THE EVENING MAIL, WEDNESDAY, FEB 14, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 254, 14 February 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL,

WEDNESDAY, FEB 14, 1877.

Word* M* thinir*. and a drop ot ink, fallin? upon a tHbtMh# may ptoduua that which makes thousands UUnlt."

MCCS alarm is evinced both in this and the neighboring Colonies at the rapid spread of rowdiness and larrikin ism, and the admitted impoteney of the police authorities' fct> (ileal with, or curb the eviL Victoria wb team that to such a length has the nuisance gone, that there are novr in almost every township in that Colony regularly organised bands of ruugha, presided over and subject to a greater scoundrel than his fellows, who is grandiloquently dubbed the Captaiii, and ao great is their numerical strength that they can openly set tho police at det'uint,'i\ and carry on their ta'.vteas conduct in open (Jay, Amongst the body there is what is called the Relief Fund, contributed to by •Q the members, and should the strong arm of the law assert its supposed power, and get one of the delinquents within it* clutches, the tine impound is immediately pai<| out of this common purse, t ndev those circumstances, it must be apparent to all that the imposition of a tine upon conviction is nothing more or less than a mere Farce. With money easily obtained, probably fey any other way than hottest industry, the infliction of a tine, and the liberation of their champion upon such terms, is looked upon by those ruthans rather in the light of a triumph than a punishment* A very few days since, a parcel of those scoundrels congregated in one of the suburbs of Melbourne, and, by their lawless and riotous conduct, actually Amlcl the place in a state »f siege, the inbeing too frightened to leave their dwellings. A powe of police, after a hard ■truggle, succeeded in securing a few of the laadera, a feat which was only ae«ompK»hed at much personal risk, and Aiwi|l> foßqa of stones and other One should have imagined that aneh a iMon would have been taught by the TMw?** as would prove a potent damper to the fiery spirit* of those young bloods, mtiA that a lengthy imprisonment, accomymiV with an introduction to hard labor, would have the effect of bringing tffiffHftwfly to their aensea, and instil mtmp tel for kw and. order in the future,

Instead, however, of any such punishment being inflicted, the Bench ordered the payment of a fine of £2 in each case, and the money was forthwith handed in by the treasurer of the precious baud, and the champions borne away in triumph, only to repeat thetr little pleasantries on the earliest opportunity. Perhaps there is no place in the world where rowdiness and ruffianism is so rampant as in the United States. New York, with its Bowery Boys, Dead Rabbits, and Mackerel Boy 3; Baltimore, with its Plug Uglics; New Orleans, with its Sling Shutters; and San Francisco, with its ; Hoodlums —all competing for the palm in : acoundrelism and rascality. In America, : however, they are a power in the State, i which neither Magistrate nor Judge, PoliI tieiatt nor Minister, can afford to otiend, | and the immunity extended to the per- ; petrafcora of the foulest outrages is the I cause of the existence aud perpetuation of ! stteh a power. In the Colonies, however, j although the effect is the same, the cause arises from a different source. Here the Magistrate or the Judge is not elected by ! the people, and consequently has no incentive to shut his eyes to the most tla- [ grant breaches of the law. He need not be swayed by any personal motive in administering justice, as in the States, where the Judges and Magistrates arc elective, and consequently arc dependent Upon the suffrages of the people for their ! positions, and, as is well known, the ! roughs and rowdies are, in a great men- : sure, the " people" at the polling booths. Notwithstanding alt tht3, however, the fact stilt remains that there is a lament»bte absence in dealing witn those tro- ! tpient outrages of that firmness and determination which the matter demands, and without which it will be impossible to Stamp out the evil. Some few years since, the English nation was shaken to its foundation by the frequency and daring of the outrages committed by the gurroters, and some considerable time elapsed before a remedy was provided. However, the introduction o£ t\e lash proved be a mo.it wholesome repressive agent, an I the crime of gal-voting ts now unknown in t!ie calendar. From an Engtis'i paper lately to hand, we notice that Mr. Justice Kenim has just administered a very severe but salutary lesson to the roughs of Dublin. A band was passing a Roman Catholic Church during the hours of worship, and the constable having asked the bandmaster to stop playing, was told to " stand back, and struck in the mouth v.-ith the bandmaster's staff with such violence that his teeth were shoved down his throat. A general riot ensued, in the course of which the police got roughly handled, stones and bricks being hulled at them with telling force. Four of the ringleaders were secured and brought to trial, during which Mr. Justice Kf,o«;u commented strongly on the dastardly and savage nature or the attack, and sentenced the four prisoners to five years' penal servitude. The severity of the punishment, it would appear, cause*! a great sensation in Court. : Were our Colonial Magistrates and Judges only to follow such an admirable example, not only would the sentence cause a sensation in Court, and out of Court, but it would prove a wholesome deterrent to a repetition of those unpleasant episodes 1 which so often occupy the attention of the flench, and it would act as a check upon the too buoyant spirits of the class to whom we have alluded.