WHEN, TALKING A month or so ago-about prostitu- tion, I
said that if there had to be dirt I preferred it to be swept under the carpet, I was attacked by some correspondents for being illiberal. Others have criticised this journal for not having swept the dirt under the carpet more effectively—they object to the subject being discussed in these columns at all. I am unrepentent on both counts. The Church of England Moral Welfare Council has produced a pamphlet, The Street Offences Bill: a case for its amendment, price Is., which criticises the Butler Bill to reform the law of soliciting. The main provisions of the Butler Bill increase drastically the penalties for soliciting and abolish the present requirement of annoyance to residents or passers-by. The Bill says : 'it shall be an offence for a common prostitute to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of 'prostitution.' The Council's pamphlet does not object to the increase in penalties, but it says that the requirement to prove annoyance should be retained. It says there are three dangers in remov- ing the 'annoyance' provision.
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