LARRIKINISM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 838, 23 March 1888, Page 15

LARRIKINISM.

ro THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND MAIL. Sir, —Allow me through the columns of your valuable paper to draw the attention of the powers that be to a circumstance that really requires immediate and decided action. I would not do so were not all the representations I made to the police myself ineffectual. The larrikin element in our midst does not ouly become a nuisance, but practically becomes a danger to peaceful and quiet citizens. That this is no exaggeration the following occurrenc, of which I was an eye-witness on Saturday, the 17th, will palpably prove. On that day I had occasion to visit an old friend of mine who occupies on lease the corner section on the Tinakori-road going toward Kaiwhara. He is an inoffensive quiet gentleman, and, until he has built his house, lives in a tent. This apparently rouses the indignation of ' a band of grown-up and smaller larrikins of the neighborhood, who have made it a regular practice daily to pelt his humble domicile with stones and other missiles. Nay, even to climb over the fence and destroy in a good many instances property belonging to him. I myself saw them throw stones big enough to make holes in the tent and to destroy any dog or other animal that might .happen f° he behind the high fence. When events took such a turn that I could not stand it any longer, I went to the Police Office to request on behalf of my friend their intervention. They promised to see to it, but did not succeed in putting the nuisance down. I purposely stopped with my friend on Saturday night, and we had to put up all Sunday morning with the danger of being pelted out of our domicile or injured by the missiles sent at us by our tormentors. Surely tho police ought to protect quiet citizens from such annoyances as these. —I am, &c.,

An Eye Witness.