AN AUCKLAND BAD BOY

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 80, 13 December 1884, Page 5

AN AUCKLAND BAD BOY

"What shall we do with our boys?" is a question that has been frequently asked for years past, and for which it seems to be most difficult to find a satisfactory answer. My idea (says a writer in a contemporary) has always been that the best plan is to give a boy a good practical education, teach him a trade, and then let him look out for h imself . But this does not seem to answer always. A gentleman living in Auckland tried it with his son, but hip experience is quite the reverse of encouraging. He gave his boy a good education, and paid a premium to have him taught a good business. The lad seemed to be conducting himself properly until the beginning of this month, but it now appears that he had got into bad company and taken to gambling. In order to obtain the funds necessary for that extremely objectionable form of amusement, he robbed his own father of £20 out of £G0 given to him with which to pay accounts, and forged his employer's name to cheques to the amount of upwards of £30. In order to save the young scoundrel from gaol, the father had to pay the amount of the forged cheques as well as bear the loss of the £20. Now, what is to be done in a case like this? No one will care to employ a lad who has proved himself so utterly devoid of honesty and principle, and it certainly would never do to allow him to to lead a life of idleness, and be a burden on the fatker whom he has robbed. A case of this sort makes one inclined to sympathise with those people in England who send out their " black sheep" to the colonies, knowing that, if they do not reform, they are so far away that they will not disgrace their friends. Perhaps we had better return the compliment and send our "bad eggs" to England.

Better than magnetism to cure deafness — Whisper to the patient about a chance to make his fortune. Professor R. Tate, lecturing at Adelaide on the climate of Australia, showed that in times comparatively recent, geologically speaking, the dry zone of Australia passed thiough several changes of climate, the present salt-water pans or lakes having originally been fresh-water basins, supporting fresh water fish and crocodiles. The remains of gigantic herbiferous animals had been found in that district, the existence of which was altogether incompatible with the present climatic conditions. Lake Eyre was an example of a contracted fresh-water basin, though, like all othor lakes in the dry region, it was now a little more than a salt pan. The salt tax is said to bo responsible for the cholera in India.