BEAUTY'S BARRIERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13069, 8 May 1913, Page 7

BEAUTY'S BARRIERS.

AMUSING- AUCKLAND CASE

(Special to Herald.) AUCKLAND, this day. An amusing case was heard m the S.M. Court yesterday, when G-. Edwards, secretary of a massage institute, sued A. E. E. Bourne for £22, the cost of "high frequency electric tube treatments." The plaintiff stated that he commenced to treat the defendant on August 28 of last year for blackiheads upon the face, and continued the treatment till December 7 following. Mr Towle produced an advertisement signed by the plaintiff, which read : "Beauty knows no barriers. Everyone stands aside to make way for the holder of beauty's passport. Modern science, working along natural lines, has discovered a positive cure for such distressing defects as wrinkled skins, hollow cheeks, and neck pimples, blackheads, unsightly blotches, superfluous hair, etc., etc." The defendant stated that last year he became friendly with the plaintiff. Edwards several times took occasion to remark that witness's face was disfigured by blackheads, and declared that he could put an end to the trouble. After some persuasion witness agreed to undergo the treatment, which Edwards said would take four or five weeks, and would cost about £10. Mr Kettle: I see — "Beauty's passport for a tenner." Edwards, said witness, described the treatment by saying that the blackheads were brought to the surface, and there killed by the electricity. "I suppose he meant that they were electrocuted," added the witness. He went on to say that he derived no benefit whatever from" the treatment, and asked that the sum "which plaintiff had already received should be considered sufficient remuneration. I)r Albert Clark, called by Mr Towle, stated that he was a specialist m skin complaints. Blackheads, said the witness, were one feature of the disease known as acne, which was a characteristic complaint m youth and adolescence, and usually departed as the subject grew older. The modern method of hastening its departure was the use of vaccines, but with any treatment careful regular tion of the diet and abstention from alcohol were necessary. Electricity >vas at one time advocated as a cure for acne, but no brilliant results had ever been obtained from its use, and it had been quite m abeyance for ten or twelve years at least. He considered' that it was quite an obsolete treatment. "I won't say anything about the plaintiff's ability or his methods," said Mr. Kettle, m giving judgment. "That is not my concern m this case. So long "as he keeps within the law he may continue to use- the methods of treatment he has employed in* the past. I ani of opinion that the amount that the defendant had paid is ample, perhaps far more than sufficient return for the plaintiff's services. People are often attracted by advertisements as moths are by a candle flame, and they get burnt. This young man has been burnt to the extent of £7. Judgment will be for the defendant."