WRESTLING CONTEST.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20277, 11 April 1934, Page 7

WRESTLING CONTEST.

Proprietor of Sideshow Fined. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, April lb Judgment was given by Mr E. Page, S.M., to-day in the case in which the police prosecuted the proprietor of a sideshow exhibition given at the recent Wellington Easter Show. John Lawrence Baker was charged with holding a wrestling contest at the Winter Show buildings on April 4 with outa permit from the Ispector of Polios. His ife, Doris Baker, was charged w'th behaving in an offensive manner at the same place and on the same date. It is alleged that the wrestling was concerned with an offer of £1 to anyone who could kiss a girl connected with the show, a condition being ’.hat her shoulders must be pinned to the mat. The Magistrate held that the contest was a wrestling one, and convicted Baker, imposing a fine of £l. The charge against the woman was dismissed, the Magistrate saying that her action in exhibiting a certain spectacle was not offensive, because those who witnessed it desired to do so. If the action or language of the defendant was indecent it might be attacked under other provisions of the Statute. Evidence was heard yesterday. Evldec.ee cf Police. Sub-Inspector Martin, who prosecuted, said that the woman had to be held on the ground with her shoulders to the mat before the £1 was paid. He contended that that was a wrestling contest within the meaning of the Act. Evidence was given by Detective A. Read that inside the stall a few acrobatic feats were given before the alleged wrestling. Then a young man wrestled with a woman on a mat on the floor. The defendant Baker took his place at the side of the mat with a watch in his hand and gave the young man one minute in which to pin the girl’s shoulders to the mat and kiss her. The detective could not say whether the young man was a member of the defendant’s party or not, but he understood he was. He struggled with the girl on the mat, but did not succeed in kissink her before time was up. The man certainly appeared to wrestle with the girl, but the witness did not know whether any of the usual holds were used. Questioned by the Magistrate, the witness said that the girl wore a j»;r sey and a pair of shorts, or similar attire. It was admitted by counsel that the Bakers had obtained no permit for the show. He submitted that the section of the Statute dealing with wrestling contests was never intended to applv to any sort of a struggle that people might indulge in in the course of a public entertainment. The present case did not come within the definition of wrestling, because a man could win the £1 by sheer strength, and the girl did not wrestle, but attempted to avoid being kissed. The fact that one of the conditions was that the girl’s shoulders had to be on the mat did not make it a wrestling bout. Giving evidence against Mrs Baker, Detective Reid said that on the evening he visited the sideshow she was on a platform outside the stall conducted by her husband and herself. There were other young women and a man with her. The defendant, who was talking to the crowd, was dressed in a blue beret, a white silg blouse and blue shorts. The detective entered the stall and saw the performance. After the acrobatic feats Mrs Baker said she was putting on a show for men only, and she requested all women, and children under sixteen, to leave the stall. Detective Reid then described what took place, the show being .n the nature of a hoax, and two constables gave evidence in corroboration.