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Dunstan Times, Issue 1070, 27 October 1882, Page 2

A Warning,—The secretary of a tempownoe Lodge was fined £1 at the Ohristohuroh lI.M. Court, on Monday last, for neglect* ing to forward the annual returns to the Registrar. The defendant pleaded that the previous secretary had left the accounts in a confused state, from which they had not been extricated, but the R.M. would not admit the defence. Exercise fob Judges.—The London Law Times contradicts the statement of a newspaper writer that “ many of our judges jump off the bench, mount a hack at Westminster Hall, and subsequently play lawn tennis until it is time to dress for dinner.” The Times says : “ Judges on their Appointment, however young in years they may bo, become old in their habits. Mr Justice Chitty, on being made a judge, ostentatiously abandoned lawn tennis. Mr Justice North abandoned his morning meerschaum down Oxford street. They necessarily shrink into themselves. They hold little intercourse with the bar, and notwithstanding their youth the habits of age are forced upon them.” We must confess says the Albany Law Journal we should hardly like to see our judges skipping around at lawn tennis, looking cross and muttering morosely when they made ineffectual passes at the empty air. Still less should we like to see one puffing a pipe on the street like a “ dummy” engine. But there are dignified out-door amusements, combining health and grace, and affording opportunity for the reflective and calculating faculties. We have already discoursed on horseback riding. Light may dawn upon a judge on horseback,fas it did upon St. Paul. If an English judge should indulge in this, however, he would yearn to follow the hounds, and and would bob up and down in his saddle after the ungraceful orthodox English fashion, as if converted into a human churn. Chancellor Kent was very fond of driving with a single horse and “ buggy” and his wife Betsy. Chief Justice Marshall was an adept at quoits. We have seen one of our most eminent judges making a respectable figure at croquet. Fishing is a good amusement for judges. Daniel Webster rehearsed his last Bunker Hill oration to himself while fishing, and exclaiming, “Venerable men, you have come down to ns from a former generation," jerked a large perch into a tee. Our judges, like the English, “ hold little intercourse with the Bar,” but it is from necessity, not from choice. It counsel would shorten the official interviews in their speeches and briefs, there would be more time for social intercourse between the Bar and Bench. We cannot say that we have noticed any disposition or tendency on the part of our judges to “shrink," socially, intellectually, or physically.