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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 177, 3 June 1864, Page 2

Ix reference to the cases of Munn v. Hodges and Doylan v. Hodges, in the Resident Magistrate's Court, the decision in which cases have given great dissatisfaction to the tradesmen in Napier, we lately, in a short paragraph, pointed out that under the existing Mutiny Act the Magistrate could give no other decision than the one recorded. It is clear that the Act gives no practical remedy against any person being a soldier who incurs a debt under <£3o, and who will not pay that debt. The sitting Magistrate, in the cases referred to, seems to have done as much as he could for the plaintiffs in both cases, viz., gave judgment in theirj favour ; but there the matter must of necessity end. Any attempt to enforce that judgment would be contrary to the Act above referred to, and therefore the judgment itself is a mere form and practically useless. The object of that part of the Mutiny Act which refers to debts incurred by soldiers is clearly to prevent tradesmen giving to those people credit, and at the same time to prevent soldiers incurring debts which they cannot pay. Almost all ranks in Her Majesty’s service find their pay barely sufficient for their wants. In the case of the officers, they are supposed to have other means besides their pay, but in the case of privates it is quite fair to suppose that they have not, and therefore, as a protection for the tradesman and as a protection for the soldier, it is provided that unless the sum owing is <£3o or upwards, no compulsory proceedings can be taken. We apprehend that no tradesman would willingly trust to so large an amount as <£3o a class of men whom the poet describes in the memorable lines as — “ The soldier who lives on his pay. And spends half-a-crown out of sixpence a day.” Whether or not the Defence Force are to be counted as amongst “ soldiers” we are not prepared to say, but if we may judge from

two or three disastrous affairs with the Natives, in which the “ soldiers” gSt the worst of it, we are inclined to think that there is “ not much in a name,” and as the distinguished corps to which we - ] refer—the Defence Force—are enrolled under the Mutiny Act, it is pretty certain that there is no remedy against them for small debts. The trading community have, therefore, the remedy in their own hands, as ar as the recurrence of the difficulty is concerned.

It is customary, we believe, upon regiment coming into new quarters, for a kind of proclamation to he made with a view to damage, or, as the phrase is, “ cry down” the cEedit of the men, without which precau. tion any debts incurred by the soldiers, which they cannot pay, will have to he paid by the officers.