South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2322, 26 August 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1880.

Si.y-oroCt selling and magisterial imbecility are two evils that in New Zealand flourish side by side. Like the oak and the ivy the one is essential to the support of the other. A decayed and decaying bench is necessary to the existence and prosperity of the slv-grog seller. To what extent the revenue of the colony suffers through the illicit trade in jjpernicious and stnpifying compounds that is constantly carried on in defiance of the police and informers it is impossible to say, hut we have reason to believe that it is something enormous. We have not the slightest doubt that if this gigantic curse could only be effectually dealt with, the income of the Colony would bo improved to a much larger extent than it is likely to be by the infliction of the property taxor beer tax, But so long as the administration of the law is entrusted to wornout and otherwise incapable public officers who ought to be superannuated —so long as the bench of New Zealand is degraded by being made a refuge for cripples—sly-grog selling in conjunction with other serious contraventions of the civil law will flourish unchecked, and the public revenue will be de frauded.

To the numerous manifestations of magisterial imbecility in connection with the sly-grog evil an exceedingly glaring illustration has just been added. The hero of this latest achievement is that well-known eccentric genius, Mr I. N. Watt, of Dunedin. Mr AVatt, we believe, owes his appointment as Police Magistrate to the fact that having officiated for many years, in the old Provincial days, as sheriff, it was deemed necessary, when that office was abolished, to find something else for him. Since his elevation to the judicial chaii, he has repeatedly proved himself a most absurd square peg in a round hole. If we are not mistaken, he takes precedence of all other magistrates in the colony, as regards exhibitions of special inaptitude. Within the past few months the Minister of Justice has had on two occasions to interfere, in order to prevent mere children from being subjected, for trumpery offences, to long terms of imprisonment accompanied by gaol hoggings. But while prone to indulge in exhibitions of brutality towards juveniles, Mr Watt

lias apparently a most tender regard for the adult offender, particularly when the latter has the assistance of a pertinacious counsel. Otago, it is wellknown, is the home of the sly-grog seller. In other parts of the colony, they make a good living, but in Otago they llonrish. The hills and gullies .south of the river Waitaki, literally s \varm with these chevaliers cV Industrie. It is a notorious fact that the hoardinghouses of Oamaru reek with bad whiskey, and it is quite as notorious (hat the Oamaru bench is seized with undefinable spasms the moment any attempt is made to put the law in force against the offenders. Lately, it seems the sly-grog sellers have assembled in great force at Mullocky Gully, the home of the unemployed, and many of the latter besides hard work and low rations, have been undergoing a kind of slow poisoning preparatory to their appearance at tiie hospital or almshouse. The police considered it their duty to make a raid on the offenders, and informers were employed. The prosecutions were conducted before the shining luminary of the Dunedin Bench. Mr Watt took from Saturday till Monday to consider his decision. On .Monday morning, having fully digested the evidence and made up his mind, ho appeared with a written judgment, which lie carefully read and delivered. No sooner had he, to til 1 intents and purposes, convicted the defendants, than their counsel sprang to ids logs, reasoned, expostulated, and finally read the Bench such a lecture, that Mr Watt, humiliated and abashed) was induced to swallow all ho had said and reverse his decision. The sly-grog sellers escaped and why ? Not because there was any doubt of their guilt ; they had no genuine defence to urge : the evidence of the informers was micontradictcd ; but the Magistrate thought proper to throw discredit on a portion of their statement jwhich was quite immaterial to the issue. It is evident, we think, while such in-

decision and incapacity as that displayed by Mr Watt of Dunedin is manifested by the bench that the revenue of the colony will never be properly protected. Not only the police but their agents Ibid themselves discouraged in the very quarter from which they might reasonably expect support. This is but a poor recompense for the performance of duties of a most disagreeable natureThe informer may be regarded with suspicion and dislike, but be is a useful and and necessary servant, and bis valuable services ought to bo appreciated. As for the sly-grog seller be deserves no consideration whatever. Morally he is the basest and most dangerous of criminals, robbing working men of their earnings and their health, besides defrauding the revenue of the country and injuring the business of law-abiding tradesmen. [Before the sly-grog seller can be dealt with, it is evident that the bench—particularly the Otago bench — will have to be reorganised. Until stipendiary police magistral cs, who possess sufficient firmness, intelligence, and decision of character, to repel the attacks of hectoring attorneys, are provided, the police may just as well allow the sly-grog sellers of Mullocky Gully and elsewhere, to pursue their traffic unchecked, and leave the revenue of the colony to its fate.