The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1869.

Dunstan Times, Issue 383, 20 August 1869, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1869.

Beneath the Rule of Men extire I.Y just the pex is mightier than the sword

Mr. Cu a croft Wilson and Mr. Dil- - Bell judging by the reports of the proceeding.-! in the House of Representatives appear to be much troubled and virtuously indignant at the alleged immoral conduct of the newly fledged Justices of the Peace, which the goldfields era have brought into being, as according to the latter gentleman they have an unfortunate predilection for whiskey or something else equally as potent, Mr. Bell even going so far as to assert that in one particular case, the accuracy of which he had ascertained for himslf. Justice as personified in-one of the great unpaid administrators of the Law was found in a state of drunkenness in one of the principal Towns of the Co lony, while only on the day following, he took; his scat upon the Magisterial Bench, and inflicted punishment or rather mulcted in a fine an equally erring offender with himself, whose offence in this ease must have oeen that he was unfortunate enough to be found out or that certain mystic characters sufficient to render police vision obscure were not affixed to his name, consequently the guardians of the public peace stumbled on a little fur. then and picked up a less distinguished offender, who after being locked up for the night was made to pay the penalty of his offence the next morning by a fine, inflicted by the first, but more fortunate delinquent. Mr. Dillon Bell’s charge is a grave one, and we can scarcely wonder thathis feathers are ruffled at such a departure from good manners on the part of a brother magistrate, whose weakness for alcohol leads to total prostrationofhisphysical powers. Here however Mr. Bell might have stopped and contented himself with letting the country know that he was one of the oldest Justices of the Peace in the Colony, without making a general charge against all those gentlemen, who to assist the administration of the Law and save the public money, gratuitously devote a deal of valuable time to Magisterial duties. We always were of opinion, and we see no reason to be otherwise than that the country J. Ps’ are a highly respectable body of men, not only so in themselves, but by the respect in which they are held by others, and by no act of omission or commission on their part is there any foundation to warrant the assumption that the Commission of the Peace wants purging, and only placing those persons upon it who are really fit to administer justice. We will allow that a number of the newly constituted Justices of the Peace are unfortunately for themselves not opulent squattei r, they having come to the

Colony long after Mr. Sell and his contemporaries had picked out the eyes of its splendid pasture lands, nevertheless they were in no-wise cast down, they made the best of things as they found them, and the positions they now occupy, they have won by steady application to business, combined with uprightness of purpose; such men deserve even move honor than their would be censor’s, who had they been compelled to confront the same difficulties upon their advent into colonial life as presented themselves to those whom they seek to hold up to public ridicule, the country would not have reached its present prosperous condition for the next fifty years to come. Those who have fought their way in the country districts in the face of adverse circumstances are worthy of all praise, and we fully be' lieve from our own personal knowledge that those who have been exalted to the dignified position of a Justice of the Peace, and who own no stations, sheep or catt’e, bear very favorable comparison with those that do. We doubt not but were the little irregularities of either party made public, it would be cli'ficult to decide winch was the greatest oTender. The exclusive shelter of a squatting homestead or palatial chib house lenders things invisible or respectable, which, were they only sheltered from public observation by the imperfect protection of a galvanised iron or other frail tenement, might be construed into glaring offences, sufficient to shock outright such very sensitive nerves as those of Messrs Cracroft Wilson and Dillon Bell; bad either of these gentlemen been resident in Victoria during the O’Shanassev regime, they might perchance have taken offence at the large number of questionable appointments to the Magistracy, hut such is not applicable in our case, no appointments appear to have been made from motives of favoritism, or as rewards for political services, the social position of the recipients of that honor being their only recommendation.