OLD STORIES RE-TOLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 23 December 1911, Page 6

OLD STORIES RE-TOLD

■RACES FROM TUT? 1 PAST. •'■ j _ i ('By "Fifty-one.") i .Having in my last letter mentioned the Provincial Government days of Taranaki. and the connection of the. police therewith, it may interest your | readers'—at any rate the second genera- I tion (the first having mostly crossed the •treat divide) —to have their memories re-! freshed on a few of the incidents of that 1 period-. The election of a superintendent | and Provincial Council caused immense j excitement throughout Xew Zealand, al- j most, if not <|uite, as mueli as a general election for the House of Representatives i does at the present day. Feeling ran ! high with ithe different parties for the j choice of a Superintendent, and I will! mention one ease in point that occurred I in Xew Plymouth. 1 lie contest was between Major Charles Brown and Major. (Sir Harry) Atkinson.- The former was then proprietor of the Taranaki Xewis, on which I held a prominent position. Mr. C. 1). Whitcombe, who, I believe, was Provincial Secretory on the outgoing Council, apparently having no love (politically) for the Atkinson party, wrote some verses and handed them to Major Brown, who passed them on to me with the remark that as he was a ■ candidate he would not read them, j dancing over the verses I saw danger ahead, and took them to Mr. Phoney ] (the original proprietor, and still at- I tached to the editorial staff),-who also I said he would have nothing to do with the matter. Seeing that no one would take the responsibility, I put 'the verses in the printer's hands, and they were duly 'set up and printed; and circulated in sheet form. Then the trouble commenced. All, excepting one of -the principal parties, are dead, but- in any case I do not think it wise to republish the terms used ui the verses. They were, however, a pretty stiff • order, and a criminal libel action followed, Mr. Whitcombe being the defendant. After the first day's hearing before the magistrate an apology was accepted, and the matter dropped. But it is on record that Major Browiti resigned his position as a Justice of the Peace because he considered the magistrate had acted in an unnecessarily harsh manner towards the defendant. That libel action was a warning to me, and I have refused to take any responsibility since. I might mention that I got a somewhat stiff gruelling in court-, because I was subpoenaed a.s a witness for the prosecution, and- counsel found it necessary to treat me as a "hostile witness," and I had a merry time. All elections did not produce libel actions... fortunately, but, as f said before, feeling always ran high, and very often one of the defeated candidates would be. dragged round the town in the hustings' waggon and eventually tipped into a creek. II: need not be imagined the proceedings at a Provincial Council meeting were the same as those al a County ui' I'orough Council meeting. At the former it was Parliament over again. There was- the Superintendent as Ihe leadt r of the (ioverniucnt. a Provincial Secretary and Provincial Treasurer, an Opposition, ami even a Sei-gcaiit-at.-.\rms. Sessions were held, order papers printed, and Ordinances pas-cd for local government in exactly the same manner as is now done in Parliament : liui | cannot say whether a mace was in evidence. Copies of lllose stalutes are lio doubt sjill in existence, and would form interesting reading for those who wished to peep into the methods oi local government, adopted in the early days, The number and severity ol Scotch Thistle Kradicalion Ordinances would open the eves ol presentday land-owners, who think they are being harassed by noxious weed inspectors. Ailer a long crusade against the Scotch lliiile. in which many fanners were nearly driven to distraction, i; was discovered that Scotia'-, i-)j;.i]. lo was - blessing in disguise, ami all opposition to its existence was withdrawn. Xrw. a. 'few words about the early police force. It will astonish .lines' of your readers who don't know to learn (hat nun acted on the New Plymouth police force way hack who afterwards attained the highest Ministerial rank, and <it least one was Knighted. Tt was not t bought, derogatory then to turn one's hand to anything honest, and Iml-ck-punehing, mail-carrying, and acting

as policemen was considered as honorable occupations then as llu 1 position of Prime Minister is now. 1 mentioned that tlifi Provincial Council had a Sergeant-at-Arms. Well. Sergeant Dunn. of the police, occupied itliat position a« Ifar back as I can recollect, and lie was a 'bit of a wonder in his way. Lot it be said right here that there was not a man in TaranaUi who could point a fmger at liini and say he was not genuine to the backbone. He would ne.ver run a man in fw trifling offences, unless driven to it; he would get a man on his back and carry him home rather than put him in "chokey." At one of the meetings of the Provincial Council, a motion was tabled to raise the salary of the Sergeant-at-Arms by sixpence a day, but would you believe it, this official actually made a speech (they did it in those days), in which he stated that as the Council was not sufficiently flush of .funds to pay the extra amount, he would not take it, and lie didn't. Fancy a man in the twentieth century refusing an increase of salary! Almost a similar thing occurred with reference to the late John DuH'in. When the General Government! took over provincial affairs, he could have been transferred as Scrgeant-Major with a higher salary, but he would not be rated at anything above a sergeant, and nothing could induce him to alter his mind. I believe it was suggested to liini that he be turned over to the General Government with the title of Inspector, but he would have none of it.