VERY MERRY PARTY AT THE RITZ

NZ Truth, Issue 1215, 14 March 1929, Page 20

VERY MERRY PARTY AT THE RITZ

Frank Birss Did The Honors, but When Girl Met Trouble Later He Left Her To It, And Went To Sydney

YOUNG MOTHER WINS AFFILIATION CASE

. (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative) "When I told him that my mother would take proceedings against him he pushed me down and I fainted . * * ♦ Then he left for Sydney. ** Thus Lilian Mabel Reid who brought Frank Birss before a Magistrate to saddle him with the paternity of her child, and did not spare him. , - Birss, who f Was represented by Mr. R. A. Singer, did not go into the witness box to deny the allegations of misconduct made against him, his defence relying mainly on the cross-examination of the girl and her friends who gave evidence for her.

AT times her story of the gay life led by the extremely young mem- ■ bers o.f a so-called, "smart" set" were colorful and Intriguing. As, for example, her description of 'the impromptu party staffed m an empty section one night. "He went to Parnell with Phyllis to see if he could get a house for a party, but he found that he couldn't have it there, so we went to , a section near Luna Park," she told th'e court. " "We came back to theßltz for supper. .•■■. . He got another ■ boy to take Mavis away, and: he stayed m the private supper room with me." Blrss was In charge of the party that night, according to her, and he did things well. The presence of a second girl did not trouble him long. From the appearance of the several flappers who came to court to stand by the girl In her hour of. need, it would seem that young Birss is one of those responsible for the popular fancy that gentlemen prefer blondes. They were described by Mr. Clark, counsel for Miss Reid, as some of a group who attended dances together frequently. : ■„ '. : The young, girl was quite self-com-posed when she entered the box, and she told the court that she had met Birss m January of last year. "I was introduced to him by Miss Ayre, but I had known him before at the dances," she said m reply to her counsel.

Speaking m a quiet voice, the girl went on to tell of the events which led up to her being, left alone m the supper room with Birss. • "Three weeks after I met him, I went home with him from a dance, and I went home with him again about a month, later," she said. \ ! The girl then unburdened herself of the story of the night a mixed party of youths and girls made things merry m the vacant section near Luna Park. She was walking along Queen Street with her cousin, . Mavis Bell, a girl about her own age, when they met Birss and his boy friend,. "Bert," and it was not long before Blrss suggested a night out. "Come to a party," said the gallant youth', and he forthwith left them to go off to arrange for a party at Parnell. There were five boys and four girls m the gathering when Birss returned with the sad news that his hopes of a party had been dashed because he could not stage it at the house m Parnen. ■ ■ ' . '...''■ With their minds .made, up to enjoy themselves somewhere that night, off they trooped: m search pf ! a likely spot where intruders were not likely to happen along, and so towards Luna Park they wended their way.

The empty section provided them with just what they wanted, and, adventurous spirits that they were, all m their late teens or early twenties, the romantic atmosphere of a party under the stars m the darker corners of an unexplored paddock appealed to- them. v But here the girl's story of those eventful few hours m the open ended. "What happened when the youths and firls cut their capers m the empty ection is a secret which they alone know. The threads of the tale of the nocturnal adventure were picked up again when Miss Reid was asked to relate what happened when the party disbanded. "Frank then took Mavis Bell and I to the Ritz," she told the court. "There were just the three of us, and he ordered supper." "Oh, yes, he seemed to know his way about, all right," she said m reply to her counsel. Blrss, "knew his way about" so well that he managed to get someone he knew at the Ritz to relieve him of the presence of the other girl and to arrange for him to.be left alone with Mis 3 Reid in' the supper room. At least such was her , : allegation. "Mavis came back and we left later. 1 got home about 2 a.m.," she said. Birss did not-sec her home that night, she continued, for he told her that he was going to stay at the Ritz. It was not until two months after she found she had oau6e to be concerned that Birss was made- acquainted with her condition, she admitted. Then the word was passed through her friend, Miss Bell, and Birss's "boy friend." According to what the girl then told the court, meetings were arranged between herself and Birss through their respective girl and boy friends, and he finally promised to "do something for her." It was at a dance held m the Oranee Hall that she again met Birss, she said, and when she approached him-on this occasion his greeting was not m accordance with the best manner of juvenile sheikhs, if what she told the court is true. "Shut your mouth and don't bother me m the dance hall," were the words Birss used to her, she alleged. Further evidence regarding Birss's alleged attempts to help her followed, and Miss Reid then went on to tell of a time when he accused her of being out with someone else. He told her that he had learned through Miss Bell that she had been nimiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiniiiniiniiiunui'iniiuuui

Lots of Questions

out with a boy named Alf, and by what he had heard about that occasion, he judged that she could not be m trouble. But what the girl Bell had told her friend was not true, she remarked. "I told Mavis a lie, because I didn't want her to know," she admitted. It was then, she told the court, that she again taxed Birss, and she concluded by~telling him that she would inform her mother. "I told him that my mother would take proceedings, and he said: 'Oh, do you think I'll be m Auckland,'" was her description of the interview. "He pushed me down and I 'fainted," she said. Next day he was off to Sydney and was away for about five or six months. Having been piloted through her evidence by her counsel, Mr. Clark then left her, to face the cross-exami-nation of Mr. Singer. "Why should you volunteer the information that you had been out with A.lf?" was his first question. ' "I didn't want Mavis to know that T was m trouble," was the reply. Miss Bell had" told her that she had "better watch Alf," she added. • "Who is this Alf?!' asked Mr. Singer, and he was told that he was a youth named Berwick. "Did you behave improperly with Alf?" ne then asked. The answer was a decided negative. Mr. Singer: Did you know that Mavis thought it was unfair of you to blame Frank? The girl: No. You used, to go to the Musical Box (a dance hall) m taxis, didn't you?— Not as far as I can remember. Mr. Singer: Do you remember going with some of the crew of an American ship to the Musical Box? The girl: I can't remember. I suggest that you went with them In taxis? — I can't remember. Despite- th% girl's repeated denials regarding her acquaintance with seamen, Mr. Singer continued to question her on this point, and her mother interrupted on her behalf from the rear of the court. "Between March and May you went out with firemen and deckhands, didn't you?" was his next question, but again the girl made an emphatic denial. "It's a lie," cried her mother from her seat m the court, arid Mr. Singer left it at that. The next line to -be taken by the 2ross- examination was the girl's assosiations with the youth named Alf. However, the girl denied just as emphatically as before that she had been m the habit of going out with the

youth. She said that she -was not aware that Alf had boasted m the neighborhood that he had been out with her. Again Mr. Singer tried to bring the girl's mind back to the men from the American ships, and this time she admitted that she had danced with sailors at the Musical Box. When Mavis Bell stepped into the witness-box she proved to be similar m appearance to the young complainant.; She wore a flimsy, salmoncolored .dress, and from beneath the brim of a large hat of the same color [peeped the ends of her buster-cut blonde hair. Yes, she admitted, she was one of the party m the empty section that night, and she later accompanied Birss and Miss Reid to the Ritz supper rooms. She was not pressed to tell what she knew of the open-air event, and counsel led her to recount the happenings of the sequel at the restaurant. She told the court that she had been absent from the supper room for some time, and, from what she said she saw and heard when she returned, there was a suggestion that the light had been switched off when she left Birsa and Miss Reid alone. "Birss asked me to go out of the room with another boy, and when I went back the door was shut. I called out, asking them if they were coming, and I heard the light being switched

on," was her story. Miss Reid had told her since then that Birss was responsible for her condition. Miss Bell was present at a dance some time later when she heard Birss tell another girl to "shut up or he would smack her over the mouth'" when she approached him on Miss Reid's behalf. "You did not think it was fair of Miss Reid to blame Birss because she had told you that she had been out with Alf?" suggested Mr. Singer. Miss Bell replied that she had thought it was unfair of complainant to put the blame on Birss, but she had not told her that. Mr. Singer: Did you think that Berwick was the father of her child? "Well," replied the girl, "she had been out with both of them. She could best answer that." Mavis Alice Ayre said that she was Miss Reid's cousin and had been told by her that Birss was responsible for her condition. She had not been at the party m the vacant section, but she was present at the Musical Box one ■ night when Miss Reid approached Birss. "Very well, bring your mother down, I'll be away by then," were the words j she said she heard Birss use to Miss Reid that night. | .When Birss did. not take his stand m the witness-box to deny the allegations made against him, the magistrate relied on the story told by the girl and her girl friends and made an order against him. t