BOYS AND RIFLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 96, 24 April 1922, Page 4

BOYS AND RIFLES.

RECKLESS SHOOTING. EAST TAMAKI WOMAN'S ESCAro. It is stated that a very dangerous practice is growing 'in our more distant suburbs, boys camping out and using firearms in a reckless manner. Some of these lads are declared to be in possession of .303 service rifles. A resident of East Tamaki and lis wife were walking on their property'on - • Sunday afternoon when a bullet whizzed past their heads. The husband, who is a returned soldier, declares that the bullet passed within a few inches of _i wife and that he heard a distinct thud as it buried itself into some rising ground behind her.

"When I returned to the house," he said, "I asked my son and another lad— [ both Territorials—whether there were' « any boys about with rifles, and was informed that there were two camps on the river, the boys at which had Government rifles and cartridges. I asked where they got the cartridges from, and thry merely smiled. Apparently it is an easy matter for these lads to secure Government ammunition. Ta_- '

ing the contour of the country, I should say that bullet was fired from a distance of thretf-quarters of a mile. Ont my way there is general complaint regarding the number of young lads who go about using firearms."