"A GOOD STORY" RETOLD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 137, 28 September 1876, Page 2

"A GOOD STORY" RETOLD.

In the columns' of our morning contemporary of to-day, tliere appears, under the heading of " Too Liberal/' the following tit-bit, clipped from the Rangiora Standard :— i! A rather good story reaches us from onejof olio- most antediluvian corners of the North Island, by which it seems that a visitor from the south came to soinewliat unpleasant grief. .When about returning home, lie armed himself with a capacious cheque-book, and made th-e rounds of ..places where he had effected various purchases, payment for which he tendered out of- this most valuable of guidebooks. To liis surprise, however, he suddenly found himself in the-clutches of the officers of the : law, and locked up on the charge of uttering valueless cheques. After soim days','detention, he was'liberated on it being found that his only crime had been a too-lavish expenditure of a commodity which was evidently not much in circulation in the town alluded to. as it was proved that the supposed forger had plenty of funds at his banker's to meet his paper." We perfectly agree witli both the Times and Standard that it is a'" good story but we have grave doubts as to the Standard laying any claim to its originality. We are led to this .conclusion by referring back to a leading article which appeared in our issue of the 23 th August. The article in question was upon the intricacies and vagaries of the law, and from it we make the following extract : " On another occasion, a visitor from the South to the North island had liiade a number of purchases, iu payment of which cheques for their several amounts were tendered. To Ms surprise, however, he suddenly found himself in the clutches of the officers of the law, and his liberty rudely curtailed on a charge of uttering valueless cheques. After some clays' detention, lie was liberated on it ■ bsmg found that Ms only crime had been a toolavish expenditure of a commodity which was evidently not much in circulation in the town a! lad eel to, as it was proved that the supposed forger had plenty of funds at liis banker's to meet his paper." Now, as the last thirteen lines of the " good story" of the Standard- is, verbatim ci literatim, a reprint of what appeared in our columns a month since, it will be seen that the readers of the Times could have, been regaled with the amusing yarn the day after its appearance in the As the incident which we related took place some two years sines, it is scarcely possible that, in this case, history repeated itself," and the hero of the Standard was "one more unfortunate." We have no objection to the Times or Standard having a pick at the £: good things " wMch appear in the Mail, but we certainly think, if they are worth extracting, they are worth acknowledging. We admit we are often indebted to the lianjiora Standard for some very spicy clippings, but we have always made it a point to acknow-

ledg.e the/source, and all - \*e. ask is that, when that journal- does honor us, it -will do likewise. In conclusion, we wish to specially disclaim the authorship of the allusion to the somewhat: unpleasant grief." We have certainly heard of persons who were " never perfectly happy unless when they were perfectly miserable,-' and unless to those of that class, we imagine grief would bring unpleasant associations.