ACTS OF IMMORALITY.

NZ Truth, Issue 161, 18 July 1908, Page 6

ACTS OF IMMORALITY.

Common m Cliristclwrcli.

Acts pf immorality m a oublic place are becoming so' common m Christchurch that the determination of the pious to close brothels m the city is occasioning adverse comment amongst the thoughtful. In the absence of houses of ill-fame, ■ such as are tolerated almost openly- m Dunedin and Wellington, the casu al sower of wild oats picks his woman off the street and sins under the toroad canopy of the cload-hidden stars. Or he woos an innocent maiden and seduces her and subsequently .- rcapes the mixed crop of an aifiliation case ; or he lodges with somebody else's wife, and m consequence the i Divorce Court is busy, and the Magistrate's Court is choked with appKcations'for summary separation, while the •offences arising _' out of the row with the lodger disftguro the Court records to a deplorable extent. The happening that shocks the inhabitants more than any thing else is the open sinfulness m public thoroughfares, although a little reflection will show, that it is impossible to make people moral by Act bf Parliament; the thiny lias to hajjpen somewhere, as day follows night, and disaster follows a visit to the money-lender. On Monday William Barras, a fins^ upstanding, ath-letic-looking =• young man, was charged with ; committing A" GROSSLY INDECENT ACT 'm the right-of-way between Hereford and Worcester-streets, with one Maud Hamil-. •ton, a weather-beaten night nymph, who alternates an exciting existence" between the pave arid the gaol. Both pleaded .guilty 1 Sub-Inspector Dwyer mentioned that Vthe 'blushful circumstance happened ■• at 7.45 m the evening. Magistrate Bishop : What is the woman ? Is she a prostitute. ?— She is a well-known prostitute. And the man ? — There is nothing; known to the police about the man, hut the woman lias been convicted before, i His Worship : I know the woman. I •am getting- tired 'of .'this sort of,; thing. jjWhere do you come from (to Barras) ? — jl work at the Belfast Freezing Works, j' What did you do .it for ? Explain {yourself.— l'm a stranger in 1 . the town. I j .-didn't know where to go. , The Sub-Inspector : What for ?— To do lit. ■-.;.. ' His Worship : That is a foolish reason. Maud was sentenced to three months and Barras to seven days' imprisonment! with hard labor.