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Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 28, 3 January 1885, Page 2

woman onT^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H the reprehensit^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H being dischargc<^^^^^^^^^^^^^| girl, (says )he Wai^^^^^^^^^^H is engaged as lioiisei^^^^^^^^^^^f Victoria Hotel, had from a very serious i^^^^^^^^^H cracker exploded on her c^^^^^^^^H it severely. Had it struck^^^^^^^J the eyes the loss of sight probably been the consequer^^^^^H high time such wicked, wantoa^Q|^| were stamped out, and that the livesoP women and children should not bo at the mercy of a lot of hoodlums who think it a li lark " to throw a lighted and explosive firework m the face of the passerby on such occasions as the one referred to. It is quite as bad as vitrol throwing, and wo feel sure that any one convicted of such ruffianism, for it is nothing else, would receive a severe lesson from the presiding iudge. We hope this is the last of such work and that the police and the people themselves will put Jit down before anyone is injured for life, if not fatally. We can quite endorse the above comments on this reprehensible practice. In the Square both last evening and the evening before tho dangerous game was carried on with tho utmost impunity, our guardian of the peace calmly surveying the scene of danger and disorder with unmoved equanimity, never even raising a protest against the behaviour of which so many had cause to complain. Few escaped annoyance or injury from fireworks deliberately aimed at them, and ladies were m many cases m a state of great alarm. A few words, from the police would have put a stop to tb.9 senseless behaviour indulged m, but so far as we have been able to learn the constable took not the slightest trouble to check the practice, though ho had ample powers to do so. A public street, and m the midst of a crowd, is no place to indulge m the indiscriminate letting off of fireworks, by which the loss of sight, or a dangerous or fatal accident might easily have been caused, as happened m Wellington not many years ago. The danger from fire, too, is most apparent, and when lads are allowed to drag around m a crowd of people flaming firebrands composed of i inflammable and explosive materials, the wonder is that no casually has had to be recorded. We hope such scenes as were enacted m the Square on Thursday and Friday evenings will never again be witnessed m Palmerston, and that m future the police will exercise an intelligent discretion m the instant suppression of any practice calculated to eudanger or annoy the inhabitants or likely to cause acciI dent or disaster.