AFTER DARK
SCENES IN THE GARDENS
MR JUDKINS’S EXPERIENCES
At the third conference held by
the council of the
Social Reform Bureau, at the Assembly-hall, Collins-street, yesterday
afternoon, Mr WH
Judkins dealt with some of the outstanding features of night life in
Melbourne. The Rev AR
Edgar presided over the meeting, which was well attended.
Mr Judkins, in the course of his address, said:-
“The question
which engages our attention in not a pleasant thing to discuss.
It is the last thing
any decent-minded man cares to speak about, but there are certain evils
existing in our
midst which should be brought before the minds of men in this community
who, if the liked,
could do away with them. The facilities for wrongdoing are
tremendous. Houses of
ill-repute are scattered all over Melbourne. Yet there is no
attempt on the part of
Government to clear them out. Legislation exists to enable them
to do it. Take
Sydney, for instance. Sydney is a clean city now compared with what it
was a few years
ago, due entirely to the possession of an energetic
superintendent of police.
It is not legal to keep an immoral house, yet hundreds exist. I
am talking of things
I have seen. The present Government seems to think that if a
reputable citizen
speaks of anything he has seen it is sufficient if someone else says he
does not think
such a thing exists to induce it to do nothing. On Sunday
night fortnight,
after doing some private detective work in connection with the gambling
dens (work no
private citizen should be asked or forced to do for himself, it is a
thing which a
policeman of average intelligence should be able to find out) I went
through two small
sections of our public parks. Those sections were chosen by a
friend and myself at
random. The first was about half the length of the block between
Exhibition and
Russell streets. We went in at a gate from the roadway, and
there on a little
green spot, about the same size as this church, were 30 couples,
taking no more
notice of passer-by than if they did not exist. (Cries of
“Shame!” and “Awful!”) At another place
in a park not much bigger, if we saw one we saw one hundred
couples. I was
going to say they were shop girls, but I do not wish to hurt the
feelings of any one
class. They were girls you might sit beside in the train, and
imagine they were your
own daughters. You might have received them in you own
houses. And, as
they leave early, they might be home again by 9 or 10 o’clock, and
their parents
never have their suspicions raised. To get at the real state of
things, you only
have to multiply those small areas we visited by the total areas of the
city parks.
All the Premier would say when told of the existence of such things was
that he hoped the
statement did not apply to the whole of Melbourne. If the police
will only arrest a
few of the couples they see in the parks on charges of indecent
behaviour, our public
gardens would soon be cleared. Surely it is not right for people
to be allowed to do
at night what it would be wrong to do in the daytime. Such apathy
as has been shown
by the authorities ought to be enough to warrant the overthrow of a
government. All
the parks and gardens should be thoroughly lighted. I understand
that when Mrs
Strong, the wife of Rev. Dr. Strong, bought this question before a high
civic official,
the only reply she got was that it would cost too much. I do not
think the parks
should be closed. It made my heart stand still to read Dr
Mackillucuddy’s
evidence, reported in this mornings papers, that 200 cases of a certain
kind come under
his notice in a years practice. I have not overstated the case as
regards facts, and
again as regards education I should like to see proper information
imparted to scholars by
their parents, and in the state schools by educated men and women with
big hearts.
The following motion was moved by Mr Judkins, and
seconded by the Rev
JH Cain, of the central mission, who strongly advocated seeking the
assistance of the
Premier (Mr Murray):-
“This conference urges the Government to enforce the
law with
regard to indecent practices in our parks and gardens.”
“It also urges those responsible for the supervision
of our parks
and gardens to light them at night so thoroughly that persons may not
find opportunity for
immorality.”
“That a deputation wait upon the Premier and the
Lord Mayor at the
earliest moment to urge them to take effective action forthwith.”
After the president and the Revs Percy Knight, J
Sinclair, T Neilson, R
Ditterich, Worrall and all others had spoken to the motion, it was
carried unanimously.
From THE ARGUS 23rd August 1910 page 8
