Truth MORE ABOUT BROTHELS.

NZ Truth, Issue 151, 9 May 1908, Page 4

Truth

MORE ABOUT BROTHELS.

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SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1908

The remarks of "Truth's" correspondent, "X.Y.Z.," and the editorial comment thereon, respecting the peopriety of abolishing brothels, have excited considerable interest m Christohurch, where the harlot, has a troublous time, but survives persecu- , tion and prosecution. 'with the viril- | ity/ of the household cat that has ! been thrice bagged and thrown Into the Avon, and lived to ruminate on the experience^ -The paper's correspondent has many supporters m this j pious city of sin, but others regard the brothel as a necessary adjunct to our strange civilisation, and shudder at the potential consequences if a sanctimonious wave of hysteria were to sweep away $he places of sin.. As this view is as yet comparatively new m the discussion, the remarks of a prominent Christchurch resident on the subject may be. of some interest, particularly as he has been m a position .$0 judge of the effects attendant upon the suppression of the casual immoral person m the city. He premises his observations by the statement that the prostitute is the natural product of our social system, which is based upon a religious foundation, and is controlled by the distribution of wealth, that enables the snobs of the community to motor to blazes m their spare time, and robs the ordinary commonplace worker of any spare time whatsoever. Briefly, the moll owes her existence to the parson and the capitalist. The church decrees that there shall tbe no indulgence of what the French describe as the grand passion out of wedlock ; with the aid. of Mrs Grundy it socially ostracises the indiscreet females who are seduced by libidinous persons ; and to escape the shame and indignity girls practice abortion and not infrequently murder their unwanted offspring. The church, m this respect, is a maker of crime, a circumstance that has a material influence on the production of the Flossie^ also the Tottie, inasmuch as the average man would rather sin with a professional transgressor of the moral code than get an innocent girl intc. trouble. The capitalist comes into the business somewhere about here. If every man were m a position to marry he would lead the girl to the altar, or the registry office, instead of to the grassy slopes of the Avon hy night knd the seclusion of the local park. A pi'omin6nt legal luminary once stated that two-thirds of the marriages m New Zealand are inspired by fear for the consequences of an indecretion of the lovers/ and that a very large proportion of first children are born well within the nine months after miarri_vge. This is a •big order, hut there is a considera/ble amount of truth m it. Many people are compelled to marry when their miserable worldly position doesn't warrant the experiment, and thus the natural channel for the increase of. population m a young country is' blocked hy the greed of the sordid rich, and the anethema of the pious. The married women of the con_jmunity are a potent factor m the suppression of the moll, who is a menace to . the married state, which might fall into disuse if the ordinary marriageable man became so poor that he would have to do without a wife. The married women's union is the strongest labor union m the world, and m a country wl^ere the adorable creatures have a vote their influence is markedly noticeable m the hysterical legislation for the suppression of all amusements m which the lady is unable to participate with the husband. The parson is the women's mouth-piece, hence the nuerotic crusade against gambling, bil-liard-rooms, drink, and similar objects which once ministered to the passions of mere man. As for the abominable harlot, > she is hunted from pillar to post, a:nd from plantation to brothel, and m a place like Ohristchurch, where the intolerance of religion casts a dull grey mist over an otherwise pleasing landscape, she is police-courted daily, and Cleary's Inferno is so full of hexthat additions to the premises are urgently needed. The holy city itself periodically pays the penalty of its eager pursuit of the prostitute, whose place is taken by the amateur ; m. sin, and the resulting cases of . affiliation, kid maintenance, attempt-

ini/3 to leave the country without I making adequate provision for an unborn illegitimate ohild, indecent assault, carnally knowing girls under 16, unnatural offences, incest, divorce, asault on the lodger, grossly indecent act m view of a public place, indecent exposure, etc., etc., fill the Christchurch charge-sheets, and a I scandal-loving public reads the details with the appetite of the godly, who thank the Maker that/they are not as other women. It is the opinion of "Truth's"' enthusiastic informant that the brothel is a safeguard for the virtue of our sisters and daughters, and points out that wherever the moll has been suppressed the circumstance has ireacted on the morality of the respectable section of the community. "But what about the prostitutes ; someboyd's sisters a_t_d daughters have to supply them ?" "True," was the reply ; "then give every male sufficient to marry on. ©yen then, you will find there are wiorruen who will go that way, and that sort of thing is incurable. Under the existing conditions, it is a question off tolerating women who have already adopted that line of .business, or of im/perilItng the morals of girls who must take the place of the imprisoned moll." They manage these things much better m other countries by recognising: the harlot as a thing that must be endured, so they regulate her place of 'business. In Japan, whose monkey^brand of inhabitants is a source of perennial delight to the __ average New Zealand wowser, the moll is put under naedical supervision and plies her calling like the ordinary draper and greengrocer. A number of her occupies a show window and the most winsome is selected by the casual passer-hy. It is considered a honorable profession m Japan, where a dutiful girl frequently puts her body on, sale to liquidate the ordinary household debts of her family, and • during 'the late war ladies of the royal household set a noble example by volunteering for prossy service amongst the soldiers at the front. There is pathetic hostility m the Dominion to any proposal to submit pa>v<e nymphs to medical examination as that would give the black angels a status, and their inurtoral traffic would be recognised by the law. The consequence is that disease is not unknown and is disseminated amongst the population to the detriment of the moral females who 1 decry their fallen sisters with suoh bitterness. In conclusion, the interesting Christchurch gentleman recommends the licensing and proper supervision of brothels, and predicts a marked dimimri-tk.il of sexual crime as a result of that policy.