DRESS CENSOR FINED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20380, 11 April 1928, Page 16

DRESS CENSOR FINED.

GERMAN STATION INCIDENT. BRITISH WOMEN INSULTED. For “ endangering the peace between the British army of occupation and the German public ” a railway policeman named Fehl, who constituted himself a censor of ladies’ apparel, has been ordered by the British Summary Court at Wiesbaden, Germany, to pay a fine of £lO or go to prison for one month. The railway policemen’s duty is to watch for thieves, “sneaks,” and undesirables who infest most German railway termini. On the last night of the famous “ Andreas Markt,” when Wiesbaden is the shopping venue for the entire countryside, the station was full of wayfarers at 3 a.m. , , , , , . The policeman was asked by a lady in the first-class waiting room to request another lady to don her cloak because her dress was much too decollete for the first lady’s liking. The second lady complied, but, in her turn, directed Fehl’s attention to other tables at which were seated ladies in evening dress, and suggested that the order to put on cloaks should apply to everybody. At two of the tables were seated some British officers and their ladies, who were waiting for a train to take them to Bingen after a ball. Singling out one lady, Fehl intimated, by making impolite signs and gestures, that she must put on her cloak, which she did. Another British lady asked sarcastically if she should also don her wrap, but Fehl, after coolly studying her attire, that she was correctly dressed, and said No. Fehl’s behaviour caused some attention, and a crowd gathered round the tables where the British were seated and began to pass remarks. One of the British officers thereupon ordered Fehl to leave the room, and later he was arrested and charged with insulting four British officers by failing to salute and with insulting the families of British officers. . A ralway .official, who admitted that Fehl’s behaviour was most incorrect, stated solemnly that there were no regulations requiring ladies to wear cloaks in waiting rooms when their dresses were low cut, nor were there any regulations forbidding ladies to appear in waiting rooms in evening dress. In sentencing Feh! —whose name means literally “ error ” —the court expressed the opinion that he was not a fit person to perform railway police duties.