Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN"

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1155, 20 June 1885, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN"

One of the mo3t difficult social problems which Colonial statesmen have to face is how to deal effectually with that obtrusive disregard for law and order which characterises a large proportion of our youth. Larrikinism in some of the neighboring Colonies amounts to a social pest ; and its baneful influence is beginning to pervade the ranks of the rising generation of this Colony. In Melbourne, the larrikin is an evil bird, and no carrion is too filthy for his talons. For years he has held high carnival when and where his mood promptpd ; and the police have been absolutely powerless to check his outrages. The influence of the old penal settlements may, in some measure, account for the more glaring phases of riotous conduct, miscellaneously included in the category of larrikinism but, undoubtedly, by far the greater park of it has its origin in laxity of parental control, as much as in vicious home example. The education of the larrikin is a gradual process ) and in strict accordance with all known rules of human development he glides along the downward path by a sure process of degrading gravitation. He begins at home by first questioning the right qf his parents to control his waywardness, and folio wg that up by open defiance of the authority of his natural guardians. Wandering about in the streets at night, and mixing with doubtful company, where the accomplishments of smoking and swearing are rapidly acquired, is the next step; for the larrikin is always a slave to the benumbing influence of the weed, and an adept at using unpronouncable language. Molesting the public and interjecting rude remarks to passing females are further developments of the animal; and in process of time this is followed up by attacks upon the police and acts of wanton viciousness such as society has good cause to tremble before. The criminal ranks are swelled from those of the larrikin, and the latter sooner or later finds his way to prison. Offences against the person of an . aggravated kind are every day occurrences in some of the Colonies; and the authorities are at their wits' ends in regard to suppressing a rapidly-growing evil., In Sydney, where the larrikin has ruled rampant for a number of years, , outraged justice has got beyond the limit of further endurance, and the lash is applied in all glaring cases of rowctyism,, especially in the case of offences against the person; , Garroting was completely suppressed in London under itne healthful influence of the lash, and we feel satisfied that the only cure for the more glaring cases of larrikinism wijl be found in the , same invigorating stimulus. We have no patience with, those, who prate of. "superabundance of animal spirits " and " wild oats," and the like sickly sentiments. The larrikin is a criminal to all intents and purposes from the outset of his downward career ; and as such' he must be clealt with. . Though the intentions, of those who. would coax and pet -him in,to a better, way may be, good, still such are to be pitied for j their misdirected energies. - Order is Heaven's first law, !and< before the larrikin: can be permitted to re-enter the social circle from which he has himself 'receded, 1 he' must f[rst conform to the unwritten! as well as to the written code of social ! usage. We are pleased to notice that ithe Jjfewr Zealand authorities mean to 1 check the jrfsing tide of larrikinism at its first flood. The fnjtiatfye has been taken by authorising the' police in t WfilHagton to.keep a sharp lookout for all chp^nj^ujaaccoißpanied, by adult friends, found in the' streets after dark. The police have been instructed to take the names of such and to communicate with their parents, so as to give them

due warning to exercise the necessary control over their offspring. "While it is to be regretted that general police surveillance is necessary, still it is better; to interfere with the; liberty of the, subject—- especially when'" the sub. j§d^4B & I'prinor— 4haji,,tb aflow larrikinism t"6 haVe fftflpplafy.' Of course the police will use their powers with the utmost discretion, and youths who conduct themselves in a strictly orderly manner will not be interfered with ; 'tittf; "aV€li6"Bdime time, parents should see to jit, that- they know where their boys — aye, and girls, too — are after dark. .„.-..... Among the more glaring evils of our social system, gaming is one which it has been attempted to place under the control of the law ; but in spite of all attempts to regulate games of chance^ f wholesale of the* la^r in th| matter is made in the v most .public manner. Such offences as pe,tjbylarceny ? obtaining money under false pretences. &c., even in the smallest! amounts, are speedily brought under the scope of the law ; but huge gambling transactions and systematic swindling, provided they be done in a wholesale way, are perfectly legal. Why this is so, only those who make, or more often mar, our laws can tell. "Whether the defects in the law relating to gaming and lotteries are of malice pre pense, or the result of sheer incompetence on the part of our legislators, we know not ; but it is only too strikingly evident that it is quite easy to drive a horse and cart through the statute bearing upon the subject. In the Gaming and Lotteries Act a feeble attempt was made to suppress sweeps and consultations ; but anyone taking a cursory glance at the advertising columns of the Press of the Colony must be at once convinced that the Act has failed lamentably in this particular, for gaming transactions of the greatest magnitude are openly placed before the public in connection with every race meeting, while minor transactions of a comparatively harmless nature are placed under the ban of tho law. There is very little use in the police attempting to secure convictions under the Act, for clever rogues can easily get behind it, and laugh in their sleeve. A statute so easily evaded as the Gaming and Lotteries Act tends to bring law into contempt. By it the Chinese national game of " fan-tan " is prohibited, while the most glaring forms of gaming are legalised. It is as though petty larceny were punishable by long terms of imprisonment, while daring burglary and bank robbery were harmless pastime. No doubt it was the intention of our law-makers to put down public gaming j but that the existing statute has notably failed to do. The more transparent defects in the Act will be remedied in the contemplated amendment during the present session, and the whole law relating to games of chance placed on a more equitable basis.