PUBLIC OPINION.

Patea Mail, 6 February 1882, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

—♦ Contributions, Letters, Inquiries and Answers thereto, are invited on Farming. Commerce, Politics, and matters of interest to the Patea district. Names of writers need not be Printed. LOVE'S LABOR LOST. Here have I been kicking my heels about the Court House two long days, waiting to be called as a witness in that blessed libel case, and Mr Hamerton says the case will go on six days more. The other counsel says the case ought to close in one day more. Now which of these learned and conscientious lawyer* am I to believe ? The worst of it is, lam compelled to be there hanging around, and my evidence may not be wanted at all. My private opinion is that my evidence won’t do the least good to either party ; not that they are both bad lots—l don’t mean that exactly, but, confound them 1 I don’t know anything about the libel at all at all. That is why lam an important witness. If I could meet those important witnesses from Auckland and New Plymouth, we might liquor up by way of passing the time. There is also my friend the new chairman of the County Council, walking about with a satchel full of Council books and documents, waiting to be called, and still waiting. Well, I suppose “ many are called, but few are chosen.” Will the State pay the chairman for carrying those books about, supposing he isn’t called into Court ? Will the State pay me for saying my prayers backwards ? If I am pulled into any more libel cases, I’ll buy a six-shooter—there ! Unwilling Witness.

SCHOOLMASTER'S TROUBLES. A teacher in this district wrote to the Chairman of the Manaia School Committee some months ago, asking them to recommend him to the Board for the mastership ot that school. He also forwarded an application in proper form to the Wanganui Board. Some time afterwards he received an encouraging answer from the said chairman, and also a memorandum from the secretary as follows : “ I beg to remind you that in applying to the Manaia School Committee for the post of teacher you have committed an error. You are the servant of the Board, and the Board alone can remove yon from the present position. Your application should therefore be to (he Board, and should be made when the Board invites you to apply.” The receiver of the above was perplexed and astonished. He knew that in the North Canterbury district it was usual to apply direct to Committees. He accordingly turned down the corner of the memorandum and wrote “Not aware of any rule of the Wanganui Education Board which debars me as a teacher from making application to a school committee, or to any body or person for appointment. I beg to state that I notified to the Board’s officer, Mr Inspector Foulis, my intention of being a candidate for the Manaia school before I made application to School Committee.” The memorandum was returned to the writer with an endorsement : “It is not usual for a teacher to return an official -communication. You can apply to any outside body you please, but all applications for preferment under this Board must be made to the Secretary, to be placed before the Board, and no others will be entertained. It is to be regretted that the Board allows its officers to send out such discourteous notes. A secretary should remember that many of the men whom he calls “ servants ” in this off hand way are as much his superiors in education as they are in politeness. One Who Knows.

MAN-TRAPS IN TOWN. Permit me to draw the attention of onr town powers to a contrivance admirably adapted for breaking legs, opposite the Coach Factory, in the shape of a drain pipe whose open mouth, some ten or eleven inches wide, is level with the gutter, and whose shaft proceeds downwards some depth. On a dark night a foot is inserted in the pipe, the body falls forward, and the leg may break in the region of the knee. What then ? Ci vis. # A PERSONAL STATEMENT. Mr J. A. Houguez writes to say that his unfortunate wife’s iflness is in no way due, as some ill-natured persons have been stating, to ill-treatment; that during their residence in Hawke’s Bay and in the

Manawatn she had not a harsh word from him ; and that she has been to him a refined and affectionate wife. Having had to abandon considerable property during the bank crisis, he has been since struggling under difficulties. Having now to take his wife to Wellington, he has appointed Mr Dale as his agent to settle accounts. He says several weeks did elapse between calling on Dr Keating and the complaint put in the paper ; but as the doctor then referred him to Dr Croft, Mr Houguez took that as a final answer. Dr Keating has, however, smce visited the wife and advised in her case.