DRINKING AT DANCES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3012, 18 March 1926, Page 2

DRINKING AT DANCES.

YOUNG WIOMAN’S DOWNFALL.

BANEFUL INFLUENCE OF MARRIED MAN.

A DISTRESSING CASE.

Distressing circumstances were revealed at the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court on Monday, when a young woman, aged 20 years, appeared to answer charges in respect to: (1) the theft of a lady’s dress, valued at £lO, the property of Gwendoline Ryan; and (2) the theft of a frock, valued at £2, the property of Barbara Clarke. The young woman wept during the proceedings, and fainted when Air. J. a. Barton, S.M., was administering advice to her at the close of the case.

Detective Walsh stated that the trouble oL' the young woman was that she had got into bad companyami had been drinking. It was a rather deplorable thing, seeing that site was a woman, and not yet of age. It appeared that she had been under the baneful influence of a married man. It was the first time she had been before the Court, but site had frequently come under the notice of the police. The accused had never had much home training, and had been battling on her own since she had been 12 or 13 years old. Up till recently she had been in regular employment, but during the past two months she had been little less than a vagrant.

Mr. <J. S. Barton, S.M., observed that the Probation Officer recommended probation. This was a ease in which co-operation could be enlisted from the Big Sister move"A girl of twenty needs a good ileal of guidance, especially if she is fond of attending dances at night," added His Worship. The sister movement would afford to show the accused that there were other things in life besides the foolish things that she had indulged in. “Any man that would offer liquor to a girl of 20 at dances docs not mean well to her, and if he is a married man the tiling is twenty times more certain. Any girl that would accpet that kind of alleged hospitality is in danger,” pointed out Mr. Barton. The accused was admitted to two years’ probation and the stolen properly is to be returned to the owners.