Many staid colonists who are fathers of

boys without being blessed with daughters, frequently assert that in this colony it is the boys who require protection from the girls, and not the girls from the boys. Certainly the escapade indulged in at the New Year supports this contention. Two girls young women would perhaps describe them better—and two boy 3, em barked on a small craft in the upper har bor, and after putting in the night as best they could, slipped anchor early on New Year's morning, and made their way down the bay. Opposite St. Leonards the craft got stranded, and after lying there some six or seven hours was got off by her owner, who was in search of her, and taken to a jetty close at hand where the four yoang people who had set out on a voyage of discovery were landed, and lu>d to make their way back to their They had provisioned the boat witn rfour, oatmeal, bread, tinned meat, etc. Where they intended to go, or thought they would go, is not known ; nor is it clear who originated the escapade. JBut the boys were mere boys, while the girls were each 17 years of age, so that on them should fall the chief blame, un gallant as it may be to say so. Color is lent to the idea that the girls enticed the boys into the adventure by the fact that one of the girls left a note for her parents stating that she and the other girl in tended to die together, whereas the boys left no word. The newspapers have mercifully refrained from publishing the names of the girls, and thus blasting their future career in life. It is reported in the newspapers that a well-known lawyer, who has, on more than one occasion, defended prisoners where their lives where at stake, came very near to being in a position where his own life might have been placed in the balance —it was only his poor scooting which saved him. It appears t'iiat a commercial traveller, whose forte is long distance swimming, was tempted o cross the channel at Broad Bay a little above Port Chalmers. The lawyer and another commercial traveller were amusing themselves by firing from a rille at a bottle in the bay. 