Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1897. WANTED.-A CURFEW LAW.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10697, 27 August 1897, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1897. WANTED.-A CURFEW LAW.

Shall we have to reverb to a onifaw law in New Zealand to combat the growing spirit of larrikiiijm? Happily, even in oar largest towns,, we have no anon development) cf the larrikin epliii as the " push " In the chief ottlea of Anitralla. In the initial stage onr youths are more mlsohevlous than aotnally vloloua. They nevertheless do a good deal of damage, as well aa oanse mnoh annoyaocs. They break gas-lampa, throw stones at windows, especially In nnoccupled home*, pnll down fencing, break or root np young trees, jostle peaceable passeogers in the streets at night, and too often assail the ears with oaths and vilelangußgo. Things have came to saah a pass, even In little Napier— and the nuisance is worse In the larger oltlei— that ladles are afraid to venture ont at nights, especially on Saturdays, without male escorts. Bat even this is not the worst. There Is a daiker side to the piotnre. Any man and woman anxious for the future of the rising generation who will perambulate Hastlogs-etreet on a Saturday night mast be a track with the extraordinary freedom —perhaps license, would be the better word— whloh parents allow their ohlldren, girls as well as boys. The wonder is not that some girls fall from vlrtno, and that some boys Had their way to nn Industrial school, or gaol, bub that mora do nob go wrong. There seems to ba no attempt at parental control on the part of many fathers and mothers. No eire is taken of ths companions their boys and girls select. A telegram iv yesterday's isena stated that of 16 oases whioh will come before the Sapreme Court at Wellington next week no fewer than clae are for breaches of the law relating to the Bge of consent, The N mo Zealand Times, in commenting upon the evidence adduced at the Resident Magistrate's Courb, declared that the worst of these girls, and apparently the oorruptor of some of the others, Is only ten years of e-gs. Yet she bad no sense of shame, end laughed brazenly at the worst details In the shameful evldeuce adduced. Our readers will not have forgotten a similar horrible revelation In Napier Borne years ego. Yet suoh exposures are only es strawß showing the trend of a wide current of immorality both among boys and girls That and other vices are dlstlnatly traceable, la a very large measure, to children being allowed to roam the streets at night, Io in limply ehooklng to see the boys and glrla of tender age who may be seen any night at ten or even later skylarking in the streets, In come American cities the evil has grown to snoh proportions that a onr* few law has been passed to check tb. Ne« braska led the way, and Indiana followed. In reply to a question aa to tha worklog of the law, the Mayor of the town of North Flatte, Neb., recently said, "The curfew law hna given entire satisfaction. ] If yon have offioera to enforoe the law you i will nob be disappointed. We ring our < boll In winter evenlogs at 8 snd In summer evenlogs at 9. All ohlldren under 17 ■ year* are required to be off the streets ' unless with their parents or on an errand, ! This law haa been Id force here aeveral 4 years." Mr J. S. Ostrander, Mayor of t Richmond, lod , wrote :— " Our ourfew o law is woiklog admirably. It never did ' give ua any trouble exoept the first few days, As soon as It was found that the law would ba enforced the youngsters took alarm, and now when the bell rings they lose no time In getting home. We strike the bell at 8 o'olook from November Ist to April Ist, and from April Ist to November Ist at 9. Our law ooverg all under 16. There li do question that a uurfew law properly enforced Is of great benefit to the order and morals of a olty." Similar testimony oomei from equally reliable souroes, and the trend of publlo jpiolon lo the States is In the direction cf jnforciog a general ourfew law. Mr fcddon brought In a similar bill In our Parliament last year or the year before, ;ut there wrs bo mnoh talk about infereiing with the liberty of the mbjeot that le dropped It like a hot potato, Ooodneia cnows we In New Z >aland have not been oslow to limit the liberty of grown-up objects that we need ba afraid of curtailng undue latitude allowed to ohlldren by sreleis parents. Saou carelessness it a rime against family life and the welfare 1 the State, and It the moral tense of the ' ommunlty li not enough to cheok it the teoog aim o( the taw mait be Invoked, i