A RORTY RANCH.

NZ Truth, Issue 100, 18 May 1907, Page 4

A RORTY RANCH.

A CHRISTCHURCH CARAVANSARY.

Is it a Pub or a Bawdy

House ?

Frightful Allegations Against a

Cathedral City Hotel.

•Tfbe fierce light that beats upon a pub m these days of gimlet-eyed observation leads to disclosures thai are not particularly edifyitog ; but it is only right to say that there are but a few sinners m a city of saints, and that Oh/ristohuroh is thankful that it possesses so very few indeed. But it so 'happens that there is one groggery that is much' worse than usual, and is the talk of the tow<n*-or that portion of the town tha-t "tonows someddiiks'' and flatters itself on possessing extra special knowledge. When a little matter- ■becomes talked abiout, it is soon common property, and it doesn't reflect very favorably .on the person concerted. It is an. excellent property „is the hotel m 'question', and it is well staffed by girls. And such gjrls ! A couple are as pure as the daw® of morn, but they are slightly frivolous, although religious, and they are 00/nsiclered to be as good as . gold by tihtf woman who- employs ,th©ny. The good lady m question < isn't the licensee ; ' her hiisband is, but he appears to be a tame cat about the premises. She is top dog, *and has the selection of the !foar-w<amen whenever there is a vacancy. And /that happens pretty often, because girls soon fiml that it is no place for them •; that the show is. too fast, and that a great deal more is expected of them than they are prepared '-.to submit to. The average tbiarmaid is as respectable as anybody, and is not disposed m her young womanhood to sow. nettles m her life's garden. The old Eve m her may crop out now and again, hut so it does m pJmost. every woman. It isn't every g>irl who doles out fermented wet that GOES TO THE DOGS through serving m the (bar amd adopts a disreputable car e'er. In the hotel ataovie-imention'ed, which should he picked m one act by the man about town, the 'girl of iltim.ita'b'le miodestv isn't tolerated, unless she is amenable to reason and can be ""broken m." 'In fact the Possess is always' looking for females possessing Circeanjallurements, who are .likely to prove capable 1 ibieer-pullers, and who are likely to speedilly obtain a, growing intuition m regard to her wishes. Not so long ago one sprigh'tlv 'damsel of. attractive personality, and whose conversation haid the charni of freshness and originality, thought that she would give the hotel a trial, despite what she 'bad heard of it from people Well qualified to .know. Well, the writer- is credibly informed that ; she stayed just two days and two n'igjh/fcs. Tte third' morning she flew before breakfast/ She had that meal elsewhere, and was . glad to get out of what sine calls a (h)rothel. For, according to all accounts, it is little else than a brothel, although it is a pretty rough, thing to say. However, i t is freely averred that row and aga/in it may 'be freely characterised as an A^ode of L/ove, amd some of the ladies aren't too partioular, and any niumher , of _ '.'lovers" call, and 'spoilt, aaifd hang over the bars and■grow gay and frisky to the ooint of levity. Dignity of mien isn't always possible when you are studying the latest novelty "m dude's collars, or listening to .their dreary drivellin'gs, but -strutting upstairs with . them when they have cash, or the promise thereof, is going it a bit too far. And the /latudliady.. of 'tthe bouse says n'OijUing, nor does she intend <to so long as, the hair receipts aregiood. Ai;d latterly, more trade has been done m that hotel than dne would imagine. There was one respectable woman serving out ■' damp at the place during the time the Besses 0' th' Barn were m Ohristohurchi, and she was so frightened that she left her room and went to sleep . with another girl m a small bed. Men were tramping abou* the house late at night m the/ir stockinged feet, and the people who Tun the pwWbery didn't seem to pay any notice, or to ascertain whether they were looking for their own rooms or those of the girls, barmaids, or slaveys. Awd she wasn't one of the dove arod thirty type either. Pretty needless to . say, this maid didn't stay long there. She went the very next day, m fact, HER FACE REDDENED VIVIDLY at some of the scarlet ■ stories she heard m the 'bar by roues and others, who driU'k the wine of comten't when they helieve tbat their vile addresses are acceptable to the | girls who pass the tumbler. Because a girl hands over a 7 x 8 smile when she socks your sixpence, it doesn't follow that she is an immoral, morbid, badmi nded person who is likely to prostitute her 'body for gain.-or for love. Anyone who knows anything at all about hotels knows that. But m the Ohristchu'rch grog brothel there are only a couple out of the squad who aren't recognised as being tainted, and who- are' treated as such by the patrons of the hostelry and those who drink casually, and who go m for fun, frolic and f riskiness. These latter .seek to amuse- themselves divinely, and do so whenever -they can muster the cash, but judging by' the screws that some .of them receive, it is sharewdlv suspected that their employers' tills suffer, and that the day of reckoning will "come later, as it always comes. No respectahle woman is talcing service there now, it . appears, and some of those who are there are lookine; for other billets. They aren't wanted, anyway, but hang on by mere pretence— pretending to rake the crowd of boozers by the irresistiible artillery of coy glances, half admiring, half qtiizzing. The girls are well pawl, of course, jut that has nothing tof do with the P'rhlic ; they want a clean, well-kept hostelry, and not a brothel, and- it is time that enquiries were made into the conduct of the house. The licensee is quite oblivious to what is going on, evidently, and he doesn't seem to I care. The missus runs the roost.