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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 73, 26 March 1881, Page 4

As a commentary upon the conventional balderasb that ioxms tbe subjectmatter of nine-tenths of the addresses offgratulation and compliment {presented to vice-regal personages, the following remarks of tbe Lytttlton Times are suggestive : — " We take it for granted that tbe Governor, by this time, feels perfectly satisfied with the loyalty of the Middle Island to the Sovereign whom he has tbe honor to represent. He likewise, perhaps, has an uncomfortable idea lurking somewhere in bis mind, tbat everybody in this much favored country is hard-up. For the double discovery tbe addresses are surely responsible. Nobody who had to write an address appears to have bad more than two ideas to make use of. They are loyalty and hard times ; and nobody who had to present an address seems to have thought anything else at all necessary. , Consequently, every official address began by breathing loyalty, proceeded to deplore ; %Hp temporary depression, and ended by hoping tbat, ' thanks to your Excellency/ prosperity may Boon return. In private life this form bf address is the natural prelude to a little pecuniary transaction—a gentleman who ia informed by hk friend, after a laudatory harangue, that ho is ' doosid hard-up/ prepares either to button up or to open his pocket according as his disposition may prompt him, for he feels certain that the subject of a little loan is about to be broacked. But in public life things seem to be judged by a. different standard. We mention the matter in the hope that the writers of official addresses may|be induced toj expend a little more intelligence in their compilation. But we have been forgetting. Perhaps tbe prevailing depression extends to official brains. ' If so, let us hope thafc it, also, is only temporary." The first lynching ever known In Pennsylvania took place the day afte Christmas Day at a little village caller Santee's Mills, near Easton, A young German named Joseph Snyder, being denied tfre hand of a child of fourteen

by her parents, entered their house at night olad only in his shirt, brained them as they lay asleep, and then attempted to outrage the girl whom he had sought, in marriage,: Snyder ,was tracked by his trail in the snow to a neighbouring farm, where he ;Was arrested. A murderer some short ijitne, before had escaped the, g^llowa on the plea of insanity. A crowd rapfdly: i collected, and an, hour after the arpat of the murderer th.ey overpowered ;the . police, '-Who -fired at their leader, seized the prisoner, and Baying that they; would spare the. country the expense of j a trial and prevent any miscarriage of justice, put a noose round his neck, hitched it over a branch, and swung him off. He died, instantly. After hanging twenty minutes his body was cut down. An inquest was held and a verdict returned of " Death by hanging by persons unknown." Some rather tall speeches were made at the annual " Tasmanian Dinner," held in London on the 15th Becember. "We are not here to-night," said one speaker, in responding to the toast of Our Native Land, " to speak ill of anye ne — a t any. rate, not of Tasmania and the Tasinanians ; there may be little faults, but those we will keep in the background. The climate of Tasmania is delightful ; its people are pleasant, hospitable and kind; the scenery is beautiful ; the air is delicious ; and as I to the todies — well, it i» not necessary to dilate on their charms and good qualities." This remark was followed by loud and vociferous cheering, showthe appropriateness of the observation. Subsequent speakers all had something to say about the ladies, the finishing touch being given Mr F. M. Dutton, who proposed their health. " I am very glad," he said, "to have the present opportunity of paying a tribute to the good looks of the ladiesof Tasmania. (Vociferous cheering.) Long before I went to Tasmania their fame had penetrated to this country. But, gentlemen, I think yo,u will agree with me when I state that there is one thing I value far more highly than their good lqoks> namely, their many excellent qualities. Foremost among the latter is their hospitality, which has become a byword, in the neighbouring colonies— (cheers) — and who, I should like to ask, have so great a share in dispensing the hospitalities of a country as the ladies ? I have lately had an opportunity of travelling through the Australian colonies, the United States, and (Canada ; and in former years I have also visited France, Austria, Italy, and other European countries. Now, gentlemen, in all these countries the ladiesare by no means deficient in good looks, but I have no hesitation in Baying .that the Tasmanian ladies will hold, their ewn in any part of tha world.—.; (Cheers.)'^. / ! There, is. a tradition among ; printers: to the effect that each "proof" of eaoli column of the London Times passes through three bands— those of a first,; second and third " reader," the la,st named being a specially qualified, University man, the terms of whose engagement are a salary of £1000 r year, with the proviso that for every " literal " (wrong or misplaced letter) he overlooks he is liable to a fine of three guineas. Whether this be the case or not, every reader of the " Thunderer " knows that such error* are exceedingly rare— -that looking for them is much like looking for the proverbial " needle in a haystack." " Every rule has its exception," and this is once more proved by the occurrence — in rather less than a column of Parliamentary matter published on the 14th January last — of no less than forty-five mistakes, varying in gravity from a "turned letter" to egregious misspelling. What makes it the more remarkable is that the blunders escaped correction in the weekly edition— the one most generally cirou-. lated in the colonies. There must have been p. screw loose somewhere _on | the occasion of that "dirty proof "escaping the Argus eyes/of readers and-sub-.editors. Had . the thing, occurred to any other .paper it .would scarcelyhave called for notice, but in the case of the one that has so long claimed something like typographical infallibility it is quite justifiable. Hard-worked " all-round men " on the colonial Press, who are sometimßS twitted by lynxeyed subscribers for a few misprints, may take heart of grace, and when again hauled over the coals, point triumphantly to the Times' issue of th* 14th January, 1881, if not in justification, at least in proof that " mistakes do sometimes occur even in the best regulated ' typo ' families."— Colonial Printers' Register. A carious judicial story ia referred to by some Otago paper,, and indeed if it ba correct in all its particulars, if tends to show, with all the attempts of the authorities to retrench "the official expenditure, many of them must fail if immediate lfgislation. be not tnken. It appears that at a certain inland town called Lawrence, when the District Court was Bitting, there was but one criminal case, tbat of a man committed for (rial from a place miles away. He was duly put in the dock. The Judge, tbe Crown -Prosecutor and lawyers were there fittingly arrayed in their wiga and gowns. Thirty-six jury men, summoned from their avocations a distance of .many miles, were in attendance and sworn. Tbe Crown-Prosecutor who bad coma al) the way from Duoedin set to work and produced his indictment. Tho acute Judge inspecting the doonmenis, suddenly pricked up hi« ein ! fie had di«oovered a fatal flaw in the, proteedingj. Everything, regular, 4hi •»id«Jnde ; was correct and the indictment Bound, but the committing M»gi»trate, through hii olerfe'we may preiume, bad omitted to obliterate the fee stamp attached to the, warrant of commitment I , This because he had not added to the initials of his name, the date on which the stamp wae affixed. The unconvioied criminal was at once ordered to be ' enlarged.' The ihirty-eix jurymen were set at liberty with tbe t» anks of Her Majesty, and Bench Bar and omoials went off to an eerly lunch. That the law was strictly complied with we have no doubt," but in the name of common sense we would ask who makes good all the useless exo penditure ? The Treasury records would tell the ptifoVjinpate thirty-six jurymen, and tb,e unpaid, witnesses that

it.WBSnODO of its bueiness. And as to unaiarjoping magistrate an<3 clerk, of j course they felt no share in nny possible liability- We have a' good deal too much law in New Zealand and also some which may be ©aid to be abnormally elastic, some of it is exceedingly thin.^- Standard.