AFTER DARK.

NZ Truth, Issue 92, 23 March 1907, Page 6

AFTER DARK.

* A DEPLORABLE STATE OF

AFFAIRS.

Some Stiff Sentences.

Though we are t supposed to be a very moral community, and there are laws enough which aim to make us angels, Wellington streets after dark, are fast becoming - places to be avoided and shunned by respectable females. It is a serious state of affairs that any young, or even old, woman cannot take a stroll out after tea without being liable to be insulted and actually followed .to their, doorsteps by some male brute, and.it is a thousand pities that the females are often unable to summon the assistance, of some male friend to p:ive the caddish ours the thrashing they so richly deserve. That' dirty, low-minded lecherous males do prowl | around the city thoroughfares after the shades of evening have fallen is too well known m every city, and it is about time some plain-clothes constables were detailed off to keep their eyes skinned on these fellows and lose no time m locking them up if their conduct appears suspicious. That such men exist m Wellington,ostensibly strolling around the town to catch the eye of a street-roaming prostitute, is well enough known to the police, and this was borne out by proceedings at the S.M.s Court, yesterday morning ; but the danger is that these men show no discrimination m the selection of females, and a respectalble single or married woman, who rocs out for a walk has,, to practically run the gauntlet of • ' ■ .. •■• • THIS BLACKGUARD BRIGADE. The growth of prostitution m .any city is to be deplored, ajid though no one can never hope to - effectually suppress the prostitute something is expected from the police m the way of an. attempt to check the growth, and the means employed need not necessarily be by constantly harrying and hounding down the poor unfortunate creatures. Of course some of these women are hardened wretches, of whom no redemption need ever be hoped, and one specimen of dirty, depraved femininity m the person of Ada Hogg, was yesterday sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for improper conduct with a ; man named Robert Wood, m Abel Smith-street, on. the previous evening. ' The pair had been caught m. their crapulous act right under the glare of a gaslamp, and any regard for decency was thrown to the winds. The police pro-i perly asked for a severe penalty, and Sub-Inspector . o 'Donovan said that men hung about the locality ' of Upper Willis-street and other thoroughfares where these women patrolled, and attracted their attention. It was Wood's first offence ,and the Magistrate said the feelings of respectable people had to bp- considered, and sentenced Wood to six months' gaol. This is a lesson which it is to be hoped will, not be lost on others. There must fee some regard for decency, and it will, moreover, afford protection to respectable females, who, at present, hardly dare, without male escort, to take an evening stroll. ; • ',