THE FOUL-MOUTHED YOUTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 51, 28 February 1878, Page 4

THE FOUL-MOUTHED YOUTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

We reproduce the following from the Auckland Herald, not because the state of things described is different from, bat beoause it is sd Startiidgly similar to, what may be observed in and about most large towtf in New Zealand by those who will only use their eyes and their ears :•— . A geiitliiihan, who, says the Herald, bas do reason for exaggerating the immensity of the evil he describes, writes on the subject of the growing depravity of the rising generation of Auckland : — "Inter dU<i," he eayß, "I was unfortunately compelled to travel on foot over a large extent of ground in this city, the suburb., and tbe neighboring towns, a few Sundays ago. In the early morning some thirty or forty young reprobates of what a lady writer well calls the ' detestable age,' had got up a fight oh the heights near the corner of the Ponsonby-road and College-street. Tbe scene was disgusting beyond expression, and the language ÜBed would have disgraced a bullock driver in the convict days of Australia. I could not avoid speaking to them on this desecration of the Sabbath day, but was Boon assailed not only with hoots but stones, and I had to retire. Below the extreme end of the road, whioh terminates iu a very abrupt descent towards the mouth of Cox's Creek, another party of youog reprobates were disporting themselves In the tide, and the beastliness of their language was scarcely equalled by tbe filthy mud and water in which they were wallowing like so many hogs. I then crossed the fields, and B9veral small picturesque rivulets or creeks, and in one large waterhole, almost under the very Foundation of Warnock's ■oap factory, about fifteen more young demons were splashing about, varying the silvery sound of the little waterfall with the harsh croakingsof their undeveloped manly voices The language was of, the most horribly blasphemous kind here also. After this I walked to Panmure. Even in this pretty village the youthful orgies were going on, and having scrambled down the cliffs of the Tamaiki to rest beside the water, I was ■oon assailed by a shower of clods thrown at me. It would have been absurd for an elderly gentleman to have given chase,. In this place, also, the profanity was horrible. I went to the police station to report the affair, but on the way, considering it would have been useless, contented myself with asking for a drink of water. From Panmure to Otahuhu all was quiet, but near tbe latter plaoe a game of cricket was going on, and the players were exhorted or discouraged by more of tbe same kind of language. Onehunga was tolerably quiet, but in one oul-of-the way part of the town the übiquitous youth candidates for hempen seckloths had discovered a poor drunken wretch lying on the grass at the side of the road, and were assailing him with all the delight and ferocity of dogs baiting a bear. At Newmarket several groups of these undersized brats from twelve to twenty years of age were sitting on the doorsteps and window ledgeß, and annoying all passersby with offensive and disgusting remarks. The grass and the seats on Constitution Hill were similarly occupied, the breakwater and tbe adjacent sheds also contribute their quota to tbe general fund of amusement ; and even the main artery of the city itself burst iorth iu places, where the policeman was not, in torrents of abuse."