Our Contributors.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 522, 15 July 1881, Page 3

Our Contributors.

DUNEDIN,

(From oub Own Corhespondent)

Our torch-light procession came off with (he greatest eclat. I have (seen processions in nearly nil the cities at Home, and in a few of the cities of the Continent, but I can safely say that in completenea9 and general effect that of the Ist would com pare with the best so far as it went. Of course we hnd llio marshal at the head, baton in band, and mounted (the man, no the baton) on a fiery Arab steed. I don't know that it was an Arab, but we are nowhere unlese we polish a bit. We had the Fire Brigade, the Friendly Societies, and the trades well represented. There is none of the volunteer bodies in the Colony that I admire so much as the Fire Brigade; their honor is no sinecure in thia country, and they deserve well of the public. They work without any other nim than the desire to do good, and they do it con amore, The Friendly Societies the Oddfellows', the Druid?, etc., were as usual brilliant in borrowed plumes, aprons, scarfs and huge banners, the latter seemingly giving their benrers quite enough to do to manage them. The Druids, I think, must be a comical set. The Arch-priest was posted on rather a ticklish seat on an immense waggon, and was supported by subordinate officials at each corner of the conveyance I am not sure that there were springs for the vehicle, but I confess I followed with the reprehensible hope or fear that a jolt would be succeeded by dire collapse. Fortunately I was deceived, but only fancy the long and venerable beards, the golden sickle, and the voluminous white robefi confounded in one general smash. It would be a sight to make the little god B or little d s weep or laugh with anguish. I am sure many of the Arabs were of my opinion. Sandy as made the most brilliant show among the trades. Iho Vulcanites of all classes came to the front, and they battered and hammered, they blew the fire and heaved the glowing iron to their heart's content. I candidly confess that I like people even when they are making fools of themselves to do it with g'isto, and if Horace's maxim Dulce est desvpere in loco is true at all, the managers of the procession fulfilled the precept thoroughly.

We have good authority for saying that the law is a queer tiling. We know that Justice is blind, but she must be lame too. and that in the most pronounced dotand cany-one style. She just tips with ont; i*oot and squashes; with tho other. We have good examples of thni defect of her ifiilj'Fhip i» foine recent trials. Ainanwaa charged with attempting to stocl from t!;u person. The prosecutor, who, it appears,

was drunk at the time of the occtrrence, had been foolishly displaying a number of notes, but becoming suspicious of his neighbors, he kept his hands iv hii-pockets to prevent alien hands from entering. The accused actually attempted to remove the man's hands from his own pocket, and to any man of ordinary, lot legal, Bense, the charge was entirely sustained ; but happy is the person who knows tho law! Mr Stout, for the accused, contended and the Chief Justice supported the argument—that it was necessary for the prosecution to show that tho money was in the very pocket in which the prisoner's hand was caught. The inebriate hid had sufficient wit left to remove the money from its danger, and so tha thief got off scot free. The sentences in the Christchureh jewellery robbery also deserve notice. The man .who actually did the job got two j'ears' hard labor. One of the receivers got twelve months, but the third accused, who pleaded guilty of receiving, and who had assisted the police in regaining the lost property and in bringing tho other offenders to justice, was sentenced to penal servitude for ,five years. There is something grandly mysterious about the majesty and omnipotence and omniscience of the Law, and it is no wonder we respect it so much when we accept with good faith, so many things " that no fellow can understand." I cannot see why wo submit to the tyranny of precedent vfith such dull stupidity.. Napoleon revised the French Code, and left the revision as possibly the most lasting memento of his greatness, but we are too conservative to break the bonds of custom, though we know them to be in too many instances chilJish, absurd, and grossly anomalous in this age. The jurors are busily engaged at their duties at the exhibition. The prize lists in the Art department have been already published. Dunedin in class 1 takes ten out of eighteen fhst awards, Invercargill and Wellington, two each, and Christchurch, Oauiaru, Wanganui, and Nelson one each. Of second awards Dunedin takes eight out ot twelve, and) Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, and Greymouth, one each. . A tl e *cannot pay I admire the art exhibits. It may be that as I have conBientiously waded in my time through acres of pictures, my perceptions have become dull, or it nuy be tbat there is something wanting in myself to put my mind en rajjport, or rather in harmony with the artists. The reasons snre I cannot tell, But I knowl don't like you \Jv Fell. Is that the proper quotation of the dear old obstinate lines? They always seem to me to bo bo logical in their actual want of logic. Thoro is ft thorough scare in the Colony re (as tbey pl.t it most outlandish))' now) the smal)-pos. lam dreadfully afraid of the loathsomo disease myself and I will give it as wide a berth as possible, but our system of quarantine seems a wee bit too much of a good thing. Surely nineteenth century science can cope with the plague, without the assistance of relics from the ignorant, superstitions and weak age of our grandfathers. I have been to the Lyceum of the Freethought Association. I admire the wholo ceremony—shall I call it a ceremnny, or a service, or a performance ? There were singing and recitations, marching and musical performance, and all the other things. It would be quite as well if they introduced the same order into our Sunday Schools. Certainly there was none of the lassitude, the entire wearisommess, which we see ill the common run of Sunday School-dom both here and at home. Shah we take a leaf from the Guide to the Lyceum ?