MODERN GIRL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17409, 6 November 1930, Page 7

MODERN GIRL

TIMES HAVE CHANGED .JUDGE’S COMMENTS ADELAIDE, Oct. 28. Giving judgment in a divorce suit- today, the Chief Justice. Sir George Murray, said: “Young girls nowadays are permitted to smoke, drink, go to theatres, travel abroad unattended, drive in motor cars, dance in public halls, and bathe in the sea with men, young or old, scantily attired. “The same inferences cannot be drawn from their conduct as would have been the case a few years ago. The court cannot hold these fashions as evidences of immorality, however great the danger to morals may he.” EVE’S LURE EFFECT ON MORALS SYDNEY, Nov. 1. Although the Chief Justice of South Australia. Sir George Murray, defends modern youth and fashions, opinions in Sydney vary. Some believe that present-day modes tend to increase immorality, but others scoff at the idea, and enthusiastically point out the beauty of the Sydney girl on the beaches.

Mr. McMahon, S.M., who sees all types of fashions froin the over-dressed girl to the primly attired maid paying her initial visit to the courts, and who views life from all angles, was emphatic to-day on the point that fashions at the moment did help to increase immorality. DANGER TO YOUNG MEN He did not like to disagree with the Chief Justice, but in his experience he had found that the fashions displayed on the streets and in other public places did endanger morals of the community, particularly those of the young men. Mr. McMahon left it at that. He could quote instances where young men had blamed women for their lapses, but, strangely enough, they had never mentioned fashion, which was palpably the cause of their trouble.

The Rev. R. B. S'. Hammond, although not quite so' critical, firmly believed that fashions had always been foolish and that the stupidity as regards modern dress carried with it dangers that the old style managed to avoid. Of course, standards had changed, but some of the alterations carried a certain amount of risk with them. Young people nowadays were inclined to take that risk, and the present mode of living showed that we were slumping. ARTIST IN DEFENCE The well-known artist., Mr. Sydney Ure Smith, however, is one of the champions of modern fashions. He said that lie was all for them, chiefly because he was living in this age, and liked them.

He did not believe, lie said, that the style of dress a girl adopted to-day led her along an immoral path or helped to influence a young man improperly. The girl to-day could look after herself very well.

Air. Smith sighed happily as he mentioned the beautiful girls who graced Sydney’s beaches. “Give me modem fashions every time,” he declared. “Anyway, dresses are getting longer now.” Tlie secretary of the Y.M.C.A., Mr. Swanson, agreed entirely with Sir George Murray an the contention that modern fashions are followed innocently by modern young people, and the leader of the Racial Hygiene Association of New South Wales, Mrs. Goodisson, shared the same views. Mrs. Austin, secretary of the Y.W.0.A., thought that as long as the fashions were not carried to any excess there was no need to worry over them. Of course young girls who went to dances and smoked and drank, and those who went on long voyages without chaperons were laying themselves open to temptation and criticism. The chief trouble, she believed, was that parents did not advise their children correctly.