HERE WE HAVE IT, MORAL DUDGEON ON THE ISSUES OF THE DAY: In keeping with our new editorial policy of high moral dudgeon freely exercised across the broad spectra of human activity, The Passing Parade notes with no little distaste the recent apprehension by Australian authorities of a woman attempting to bring tropical fish into Australia in her clothing. We do not believe that the Australian authorities, or any other country’s authorities, for that matter, should be in the business of censoring fashion statements. If today’s young people wish to wear aquaria then what business is it of the Australian government? Will the Australian government hire, at who knows how much expense to the taxpayer, a new layer of bureaucrats whose only role in life will be to monitor the fashions worn by visitors to the land down under and exclude those who do not meet some spurious and no doubt completely arbitrary standard of taste or utility?

Clearly the Australian government has better things to do with its time and energy than decide whether or not the local citizenry may view this year’s fall fashions, especially since it will be spring there when it is fall here. If the Australian government wishes to do something worthwhile for its citizens in the fashion realm, it can devote some small portion of its resources to the problem of mismatching seasons; the fashion conscious Australian is currently either a season ahead or a season behind, and the government, which has time and money to waste stopping American fashion fads from sweeping the countryside from Sydney to Perth, appears to have no plan for aligning Australia’s seasons with the rest of the fashion conscious world. Let the Australian government tend to this problem first and the problem of aquatic fashions will take care of itself.