AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1097, 18 August 1871, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

On the clay of the sports I saw Mr Maddock strike Mr Lord twice with a whip He struck him from behind. I did not hear him make any remark. By Mr Maddock : I did not hear you call him a blackguard. You were not beside Mr Lord when you struck him ; you were not directly behind him, but more behind than beside. —Mr Dransfield deposed: Mr Lord was struck from behind—-not immediately behind, but the next thing to it, I was close to him at the time. The blows were struck with the small end of the whip. Mr Maddock held it in the usual place. This .dosed the plaintiif’s case. The Bench said that they could lake no notice of any facts not formally brought before them. If the defendant pleaded justification he must show it in the usual manner. After some delay, some copies of the Daily Tetbgraph were brought into Court, and Mr Maddock read as follows from the issue of the 4th August:—“ You hare got into very serious trouble, one action for libel has been brought against you, and you have to eat humble pie this morning to avoid two more. These misfortunes have come upon you partly from your own inexperience and folly, but more from the licence you have allowed in your columns to one —I speak through my nose sometimes—Bad Egg, a lawyei. Take my advice, cast him from you as an unclean thing, be no longer possessed of this devil, ami you

may mice again emerge from the gutter, soiled, but repentant.” —Mr Lord said there was nothing to connect this with Mr Maddock, unless lie chose to fit the cap on himself.--Mr Maddock then read from the issue of' the 28th July :—“Mr McLean must writhe at the humiliating position in which he lias been most inopportunely placed by his own pet paper; nor is this all, fuel lias been added to the flame by his station agent, and by two men who act as his solicitors. As for the former we well understand that,

In all distresses of our friends Wo first consult our private ends. and for the latter, one is a disappointed office-seeker, who espouses his clients parts, not to do him any service, but to make him of service. It is inraored that he contemplates leaving Hawke’s

Bay. I hope so. He is no credit to it,'morally, socially, or professionally.” Mr Lord admitted that this referred to the plaintiff; but said his proper course before resenting it would have been to inquire at the office the name of the author.—The magistrates then retired, and after a short absence, returned and gave their dec id on. The assault had been admitted and could not be justified, but taking into consideration the great provocation given, they fined Mr Mad dock the nominal sura of 10s with 5s 6d costs. (Applause in Court, which was checked by the police )

Madclock v. Lord.—A suit to recover possession of the whip to which allusion ha** been already made, or its value, ss. - -Judgment for plaintiff, with costs 9s. Mr Lord, who objected to return the whip, at once paid the money.

Speaking of the deterioration cf our merchant seamen the Spectator says : —We should not wonder, as education spreads, if the shipowners were driven to the Government plan of catching their sailors young. They cannot rely exclusively upon foreigners—the State will before long have to correct their tendency in that direction—they will not submit to a code which would make of their fleets a quasi-regular service, with a mild and intelligible discipline, and their work as now performed is not work which will long attract an educated population. No work is so hard, so rough, and so disagreeable. A fisherman has as hard a berth, perhaps but he has a home, and is comparatively independent, has not to sleep in a sort of prison, and is in no risk of blows if his officer happens to be a brute. A mason's life may be as rough, but he has hopes and a career, while a sailor can hardly ever hope to rise, and generally dies in some foreign port of drink. The service is by no means so well paid as to tempt ineu who can get anything else to do ; and as for the young men of " adventurous temper " whom the authors of story-books write about, they, when they know their right hand from their left, will be tempted to slake any thirst for adventure they may have rather by emigrating than by going to sea.

fFPOM OUS OWN OOBEESPONDENT.] August 10, 187 J. As the session of the Assembly is to be opened next week, Wellington will be the centre from which news may be expected to radiate, and of the sayings and doings there you will be informed before we are. Several of our representatives started yesterday per Luna. Apropos of this, two seats for districts in this Province are liable to be disputed under the Disqualification Act of last session, unless that Act is only a sham, and can be ignored. Even in that case, would an enactment carried by a majority of one, that one the occupier of one of the seats alluded to, be liable to be upset in a court of law ? If so, there will be work cut out for the lawyers. If placemen insist on filling the two coLflicting offices of guardian of the public purse on the one hand, and recipient of Ministerial favors and public money on the other, it is hard that the interests of the people should suffer,, as suffer it almost inevitably must in such a conflict, by their attempting to set at nought the saying, “No man can serve two masters.” Mr John Williamson, elected for Auckland City West, was, before the election, and after it too, holding the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands, to which a salary is attached, besides being Curator of Intestate Estates, also an office of emolument. Mr C. O’Neill, elected for the Gold-fields, has also been in some one or more ways employed by the General Government since he resigned his Provincial appointment. It is not likely that he works for nothing, so it is only a fair inference that he has received emolument from the public chest. He appears to be one of those fortunate men who always falls on his feet, and does not lose much by consenting to be a legislator. During the last year of Mr Williamson’s superintendeucy, Mr O'Neill received, under a private arrangement with Mr W., an addition to his salary of

more than <£4oo as commission on works executed —r making, with £6OO salary voted for his office, over £IOOO for less than nine months service, he being absent over three months at Wellington, Mr O’Neill once, in speaking to some toast at a Provincial glorification, said lie considered it one of the most fortunate events of his life, his becoming acquainted with Mr Williamson. Had he not good reason to say so ? The private arrangement was unknown to either Provincial Council or Executive, and was only discovered by some of the “ new brooms ” after Mr Gillies’s accession to office! Well may it be said of us,- “ they are a peculiar people.” Three of our Provincial journals are vidently in concert in attacking Mr Gillie?. He has not pleased everybody, nor even all his friends; in fact, it is

considered he has treated bis foes more favorably than his friends ; but if he was a pliant tool in the hands of a select circle of speculators, who virtually rule nearly all the public movements here, including most of the best known mining companies, he would deserve to lose that general public confidence which I hesitate not to say he enjoys. Your correspondent differs from Mr Gillies on many sub jects. He has no cause to feel grateful for personal favors, having received none ; but he would rather bear with his shortcomings than consent to a return of such a rule as preceded his, or that of a nominee of the speculators who virtually select the tune to which the Cross, Herald, and Thames Advertiser have to sing. Attacks of catarrh, &c., have been exceedingly prevalent during the past three months, and in many cases very severe, involving temporary deafness. This visitation partakes more of the nature of an epidemic than the ordinary—even if severe—attack on the lungs after catching cold. We have pertainly had more than an average share of stormy weather the six weeks past, but it has been milder the last few days. The scrip fever is on again. Caledonians went down in little over a week from <£2oo to .£IOO, went up another week to nearly the old figure, and down again this week to £l6O. These flueO • “• tuations are not the result of simply bear ing and bulling, but of mania and panic. Want of confidence in those who rule has doubtless much to do with these changes. But it may be assumed as a rule that a seller will often find it very difficult to meet with a buyer at the quoted rates for ordinary shares. ' * * V •v w.

A stranger reading the Auckland jour? nak might think Volunteering very popular here, but let him attend a few Government parades, and he will find a slight difference. Whatever ,the nominal strength of the companies, the actual muster is often very small. Seven or eight companies, with their complement of officers, perhaps reach a total strength on paraia under two hundred. But the Volunteer movemeut, good in itself, 13 the peg on which the Government contrive to hang a lot of sinecures. When private citizens give their time and labo* for the public good, it is a palpable absurdity to make their so doing an excuse for paying high salaries to officials connected with them, and not a quarter time employed. In several districts salaries, averaging about ,£3OO a year, are paid to commanding officers whose duties are no more severe than those of the ordinary volunteer. The colony must be rich to afford to pay .£3OO a year for attending a parade once a week.