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NZ Truth, Issue 58, 28 July 1906, Page 8

The practical joker who sends in false alarms to the Fire Brigade had better look to himself. If detected and proved miiltv he need expect no mercy. Gaol, without the option, will be his punishment, and quite right too ! For months past the brigades have been turning out in answer to alarm-box calls and arrivine on the scene v of /the alleged fire onl" to find that it was a hoax. For thus shamefully befooling an invaluable institution , a youth named Peper was just saved from gaol, last* Tuesday, at the Police Court, bv the persuasive eloquence of Tom Wilford, and a fine was inflicted. There will be no fine in the next case— leniency will be a silly mistake. Wanganui "Tit-Bits" found a titbit in the fact that its writer, "Autolycus," twaddles about, as under : ;'Our contemporary, the, "Chronicle," has an indiscreetly suggestive leading article in its Thursday issue on the unsavoury subject o{ "Juvenile Immorality." I cannot tbink that such topics can toe advantageously discussed in the columns of a daily newspaper which is . read by all sorts and conditions of men, women, and children. It is hard to handle pitch without being defiled, and it is folly to be -wise 'when ignorance is ftliss." Now, could narrow-minded folly, further go ? What is an honest Press for if ( not to safeguard the morals of the community; and a smug silence on subjects needing ventilation is not the way to •do it.