HOAXING THE POLICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 17, 20 January 1905, Page 2

HOAXING THE POLICE.

There can be little doubt that the Burwood (N.S.W.) police are, and justifiably so, very angry. For a whole day, acting on information received, two of their number passed their time in dragging Cook's river for the body of a small boy. But no corpse, or any sign of one, rewarded their efforts, and presently it occurred to the constables that perhaps it might be as well to trace the rumour definitely to its source. Eventually * boy was found who said that another boy had told him that yet another boy had thrown the supposed drowned boy into the river. Not quite satisfied, the police continued their investigations, with the result that the whole affair turned out to be a hoax. It is eveu stated that the boy who was being so persevermgly searched for in F the limpid waters of the historically named stream was on the bank with other boys enjoying the spectacle of the policemen exerting themselves for the recovery of his body. There is, it appears, nothing in any section of the criminal law that makes such "funny business" punishable as a misdemeanour. Nevertheless, it might be as well for~the boy primarily responsible to, for a time, at any rate, put himself on his very best behaviour while within the purview of his local guardians of the peace.