The Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1872.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1475, 19 November 1872, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1872.

The reoordr. of the Christchurch Resident Magistrate's Court-, yesterday, afford another instance o? an offence which uni'ortuualeJy haa of late not been infrequent in the streets of Chriatchurch. Throe young men, of the respective a»es of 21, 19, and 18 years wore convicted of insulting and •assaulting females in a public thoroughfare on the previous Sunday evening, au<l ihe.raogL-itrftte in ■snflici.ing a heavy pecuniary penalty, expressed his regret that tha law did not give him the power to order Jho delinquents to be Jlugged. Oaly.fiboufca fortnight previous ■: two youths had : been heavily fined f.. ■!' a similar ofrl'nc?. and but a

t'evr wt?e!-3 r.go a posse of boys were charged with rn-:»i,jiiUig.u girl— whom they shamefully iiiirc-aied — whilst on her way borne fVoin a! tending a reli' gi-.:>iß jcrvioe in i!;c OiV.-Jcrirury Mtoic ,-lia!l. It is jnonsfro.us. that; females ,c;iuu«t walk tl:e;-:tr:-c:s -after nightfall, without being cu'i.j-.vfc Lo iuruiit frum group:? of youthful -rnil'iaris such as '•Ufost*. -a ho havn lately m \clo tbe-ir ap■pesrszice "boforo Ihu il^idenfc Magistrate of piu-ifctohiii-oh. infliction 9l % p'?vuoiiU l y ponnUy is ho adrqvihte puVtishmoui ; imprisonment with hard labour, .in. the eciu-ralily of cases, vroul'd only lc::tl Lo !uuk« i.he offenders woi'i-e/hcoaua-j they would, in a greater or lcs:icv dc-grce, have- feu associate with those vebo svcri:- h:\rdeiKiil in ••.critne. There appeara to ba only 0110 mods of punishimut cu'loiiiiited eiUif-r to prevent a rep.i'-titior. o! H-e rfieti^e by the Br-.iio pnriioa ov to uetcr othcra fro.in iconiuil; ;•■!;■ it. T.io pu!i : shinont foe thoao wiio in.uH -an-d ui/i'&o females "nhoul-.F b-.j faiic-sl, hii.u*|:- sn.d fJeciuivo. .For boy y, ten i-vniy strokes of the er<i:O of bir-jh ; &yd for hi on, the suasion oi Iho " ii:u l ia!cs-i e t "it" vigorously ■"appliiid io th? i-a'rcd hack would hnvo a beneficial' effict. We are 110 advocates for the . mdiserijijiui'ite use of puui^hment. at the same iirae we have no syirspaH-.y with that spufiinenfc which tvould allow ruißi-r,!:--.?!! to >;r> on c-.nirpai'atively uucheclted bueauso of Jbo degrading nature of the chnstisoinent. . . Ttie source of these street assaults

• •on '{i-jmtiea lies far deeper than many •people imagine; tvnd iv considering thia subject ifc wouid be vvoll to bear in ; . mind this; truism — "Tho viciuua boy ia ■ but the father of the clangorous man." How is ifc that numbers of youths — "from tha boy of ten to the lad of eighteen — aveallowod to wander in the ' streets, uffcer nightfall, congregating at '*■ the street corners, smokiug, insulting -, almost every passenger by üßing disgusting language, and often 1 accom- >, priny their insulbs with a shower of istones? What does thia indicate ? — What, but the absonce of parental con- .; trol. If iaquiry be made, in nine cases ' out of ten, it will be found that home " rnfluenop, home example have a ten- ' '-dency to evil rather than good; that * very little moral control is exercised at but little moral training given

there, and hence the children growing up thus neglected by their parents, seek the streets to find there that recreation which ought to exist at home. It is to this — waut of parental control, of parental good example — that the preeeuce of our City Arabs may be attributed i for, be it remembered, that il is not here as in the old country, pinching poverty that drives the juveniles into the streets to pick up a scanty subsistence. Their presence there is simply the result- of the cruel neglect of their parents, who are often iv comfortable circumstances. It is ;tn old saying, but it ia a true one — " Train up a child in the way he should go, and, when he ia old, ho will not depart from it;" and those parents who allow their children to wn.jder in the streets ore training them up to become pests, instead of useful members of society ; they are wanting in their duty to their ofi'dpring, to society, and to God.