WAR ON BEACH SUITS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1931, Page 3

WAR ON BEACH SUITS

eaThing girls arrested. THE ISLE OF, THE UNDRESSED. j JERSEY, August 5. The police of Jersey, the Cuannel Islands holiday resort have declared war on oeach pyjamas. Strict watch is being kept in the streets of St. Helier, the island’s capital and any girls wearing costumes which are considered immodestly diaphanous are taken to the poke station and .severely reprimandcd. I was walking through the main street to-day when I saw a policeman take a holiday-maker in custody. Her pyjamas were of a delicate pink, and of the flifoisiest material the weaver has every devised. A crowd of young, men and girls followed her to the po ice station in a triumphal procession, and waited outside while she was cautioned. In several eases similar warnings 1/ave been given, arid stronger action i may be taken if immodesty prevails. Thb authorities have been anything but strict in- their treatment of holi-day-makers, but Mrs Grundy has been so offended by some of the recent costumes that they have had to step in. No holiday resort ha s been so flooded w’t-h pyjama suits as this island where hoklay-miakers are less harassed ! y rules and regulations than in any other place in the British Isle s that I have visited. The streets of St. Heiler at mid-day look like a Lido scene in a spectacular musical comedy. Any pvolran wearing am ordinary frock looks out of place. Morning coffee is always ta.Keii in pyjamas. The cafes and restaurants of’ St. Helier are filled with the gayest of colours. I have seen the inevitable Lido suit in cinemas, in shops; in trains, and even in ballrooms. The majority of these care-freema’d-eris from city offices, from the cotton mills, end frdm the factories look extremely attractive in the scanty costumes which they make their so’e wardrobe during their stay in the isLr.rl. But T have oeen some which "’•e fro ill ly ir decent. It is against these t u ‘U the po’ice ore tricing action. r Pie ifeJnnd authorities have no o-,.- c |o- e rgaince beach nymmos as °n o-'—T-dny ''ostnine, but they object ti the diaphanous .suits that some giris wear, and insist on a bathing costume 1 or seme other form of underclothing. Guernsey, the. sister island of Jersey rrore particular, Sermons have been

preached against the modern woman’s latest' choice as pandering to immodesty, and when one, girl ventured in the main street of the twori positively shrouded in bathing costumes and other garments surmounted by a pair of pyjamas a letter couched in the most vio’ent terms and signed “A Christian” appeared in protest in the local newspaper.