DRIFTWOOD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3047, 7 April 1917, Page 10

DRIFTWOOD

SOME CURIOUS CHARACTER? IN THE PRECINCTS OF THE COURTS Haunting the precincts of the Wellington Courts at.present is a curious ..personage of a .type little known to ' the general, public, but'by no means unfamiliar to officers of tho Courts. He is -unkempt, and vagrancy has set its seal upon trim. He has been several times advised by a paternal Magistrate to find employment, but he has preferred a life of ease, of ■unlaborioun days passed in reflection; and,- of all places, he has selected the cool corridors of tho Supreme Court" in which to pursue his meditations: Outside the folding doors-"he quietly 'dreams 'tho hours away, and just what his thoughts may bo'no one can toll. He has had a vision of the law; lias languished in its awesome shadow;-and 1 he is fascinated by this strange phenomenon that can command great muscular men to seize him and look,.him up for. days, then all inexplicably release him and send him forth intp the bußy ,world once more. The bustling streets-lave no attractions for him; but the Courthouse, has, for there'he-can sit within easy caE of litigation, and breathe the atmosphero of mental confusion and conflict. .The nostalgia of 'tho. Courthouso is upon him. .. : .. This curious individual is .by. no means tho most/striking figure that has .haunted that same Courthouse within the last two decades. He is. but a mild specimen of his kind, and, though the law unquestionably holds him in its thrall,' his actions are not nearly so extravagant 'as those of many .'who have preceded him in this bondage. He arouses Jess interest in • the amateur psychologist tha-n does the lady who years ago in Wellington was never absent from.a session, of.Parliament, aild. who, .during the recess, spent'most of her time about the Courts. She did not fr.equout the premises to dream or idle the hours away. She. attended on business—business of,high..import- . ance, in which great and. mysterious interests' w-ere involved. Many ..a..day >he.' saw- the. Registrar, ; who;.'listeued patiently to .her tale,, professing'-, to understand; her and tot. sympathise .wjtli hjjr; but he'.understood much' better tho'-.mania with which..she . was"afflicted, .'.and he\ invariably suc.ceeded. in.'- turning.. the' . conversation '»ito:..othev:.than .legal' .channels.:. .Then .this.wguidrbo'litigant of'a'.few moments before;'..', '.'this'' ;',plaintiff .;'"lri^'.; an embryo" "cause. "■Vcelebre, .',"'-would proffer her. s'incorest tliank-s-.for'favours she had. never - rcce'ived, and /would .absent-mindedly . betake herself; elser/hore.' '. • ;•' On a somewhat different plane as re-, gards. force and persistence' was another individual, who several times actually initiated legal proceedings that had.no foundation whatever. More than once he took out with the present Registrar that the. latter knew, were mere creations of ' an eccentric mind. Yet they were in suoh. ' perfect order, showed such regard for the form prescribed, .that it was impossible,to refuse them; and before tho Supreme Court they, had to go. There they wero dismissed as frivolous, with costs ' agains.t the • "plaintiff"; but whether 'those' costs, were ever collected it would be difficult .to sajv,

!... Tlie/last-mentioned case to'some ex.tent r.osembles "that of an pldV'lady wlio. has often,, of. .recent years, been found in a' southern Court-house accompanied .by a little black, bag . containing, goodness. :knows 'w;hat, Therp at "the foot" of sli6 :r sit|,'" the very picture of urjhappy old and as she awaits' f the arrival of some legal gentleman who never comes, J .she'grips her old bag and tells to many an-un-willing, listener the terrible irrongs of .W: "case," and the fortunes of .which she has been cheated. - : >■

One could multiply ■at some : length (on tlie authority ■of ■ Court officers) similar instances of mania more or loss connected with the. -law and the Courts. Perhaps the most curious of those brought under the writer's notice was" that "of a. AVellington man. (not one of those previously montioned) who used some years ago to he-a. frequent visitor at the Supreme Court. Upon entry he would make a tranquil survey of his surroundings, then mount tho stairs and on the topmost stop engage in prayer. His orisons, concluded, he would leave in the same quiet, unobtrusive manner. For that Teason he was never interfered with, hut permitted to pursue his strange courso as often as he felt inclined to do so.