South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2425, 24 December 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1880.

Tiik Americana, who are the authors of half .the ingenious things under the sun, have a sort of social pastime called f * The Surprise Tarty.” it is worked generally in connection with entertainments, and being perfectly harmless it forms a pleasing and legitimate kind of recreation. In New Zealand we have periodical surprises, but unfortunately they differ from the happy surprises that prevail on the American Continent. Wo refer to the raids of the authorities. The old domesticated Negress in ‘‘ Untie Tom’s Cabin ” had a £i daring up day ” when the corners of her wonderful kitchen received attention ; and the guardian angels in New Zealand, who administer her laws and hyc-laws,have apparently a penchant for “ daring up ” at long divided and uncertain intervals. Wo do not mean to say that the police raid is entirely a New Zealand institution or idea. We hear of its being occasionally exercised in the other colonies —witness the gambling raids in Australia for instance. But in the case of our colonial cousins the raids are usually exercised on the “ heathen Chinee,” whose " ways that are dark ” require specific treatment. The periodical raid on well behaved British subjects is, wc believe, indigenous to the soil of this colony. In other colonics and civilised coutrios tradesmen must be convicted of deliberately trespassing, but here they are trapped and kidnapped. The mice arc allowed to play and the cat makes a sudden spring. Of course the game is amusing to all but the mice, who in this instance, happen to he law-abiding tradesmen. While we see no particular objection to the police and the Bench being allowed to amuse and distinguish themselves by making the public acquainted with their multifarious privileges, we think that where there is a crooked and a straightforward way of doing things, the latter ought to be followed. If the information wo have received is correct, it can hardly he said that such a course was followed in connection with the raid that has just been made on the weights and measures of the tradesmen and shopkeepers of Timaru. Nearly every tradesman who uses a pair of scales has been found tripping, but in no instance has the slightest fraud been shown. Still we find, as the substantial result, that the majesty of the law has-been vindicated by the seizure and confiscation of a quantity of weights and measures, and the infliction of fines amounting to some £oo or £4O. Inasmuch as the unstamped scales and weights varied, some of them being as, much in favor of the purchasers as others were against them, the presumption is that the contravention of the law was due cither to an inacquaintancc with its requirements ar, at the most, to a little negligence. .We have witnessed the laws relating to weights and measures put in operation in other parts of the world, but the process pursued in Timaru is quite new to us. A whole community of tradesmen arc lulled to sleep, mouth after month passes, no note of warning is sounded, and they receive no visit, no admonition from the inspector, till suddenly they are pounced on, the weights and scales indispensible to the prosecution of their business arc seized and carried off, and finally, after suffering all the inconvenience imaginable, they arc subjected to au all-round contribution to the State. This demonstration of blackmailing— exacting a Christmas-box for the benefit of the revenue—can hardly create a favorable impression abroad. If the majority of tradesmen pounced upon wore suffering from a long run of good luck and heavy business profits, they might be expected to submit, like Christmas geese, to be bled freely. But they have heavy taxes to contribute to the State as well as the Borough Council, and the contribution exacted by the Inspector of Weights and Measures has a very ungracious aspect. It has been exacted in a way that is certainly not conducive to the peace and good will that ought to prevail at such a season as the present, and in defiance of the principles of good feeling and brotherly kindness that should be exhibited. The matter cannot now be helped, seeing that the fines have been paid and the confiscated articles, like vagrant dogs, await destruction, but wo submit that when next the Inspector of Weights

ami Measures desires to distinguish himself, he should giro a warning note so t-hai- tradesmen who wish to comply with the laws of the colony, may not he taken unawares. The mouse trap system inaugurated in Timarn is so utterly repugnant , and foreign to British notions of justice that for our credit it ought to be discontinued. Public functionaries should endeavor to prcicnt offences, not to make offenders. Over-zeal so far from making them respected, renders them public nuisances. We trust we will have no more startling raids on reputable tradesmen for some years to come. The shopkeepers of this town and district, if they receive their due, arc entitled to very different treatment at the hands of their sly and officious servants than to be lulled to sleep in order that their property may be rushed, and their pockets virtually picked.