Larrikinism
To the Editor of the Star. Sir, – Allow me, through the medium of your valuable paper, to call attention to the most daring instance of wanton larrikinism I have yet heard of. Last Sunday evening I was returning along the Sole road, after having taken a horse to pasture, accompanied by a valuable sheep-dog of the Ettrick breed, my inseparable friend for many years, and which has accompanied me lately from Wellington; he was trotting quietly along, not more than ten paces ahead of me, when he was deliberately shot at before my very eyes by a young scoundrel, who narrowly escaped shooting me, as I was just in line, hidden from his sight by a large stump, and it was beginning to grow dusk. He afterwards tried to make off; but on being pursued and accosted, gave a false name, trying at the same time to make some foolish, blundering excuse for his act. I suppose I could issue a summons against the young scamp for wounding my dog (he has over twenty shot in his shoulder and side), but am unwilling to do so, as the trouble and expense would merely fall upon his parents, who, I am told, are worthy and industrious old people, the father also being hopelessly crippled through an accident; at the same time, such a scandalous action should not be passed over in silence; but I think this exposure may act as a warning to those young colonials who are far too fond of showing their extreme cleverness as sportsmen by pointing their guns at everything they happen to meet. – I am, &c., John Sinclair. Ngaire, August 15.
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