CLASS JUSTICE, OR HOW THE MANAGE THINGS AT WAIPAWA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 16, 22 April 1867, Page 93

CLASS JUSTICE, OR HOW THE MANAGE THINGS AT WAIPAWA.

TO THE EDITOR OF. THE TIMES.

Sir, —At tha late cattle show at Waipukurau an affray took place between Mr S. J and a Mr B , arising out of a dispute about a horse. It would appear that the first-named party was the aggressor, he having struck B— vnth his clenched hand —the latter returning the salute with interest with the thick end of a whip ;—a very natural procedure, I submit. No man in health, be lie English or hailing from any other nation, would tamely submit to such usage without resenting- it on the instant Strange to say, the victim, was seized by the assailants friends, and taken to the Waipawa lock-up , contrary to the expressed wish of Mr J- —, (a gentleman who was present assures me that Mr J- — admitted giving the first blow), and ultimately 'fitted £7 / , I will make no comment upon such injustice, but merely remark that I can only account for it from the fact of Mr , J- being in a better position than Mr B —. This is worshipping the almighty dollar with a vengeance. Favor your readers, Sir, with your ideas upon the case. Verily the list of Justices, of New Zealand requires purging. If we were living under Austrian rule I could understand the scales of justice being thus weighed down. The daily examples, of leniency encourage violence, and it is only where violence to the person is connected with property that a serioits view is taken of the case. Justice is made to appear like an old woman' with a disorderly, unmanageable family, who have their own way until mammy's patience is utterly exhausted; when she snatches up a rod and lays it lustily cm the first she can catch, after which execution (followed, by a short lullj things lapse into their former riotous and disorderly state. I can a. democrat, but look upon the representative system in this.. country as a mere farce when there is iio appeal agazhst a hiagistrale’s, decision. Retournons' a nos moutons. The people of this and every other part of the province should memorialise His Excellency’s advisers to have the name of the gentleman removed who sat on the Bench upon the case referred to, whoever he may be.—l am, Ifc.,

A Lover of Fair Plat. Buataniwha, April 13, 1867.

Sir, —In reference to . my communication of the l%th instant, I would liave you to understand, as also your readers, that I possess no personal feeling towards any of the parties mentioned therein ; —that I care as If tile about them as John Bright does about Ford Dundreary. A 'publii wrong Las been committed, arid I trust to’ Mis Excellency the Govenwt and his ' advisers to redress that wrong by reimbursing Mr B the amount he was mulcted; and furthermore in removing the worthy who sat 'upon the Bench at Waipawa on that occasion. There is a coterie and a masonic feeling existing inland here amongst those.“ dress’d in a little brief authority” ; and I trust it will be very brief for the gentleman who tried ihecasepf assault above referred to. Any impartial person will admit that their names ought to have been reversed, if they read the' particulars' published above.

It strikes me, Sir, that J.F.’s are made in this Colony frenn the interest the individual possesses with the powers that maybe, and seldom whether the gentlemen are, of that temperament to sit in judgment on their fellow-men. ■. Thank'. God the judges and magistrates' i are not so appoihtecl in England. There is too much - log-rolling, as the Yankees-have it, in New Zealand. What think you ; Mr Editor ?—Yours respectfully}

A Lover of Pair Plat.

Buataniwha, April 18,1867. ; [ We wish our correspondent; had’furbished us. unth ’a report of the eviaaice taken on the occasion, in question. It would have aided -us in 'comihgHq a judgment oh ihe'points raised: '' However we mag sag that there are too many Dogberries on the magisterial bench in England as well as in. New,Zedland; still this is 'no~ reason .why unfit persons shoiddnot-be removed from the office. —Ed.] - j