LARRIKINISM.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1814, 26 October 1874, Page 2

LARRIKINISM.

Larrikinism has been tolerated so long, and its more violent manifestations hare been dealt with in such, a maudlin and half-hearted way by magistrates, that it has come to be recognised at on* of the institutions of the colony. And, under the circumstances named, the evil has assumed proportions of sufficient magnitude to justify special legislation for its correction and repression. As it is a form of ruffianism which is new to colonial society, it ha 3 been found necessary to coin an epithet whereby to designate it.. In many respects, however, it resembles that outburst of violence in London, from the Eestoration downwtads, when "dissolute young gtntw^ien swaggered by night about the^.tgmi, breaking windows, upsetting sedans, beating quiet men, and offering rude caresses to pretty women." The perpetrators of these acts were known as Muns%' Tityre, Tvs, Hectors, Scourers, Nickers, and Hawcubites; but they are best remembered as Mohawks, because they hare been embalmed as such in the pages of the Spectator, The outrageous spirit which formerly animated these " sons of Belial flown with insolence and wine," has simply descended to another grade of society, and the Victorian larrikin is the modern representative of the roystering gallants who filled the streets with tumult and disorder, when Steel* was writibg to" lovely Mrs. Scurlock" that he was •'dead drunk for her sake," and when 4-ddisop.V hand used to shake very much

►m tho morning because ho wa« in the habit of drinking a good deal of hock overnight. Our prosperity seems to have had. the same demoralising effect upon society in Victoria, which the oscape fora ilie intolerable yoke of Puritanism had. upon ■ociety in London during the second half of the seventecth and the, early part of tho eighteenth centuries. And the evil has been aggravated in our case by the utter laxity of domestic discipline and the feebleness of parental authority which prevail in this colony. The larrikin' is the offspring of indulgence and neglect. His conduct is the expression of an untutored, uninformed, headstrong, and aggressive will. He is an unbroken colt, whose natural viciousness has never been restrained or curbed by bit or bridle, rein or martingale. Nor is ho to be found in the lower strata of society exclusively. Both the male and female animal of this repulsive species are to be met with among our nouveciiix riches. When the Irish bog-trotter has made a fortune by tavernkeeping, and the Scotch gillie has become ' an opulent flock-owner, and the English pßatß#€W miner has, acquired affluence in 'hnvwo%%, -mining, or otherwise, they pive tolir children what they believe to be the best of educations. But their sons and daughters form associations and acquire habits which tend to engender a feeling of contempt in their mind 3 for their illiterate and plodding progenitors, whose ignorance and. gaucharie they ridicule, and whose wealth they are impatient to inherit. And thus their parents lose all influence over them, and the children whose maxim is simply to enjoy,' grow up in habits of prodigality and »elf-indul-gence. In the case of larrikins of the lowest grade—the young ruffians who hold high carnival on Sundays, who break into public houses in order to loot tho stock of liqours in the bar, who get .up prizefights as an outlet for their exuberant animal spirits, and who exhibit their valour by assaulting women and children —they have been brought up, for the most part, in habitations which are not homes, and are just aa unfamiliar with moral restraint as with mental training. At an early age when they ought 1o be at school they are earning their own livelihood, either wholly or in part. They can a wear as fluently as any full corporal in the army to which Uncle Toby was attached ; they can drink like Bardolph, and smoke like a chimney. Individually, they are currish, but when ten or a dozen of them set upon a solitary policeman, their capacity for kicking and stoning is very great indeed. They are the terror of all tho quiet people in the neighborhood they infest; and as. we shutout from these social outlaws all civilising influences on a Sunday, except those which may be associated with acts of religious worship—which do not appear to bo attractive to them—that day is consecrated by the larrikin to rioting, pugilism, drunkenness and disorder. It was high time, therefore, that the Legislature should arm the police and ' those who are charged with the administration of justice with special powers for the repression or mitigation of this flagrant evil. The measure brought in by Mr. Anderson does not come before it is urgently wanted. If parents refuse to nip it in the bud by the proper training of th<nr children at home, and insist upon " sparing the rod," they will now do so with the full knowledge that, by so doing, they may hereafter subject their offspring to the cane, under all the ignominious and humiliating circumstances surrounding the infliction of such a punishment by a police officer. And it is to be hoped that magistrates will not be restrained by any humanitarian sentiments from inflicting the severest penalty sanctioned by the law upon larrikins convicted of outrageous eouduct. This will prove to be the truest humanity in tho long run, because the puniihment will not require to be repeated. The larrikin is necessarily a bully, and the bully is necessarily a coward. He shrinks from the endurance of physical pain. He is ready enough to be cruel, and even ferocious, to those who ' are weaker than himself, but he winces under suffering. Hi 3 poltroonery is quite commensurate with his ruffianism. Hence the mere knowledge that by indulging in the latter, he will expose his back to the cat-o'-nine-tails, and that no mistaken commiseration for his feelings will be allowed to interpose between the offence and its appropriate punishment, will operate as a, salutary check upon 3iis violent propensities. The payment of a fine merely subjects him to some temporary inconvenience, and a short term of imprisonment soon comes to an end; but the stroke of a cane, wielded by a ■trongarm, abrades the thickest skin, and causes the strongest nerves to quiver. It may be inhuman; but so are the act* which have provoked and justify it, and make its employment requisite^ for the protection of society. —Australasian.

Eveky description of Dyeing and Cleaniag clone on the elaortosfc notice afc the Thames Djjpiog lfstablishment, near com3r of Kichxcdgl and Eolleston-atrccts. —Advt. l*manwho has lived next door ttra sebbol for ten years says he can see no sense ia calling anyone "a gentleman and a scholar." > A traveller returned from Patagonia remarks that the natives are gentle, affable, and sociable, their greatest drawback being that they are cannibals. —American paper. The remark of a severe lady who said that " male" is only " mule" spelt wrong is supplemented by a bachelor's declaration that, according to Latin authorities, a woman is mulicr. DiFFtrgioN of Literary Tastes.-* " How is this, Chawles ? I gave you eight volumes to change, and you've only brought five J" " Please, mm, haven't quite finished the first set down-stairs J" —Punch.. .