THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1882. AT LAST.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2474, 11 March 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1882. AT LAST.

The police authorities have at lest awakened to a sense of their duty after slumbering for so many years, and the keeper of a most infamous house, the presence in our midst of which has been a blot on our civilisation, has met his deserts, and has been removed from the society he has done his best to pollute during a series of years. Why this sudden access of vigilance should have seized our police force at this particular juncture we know not, but the fact remains that a perfect den of infamy has been, so to speak, fostered by the police under their very eye. The unsavoury reputation of Gloucester street, the annoyance that the public whose business avocations or pleasure led them through that part of the city, has to a great extent proceeded from the well-known oyster saloon. So soon as darkness set in the orgies commenced, and np to an early hour of the morning a stream of hnman depravity was vomited forth on to the side walk. But though the principal offender has been caged, the den still remains, and, doubtless, until Burmeister has completed his period of seclusion, will be carried on under efficient management. Indeed, only last night there was the usual gathering of loose females, drunken men, and larrikins. Of what use, therefore, is the infliction of punishment on. the keeper of the house, when the den itself is allowed to remain. The only effectual remedy would be to sweep away the nuisance altogether, and prohibit the gathering together therein of prostitutes and other bad characters. By taking away the proprietor only half the work is done, and that half will be rendered entirely nugatory unless some stringent means bo taken to put an end entirely to a nuisance concerning the existence of' which we are positively sick and tired of writing. Again we would suggest to the police authorities that Burmeiator’s is not the only establishment of the kind. There are others which, while perhaps not so openly and flagrantly violating public decency, are yet nuisances. Why are these passed over ? In a raid like the present, which unlike some of our police campaigns in the city, appears to be really intended to answer the object for which it is projected, all should be served alike. The police know far better than we can tell them where these placesare, and now that they have at last woke np to a sense of their duty, it is only rightthat justice shonldbemeted out toall alike. Therefore let them give the keepers of these places notice that unless they abandon the disreputable trade now carried on by them, they also will be furnished with lodgings at the Hotel de Heston. It is of little use, as on former occasions, for the police to make & mock raid, care being taken that the proprietors receive due warning before hand. Of course in this case everything is swept and garnished, and the place, so far as is possible, hears an innocent aspect, but those who see behind the scenes know that the nest night immorality and drunkenness reign paramount once more. As we have said the sentence passed on Burmeister, if it is to have any deterrent effect, must bo followed by a strict surveillance of the premises, and if necessary, their total suppression. It is all very fine to talk about the liberty of the subject, &c., but when there exists in our midst moral plague spots such as those contaminating our youth, and making a harvest out of prostitution, the most vital interests of the public as & whole demand that the moral welfare of the community should bo considered before that of any individual- Thosa

who engage in the detestable know very well that socially and morally they are pariahs, and have voluntarily placed themselves outside the pale of ordinary consideration. Henco, if they are deprived of their means of carrying on this demoralising business, no sympathy ought to be expressed for them. Once more, we repeat, the conduct of the police authorities in permitting the continuance, in some of the principal thoroughfares of the city, of such dons of iniquity, is perfectly inexcusable. They have the power to put down with a strong hand such nuisances, and long ere this they should have exercised it. Though tardy, however, every good citizen must rejoice that the step has been taken, and it only wants the same gentle persuasion applied to those who are still carrying on the same little game to put an end to what has been for years a crying evil in our midst.