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Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2774, 24 April 1890, Page 2

Larrikinism is a subject that is continually being brought under our notice by our correspondents, and we occasionally get ocular and oral demonstrations that our own town is not devoid of the element. In the Old Country there is a genus known as " roughs" that are somewhat similar to the colonial larrikins, and yet, even they differ very greatly in a most essential point, viz., the age at which they develop the proclivity to become a nuisance to their fellow creatures. It is seldom that the rough exhibits this tendency until he is fourteen or fifteen years of age; but the larrikin is more precocious and embarks in the business almost as soon as he has got clear of his mother's apron strings, and from that period until he gets married or is sent to gaol— one or the other which usually happens between the age of 16 and 22 —he is a breathing calamity to society in general, and a most emphatic nuisance at any public meeting or concert. No one is wider awake to the fact that there is safety in numbers, than the larrikin. Taken individually he is a mean-spirited cur who cries peccavi the moment anyone remonstrates with him ; but when a horde of them are gathered together, a bold front is shown and they become a dangerous class, and one that it is difficult to deal with. Cambridge evidently possess a superabundance of larrikins, for we are told about forty were congregated together in one corner of the Public Hall on Easter Monday evening when an entertainment was being given in aid of S. Andrew's Church. They made so much noise and otherwise rendered themselves so objectionable, that Mr Tlios. Wells' informed them they were liable to be prosecuted for tho offence. They were doubtless unaware of the fact, for after Mr Wells' remarks order was in a measure restored. For the benefit of larrikins in general, we publish section three of the Police Offences Act, which says : —" Any

person guilty of the following offence is liable for every such offence to a penalty of five pounds, or in default one month's imprisonment, viz:— " Disturbs any congregation assembled tor public worship, or any public meeting, or any meeting for any lecture, concert, or entertainment, or any audience at any theatre, whether money is charged or nbt for such lecture, concert, entertainment, or theatres, or interferes with the orderly conduct of any religious services in any church, chapel, cemetery, burial-ground, or other building or place." A few prosecutions under this Act in each town would greatly lessen the evil, and we think Mr Wells is deserving of thanks for having called attention to it. To the larrikins we say Beware! The British public is long suffering but when roused is apt to strike with energy, the blow generally being a " knock down one.",