The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1918. THE KELBURN RAID

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 219, 5 June 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1918. THE KELBURN RAID

What is knowu as the Kelburn raid case involves questions of sonic gcnoral importance. The sentence passed by. Mb. S. E. McCarthy, S.M., upon tho two women convicted respectively of keeping and taking a leading part in the management of a . house of ill-fame at liclburn cannot bo regarded as unduly severe if account is taken of the offence and of the circumstanccß in which it was committed. No doubt ono result of the judgment will be to swell the criticisms and protests which have been based upon the fact taat in handling this case the police proceeded only against the women concerned and refrained from prosecuting the men who were also implicated. The women were proceeded under a' War Regulation which, by what now appears as a very serious oversight, applies only to the offence of keeping, or assisting to keep or manage, a house of ill-fame, and takes no cognisancc of thoso who visit or frequent such a place. It is apparently not denied, however, that the policc had power to prosecute the men implicated "wer the Justices of-the Peace Act. iJut, even if; it is shown that the police have*:failed in their duty of fully, enforcing the law, the 'fact docs not affect the justice of the sentence passed by the Magistrate upon the women who must on all grounds be regarded as the chief offenders in this case._ Justice evidently demands that in so far as it discrim-. mates unfairly between men and i women the War Regulation under which proceedings were taken should be amended, but it would be absurd to find in this fact a reason for extending immunity to female offenders who the findings of the Court show to be of an extremely dangerous type. In light of the Magistrate's judgment and the evidence upon which it is based no other conclusion is possible than that the offcnco of winch these women have been found guilty was particularly bad of its •'!, The veneer of respectability with which they sought to shield their traffic made their establishment a much more dangerous centre Ol temptation than if it had been conducted with an utter disregard ■of appearances—made it, in fact, a trap for the inexperienced and unwary of both sexes. The Magistrate is that the'principal defendants in this case kept a house oi ill-fame for at least three months pnoi to their arrest. Yet on their own showing they were visited in this place by respectable girls who had no knowledge of its real chamctci , and it should not be overlooked that sonic of these girls came from places at a distance from .Wellington and so were deprived of the protection and guardianship thev would cn.ioy in their own homes It can hardly bo doubted oil the cviclcnce that the house kept by the woman Giuffin was a place in which ignorant girls were liable to be dragged down unsuspcctingly, and possibly by unpercsived 'gradations, to the lowest and most unfortunate depths that a woman can reach. Such'an establishment equally calls for repression on account of the temptations it offers to young and inexperienced men—more especially, at this time, the soldiers, many of them jncro boys abruptly .released from the wholesome restraints of home life and influence, who are constantly passing through our training ramps. Jis its form shows, the War Regulation enforced on this occasion was expressly framed to as far as possible protect soldiers against such dangers, and those who flout such a regulation cannot expect to cscape with a nominal penalty. The women .wnteneed yesterday were guilty of something considerably worse than keeping an ordinary house of ill-fame. Their offencc was aggravated by the fact that they presented temptation in its most insidious form and under such a disguise that they were liable to attract tho _ comparatively innocent and unsophisticated as well as those to whom sexual irregularity is a commonplace.

No reason will appear for regrettiiig the extent to which attention has hccii concentrated on this unsavoury case if the result is to stir the public conscience and quicken the forccs that are working to eradicate our greatest social evil. A strong demand will undoubtedly bo made for the equal treatment* of men and women under tho law dircotod to repressing prostitution,

i but the reservation is called for that a distinction must always bo made between those who indulge in illicit sexual relations and those who make these relations the basis of a traffic conducted for profit. Such a distinction is drawn and is regarded as natural in the penal laws relating to gambling dens and the illegal sale' of liquor, and it seems to. be of universal applicability. This, however, does not affect the justice of the. demand that women who keep a house of ill-fame and men who resort to such a place should be regarded as alike guilty of an offence. The question raised is one .of degree oniy.