls, and the responsibility for their downfall lies on the elders who set them a bad example or remain complacently inert, unwilling.to face tha reforms needed. Mildred Stalky.