The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1279, 13 May 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1880.

TnE most enduring memorial of the powerful intellect possessed by the Great Buonaparte is to be found in the celebrated C'ode Kapoleon. Tii this tome is contained the whole of the laws of France, concentrated and explicit. Previous to the confinement of Napoleon (then a sub-officer of artillery) in a Roman fort, on suspicion of being a traitor, he had had no intimate acquaintance with judicature; but happening to discover in the library of his temporary prison a volume treating on Roman law, he at once proceeded to master the dry details of the principles and practice of constitutional law. That the effect on liis mind was not transient was subsequently fully proved, for -w hen the wheel of fortune had raised him to a position of almost unbounded power, he at once called together the most eminent of the French lawyers, and commissioned them to revise, improve, and complete the whole of the laws of France. C4reat mechanical inventions are seldom discovered by practical engineers, nor are legal reforms often effected by lawyers. Professionals are invariably so wrapt up in precedents, so anxious to master traditional details, that their minds become cramped and fossilised. Hence, almost without exception, the greatest reforms in law, inventions in the application of mechanical powers, and discoveries in the healing art are due to persons not specially trained. Napoleon soon discovered that his legal friends were utterly incompetent to master even the purpose for which they had been commissioned. He therefore set himself to the task. His grand and comprehensive mind fully grasped the whole subject, and his explanations so completely enlightened and surprised even the most gifced and learned that they became mere copying clerks, the outcome being that, with one grand effort, the whole of tlie ancient and cumbrous legal processes were abolished for ever, and a new, complete, and simple system substituted. In this grand work Napoleon lias truly left a memorial more enduring than brass. "We would fain wish for such a master mind to arise amongst us one who could concentrate and simplify our wretched legal processes, who would cause the immediate elimination of obsolete and vexations legal traditions, and construct a practicable, exhaustive, and simple svstem. TVe know that we cannot look to professional lawyers for this, for they delight not in legal reforms. The subject, therefore, is open to any capable man, who could thus immortalise himself, like Colonel Torrens, the framer of the greatest legal reform of modem days—the Lands Titles Act. The march of mind, fostered by the general diffusion of knowledge in our schools, lecture halls, and public Press, will shortly demand sweeping reforms, will shortly insist on the destruction of those barriers which prevent or retard justice. They will not be satisfied with piecemeal and tinkering quasi reforms, jbut will demand, and obtain, such a [simplification of our laws as will insure

inexpensive, expeditious, and evenhanded justice. Have not we in our vast and intelligent community some comprehensive mind, which, avoiding the turmoil of political life, with its trickery and chicanery, could, and would, devote itself to the study and elucidation of this noble subject.

It appears that a hitch has occurred to prevent the immediate passing of the Patetere Block through the Native Lands Court now sitting at .Cambridge, the incompleteness of the surveys standing in the way. So much the better. What is a misfortune to the negotiators for this block is a lucky event for the colony. It is now impossible to complete the purchase before the assembling of Parliament. We may, therefore, expect to be supplied with yet another proof that history repeats itself. Maladministration in connection with native lands was the rock upon which the Atkinson Government split in 1877, and in 1880 the counterpart of that Government will, in all probability, be shipwrecked upon the same inauspicious obstacle, if they are not shipwrecked amongst the many other rocks between which they have steered.

It is rumored that Friday's. meeting of Liberals has been called to receive the retirement of Mr. Roberts as 3 candidate for the vacant seat for Waitaki. A special meeting of the County Council was held to-day, as required by the Act, for the purpose of considering the audited balance-sheet. All the members were present. The Clerk read the balance-sheets for the half-year ending 31st March, and for the year ending on the same date. These showed that the total receipts from all sources for the year amounted to LI 9,322 17s 6d, audfor the last half of the year to L 15.314 2s lid. The receipts were chiefly as follow : —Licenses, LG9S ; land revenue, L 10.272 4s 2d; gaol subsidy, L 7190 Is ld; gold duty and gold-fields revenue, LIS7 lis 6d; rates, LS2S 2s; dog tax, L 317 10s ; bank interest. &c., L 332 8s 9d. The total expenditure for the year was L 14,236 os Sd, and for the last half year L 7,032 12s 3d. Of this sum L 11,532 14s 3d was expended upon roads and works, while L2OO was given in aid of charitable institutions and public libraries. The expenditure also included a refund of land revenue amounting to L 625 7s 4d. The total available amount for the year was L27,2G2 14s od, and it will thus be seen that at the end of the year the Council had a balance of L 13.024 Sd 9d. The balancesheet was adopted, and ordered to be published.

Captain Edwin telegraphs : —Bad weather is approaching from any direction between north-west and west and south. Expect a further rise of the glass and heavy sea within 12 hours. The sea should be increasing now.

An advertisement in this issue requests the Liberal electors to meet to-morrow evening, at Newey's Hotel, at 8 o'clock. Business of importance is to be considered. The fortnightly meeting of the Municipal Council will be held this evening. A soiree in connection with St. Paul's Church will be held in the Volunteer Hall this evening. A public meeting will afterwards take place, at which addresses will be delivered by a number of clergymen. The fortnightly meeting of the Harbor Board will be held to-morrow morning.

The gentleman whose sudden disappearance we referred to yesterday was Mr. J. S. Webb, secretary to the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, and manager of the Permanent Building Society. The Society's accounts are now being audited. Mr. Webb was guaranteed to the amount of L2ooo.—Otago Daily Time 3.

As celluloid is coming into fashion in the Colony, the following extract from the Metalworker may be interesting : —" The perils of fashion increase in number. A German newspaper now warns the public of the inflammability of the suhstanco known as 'celluloid.' It seems to be a compound of gun-cotton, sulphuric {Ether, and camphor. An explosion of it has occurred in the manufactory for its production. It is, it appears, highly inflammable, and people who wear bracelets, combs, and other articles made of it, are put cn their guard not io expose them to a temperature of more than 150 to 1G0."

The New Zealand Times says : —"lt may be taken as a sign of the times that a Waiarapa station containing about 9000 acres, which was in the market for scvei-al months but withdrawn because no purchaser could be found at the reserve price of L2 10s per acre, has lately been the subject of negotiations at a far higher figure, the owner eventually refusing to part with it at IA 10s per acre. The cheering aspect of the wool market is doing not a little towards reducing the financial pressure in the colonies, still the great difference between the two prices must lead many to conclude that the effect has been over-estimated in this instance.

The following is the creed, according to the Farmer, the agriculturists of Canada met in convention and adopted not long ago:—" We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation ; we believe that the soil lives to eat, as well as the owner, and ought, therefore to be well manured; we believe in going to the bottom of things, and, therefore, deep ploughing, and enough of it, all the better if it be a subsoil plough ; we believe in large crops, which leave the land better than they found it, making both the farm and the farmer rich at once ; we believe that every farm should own a good farmer; we believe that the fertiliser of any soil is a spirit of industry, enterprise, and intelligence; without these, lime, gypsum, and guano would be of little use; we believe in good fences, good farmhouses, good orchards, and good children enough to gather the fruit; we believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a clean cupboard, a clean dairy, and a clear conscience; we believe that to ask a man's advice is not stooping, but of much benefit; we believe that to keep a place for everything, and everything in its place, saves many a step, and is pretty sure to lead to good tools and to keeping them in order; we believe that kindness to stock, like good shelter, is saving of fodder ; we believe that it is a good thing to keep an eye on experiments, and note all, good and bad ; we believe that it is a good rule to sell grain when it is ready ; we believe in producing the best butter and cheese, and marketing it when it is ready." "Writing of the death of Capiam Paul Boynton, of amphibious ce'ebrity, the Press says :—"Paul Boynton has gone over to the majority; at any rate thai is the report which reaches us from the other side of the Atlantic. The performer with the mysterious ' rubber dress ' has had a very strange career. Inured to hardship and p: ivation from his earliest days on the great lakes of his country,

it required little persuasion to lead him to become the champion of.-the ' life-saver.' Next, perhaps,•> to qurowriwonder, Webb, he was about the finest swimmer ever seen ; he was a veritable otter of the- human species. Besides his expertness as a swimmer, Boynton was also a dead shot and a,splendid trapper of wild animals. He bad- been in many places, seen many things, and mixed with many men ; but he had an unfortunate weakness. He could never ' put, money .in. his purse' and keep it there."

The. "Wellington 'Post says:—Mr. T. Kennedy Brown, "travelling agent for the" Government Life Insurance Office, delivered a lecture" &t the Athenaeum Hall last "night* on the subject of Life Insurance. The attendance was not so good as might have been wished considering the importance of the topic. However, those who were present listened attentively to the lecturer's discourse, and at times evinced their appreciation by loud applause. Mr. Brown has evidently made himself master of his subject. He exhibited it in all its phases, and treated it socially, commercially, ethically, and religiously. The practice of insurance was shown to have existed long before it assumed its present shape, and its progress was traced from the time of the Caesars to modern times. . .