THE HUNTLY PRESS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1914.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 6, 24 April 1914, Page 2

THE HUNTLY PRESS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT 1 P.M. FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1914.

Frequenters of the courts of justice are often amazAAm afc th® discrepannTOTA mcp cies as to tim® and DIbIANCB.. distanoo mado by W it_ nesses in their evidence. Seconds are often stretched into minutes, and the minutes are unduly prolonged, while distance possesses considerable elasticity. It is wonderful how little idea the general run of witnesses or of ordinary men have of time and space, though their guesses, given in perfect good faith, appear to be the merest distortions of fact. A witness in the Supreme Court was positive that the time taken to perform a certain action was exactly two minutes, and was perfectly sure that he was right. Taking out his watch, his Honour, after remarking on the frequency of mistakes as to time, asked the witness to tell him when two minutes were up. “ Now,” said the gentleman in the box. “ Forty-six seconds,” ejaculated iiis Honour. A mistake of seventy-four seconds in 120 was not bad, but quite sufficient to dispel the wi tness’ idea of his own infallibility. Judges of the Supreme Court and Stipendiary Magistrates, accustomed to this peculiar, human weakness, deal gently and humanely with errors of the kind, though “ the great unp.iid” look down their nose if it is possible for them to do so —and think of perjury in connection with witnesses whose sole desire and aim it is “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” witnesses whose inexperience has led them into unconscious error which causes more mortification to them than to their worships. And the moral ? Well, if not apparent, it may be worth seeking! Ten o’clock on Saturday night THE SllW tl>o close “ EXHIBITION. a . nd » “fH 1 ] close it was—ot the Auckland Exhibition of 1913-14. Ushered into being with smallpox and strikes, audits opening accompanied by the most inauspicious weather possible, it seemed that the optimism of the officials was fore-doomed to disappointment. They stuck to their guns, preached success, and dreamed success, though their hearts must have been in their boots again and again. The failure of exhibitors, through no fault of their own, to forward their exhibits created another cause of unrest, though the popularity of the Royal Artillery Band did much to mitigate the fears that would keep cropping up. As a result of the success of the exhibition, Auckland is the gainer, and in that part of the Domain opened up and beautified by exhibition money, as well as in the buildings that will remain permanent mementos of 1 “The Great White City,” Auckland people will always have something to remind them of their enterprising fellow citizens who fought pestilence, labour troubles ond weather in ( order to add to the beauty of an a 1 rea d v b a anti fu 1 city. ft is with pleasure that we be- . TTTT . TrnT ,, come the medium for conveying to Mr RESIDIiiN I S ix />ii iii sm-GESS D - Calderwood the bUGGEaa. oonßrfttu i at j ons 0 f ’ his fellow townsmen on the well earned victory by which he won the proud title of Draughts Champion of the Dominion, the victory being the greater on account of the formidable, opponents he met and vanquished, and the nerve, initiative, and patience exhibited in wearing down doughty and experienced exponents of the game. Previous defeats only stimulated Mr Calderwood to more assiduous study and practice, the result being that success which hard work alone can ensure.*' We are glad t° hear that the residents, desirous of sharing the reflected glory, intend holding a meeting on Monday night to consider the best means of celebrating Mr Calderwood’s victory.