POLICE-WOMEN

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 29 August 1918, Page 3

POLICE-WOMEN

Regulations having been gazetted dealing with the appointment of" Health Patrols " as provided in the Hygiene Act of 1917, the appointment of suitable women as " health patrols " will be pro" ceeded with forthwith. Applicants must be over 40 years of age, and of unexceptionable character, Their duties will be to advise and caution young persons who may be found out and about after dark "on their own," wandering the streets or frequenting parks, gardens, or other places of general resort, including places of amusement; to warn parents and'guardians of such young persons of the danger of allowing their children or wards to be about after nightfall unattended, and to generally keep a watchful eye upon girls requiring such supervision. Given the right women to discharge this impoitant duty to the' State and the result ought to be most gratifying. The moral condition of all four of the principal cities of the Dominion, certainly not omitting Auckland, is very far from what it ought to be, as is shown by the very large number of sexual offences recorded at each sitting of our Supreme Courts. Children, nowadays, the world over, need careful looking after as they needed it before. Parents, in a regrettable number of cases, appear to have lost control entirely of their young people, and it is to feared that the fifth commandment has become, too generally, a dead letter with the latter.