THE PEA RIFLE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 25, 31 January 1911, Page 8

THE PEA RIFLE.

STILL A NUISANCE. Residents in the suburbs have complained from, time to time of the boy and the pea-rifle. Letters have been published in the papers from persons who allege narrow escapes* from tho sporting weapon of the juvenile hunter. Stories have been told of youthful sportsmen crouching under trees to bring down the innocent sparrow. Stray cats have come through the ordeal with enough of their nine lives to keep them going. It is a fact that the pearifle and its silent partner, the airgun, have their devotees as ever. Now it is against the law to discharge firearms within the city bounds, and under the Police Offences Act it is a misdemeanour for a person under sixteen to carry firearms. The Acclimatisation Society discusses the pea-rifle as an annually recurring item on its programme. Speakers are not unanimous. Some point out the deadliness of the boy's fowling piece and enumerate tho fatal accidents have have occurred again and again through its use. Others retort that the pea-rifle accustoms the youth of the country to the use of firearms, and gives them experience in ihe field that no amount of drill could furnish. Then they will remind their listeners of the beneficial effect of the miniature artillerly on rabbits. That alone is worth uhe risk to life and limb. But the ,iea-rifle still flourishes. The police have the power to prosecute in the case of breaches of the Act, but according to Inspector Ellison there have been far fewer official complaints to the authorities than there used to be. During the last six months there have been practically no instances . of prosecution, j The boys, he thinks, have become more i wary, and keep out-side the limits where- ! in the law can act. "Forewarned, forearmed," is the motto of these young > sharpshooters. If, however, residents have just complaints, they should make them at once to headquarters, and the police will take action. They have the remedy against the nuisance in their own hands.