LURE OF THE ASIATIC.

NZ Truth, Issue 1127, 7 July 1927, Page 3

LURE OF THE ASIATIC.

Tragic Story of Rose Byron's i Degradation

■■•■■■ ■ J — " r. — ■ ■ . ■ ■ •..,'■■■•■. ■ ■ •■.■"'■ ' (From -.."N.^,- Truth's I . Special Auckland Representative.) , ' QAZING into the pit pjf degradation, as revealed by the charges against them,)two young Auckland, women stood unabashed. '

HNCB the halter of ill-fame has been! attached' 'to : a woman, fehe may^ drink from the m ost fetid waters tnat flow 'from the fount of And so it was With Rose Gertrude Byron,, a tattler, handsome girl of 19, and Ahhie Alexander, a married woman. of 24, who faced Magistrate McKean at thdj Auckland Magistrate's Court last week charged with being idle and disorderly persons with no visible means of support. Sub InspectorMiewib. laid, the information, which reeked\ of conduct that loves the, darkness -arid; scowls >ati the light. . ' ■ -.r;,V :>.:., (;. •- ;'.::• '•. ;■. .-,■.. ' xi l4 i c ? ul^ reasonably be expected that shame and humiliation- would have marked the appiarance of the young women beforte a crowded . Court. ;■ ". '• .•■■. ■■' , \ vv ' ■■•.■'■':■ On the contrary, however; the pair seemed not to sense tfte ignominy of their position,. ( n ?" ess . they en/tered the dock with haughty and nomfchalant air, apparently oblivious to ttte unsavory details relating .to the charge. ; About seven o'clock lon the evening of Saturday, June 18, \tlie police received word that two 1 white' women had been seen : > entering V the house of a Chinaman m Airdale Sttreet Two members of, the florce' immediately .yisited ' the premise^, one being stationed at the back d&or and the other knocking at the f rc*t. entrance. For some time there wtas;-,nd* re> sponse, until; at last the fftoht door was opened by a Chinan- an, who gave a negative reply to the offiV cer's; inquiry ; as tq whether there ' ware any white women ir side. ■ The: police officer.: entered the building and passed through >t< 'wards' the back portion. , "-. „ : ' The two .women then mad b their appearance and endeayored t< ) gain exit by the back door, but worp opposed : by th'e constable stationed ther, 3. , The girl Byron appeared t ij be highly amused with her position \a nd proudly swung round on several be casions- to fe^e :the spectators m the b ody oi the Court.- ' ' -■ '■'•. "■ J ■■'■''■ : ' ■Whjßi Major Annie Gordojfv w.as call-

ed to throw light on the characters of the two women, the brazen young girl m the dock burst : into' laughter. ..'■'■ W/'ien the stern eye of the magistrate was not upon her, she further recorded her disrespect for Major Gordon by a series of grimaces. "When arrested, -the elder woman, had ■ the sum. of 10/2 m her possession, but Byron was penniless. . y i In her statement to the police Byron had been .flippantly candid. "I have often been' 1 intimate with Ghinamen," she admitted. ■ ; , ; ' : That she had, on January 13 of this year, giyeh birth to a child of Chlnests >'. parentage, she also showed no scruples , in' telling the police. . . , V, • I li had been oy(/ing to this event that she had a row with her par- , / ents and subsequently joined the 'woman Alexander, who was living apart from her husband. ! They were living m a rbpm m Benson Street. - Alexander had supplied the cash arid had /promised to introduce Byron to some Chinamen. they both acknowledged that they had done no .work for several weeks. ■'} Maintaining her armor of audacity throughout the' proceedings, Byron •alone had anything to, say. .■•• Perhaps it would have been better for her had she remained silent, for it was only to pass an insolent remark to , the effect that she thought: Major Gordon was not so weir acquainted with her character as the Court had been led , to believe. : " > •;.'.. There were three previous con- . ' victions against Annie Alexander / ? for shoplifting and she was sentenced to two months' imprfsony 'ment.: • ";■ ■ . .-;:.. ■;. ■,-■■ '■ '• ■:-- ■\ Rose Byron was committed to thQ Borstal. lnstitute for; a period not exceeding two years. , . :