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Temuka Leader, Issue 224, 15 January 1880, Page 2

Pa.uk Board.—The monthly mpoting of the Temuka P-rk Roard wan held last Tuesday, wh'oii I here were present : Messrs Wilson (Chairman), Paterson and Barker. Accounts amounting to L 7 16s 3d werj passed for payment. After the business had been transacted, the meeting terminated with the usual vote ofgthanks to the Chairman. Pastobal Association.—The Temuka and Geraldine Agricultural and Pastoral Association hold their annual meeting at the Star Hotel, to-monow evening, at 8 p.m., when the attendance of all persons interested is requested, as business is important

The Rioters' Trial at Christohurch Eleven of the rioters were convicted on Tuesday last, four of them being sentenced tp" 18 and the rest to 32 "months' with hard. labor. Edward Murphy was acquitted.

Shooting Match.—A pigeon shooting, match took place in Marshall's paddock, Temuka, on Tuesday laßt. Six competitors came to the scratch. The birds, wiich were in capital condition, rose splendidly, and the shootists hud to be smart to bring iheir birds down. The conditions were 15 birds each, 21 yards rise. The shooting, on the whole, waa very fair, although Mr Thomson was not up to his usual, mark. Fourteen birds, were killed by Mr Wilson, Mr Gray being second; with 11 birds, Mr Thomson-and Mr Nicholas coming next, witd 10 birds each, Mr Masou . next, with 8 birds, Mr Harrop-following with five, birds. Owing to the ground beinr so wet. the gathering of the birds was entrusted to the dogs, some of which highly distinguished themselves.

Trial by Jury.—Tho Geelong T'nies aaya :—Trial by jury, it ia said, i« the palladium of the liberty of the people. Whether it is a safeguard may bo questioned, after such a circumstauce as the folio wing which, actually took place in Geelong a Bhort tinia since:—A colomat who hails from the Fatherland, and whose knowledge of the Queen's English ia of a small nature, was a jurynwi in a criminal trial of a very serious nature. When the case had terminated, after a protracted inquiry lasting over two days, the juryman before mentioned was accoatod in the, sjbroet by a brother German,, who anxiously Inquired what the • verdict was. '" Verdict, you say ? " asked the puzzled juryman, *' wha, Ss that 1 1 know I got my ton shillings a day. 1 did not understand what the trial waa about. I do not know whether the man waa found guilty or not, and do not care. I waa asked no questions, and gave no opinion. I got my ten ahillin/?a a day, ami that's all I know of the oaae."

Idle Hands,—The North Otago Times begins a leader thus:—ln glancing at the Athencoum, tho other day, through an article by William Chambers in Chamber's Journal on the experience of Judge Bathgate in New Zealand, we alighted upon it passage in which the writer says that, tliere are no idle people in Now Zealand?

tliat every colonist is employed in tlta pursuit of some useful industry. At the time wo were considerably amused to find that some ingenious persofTwho had been reading ihe article had, with regard for the tru'h of the institution, which prohibit the making of annotation k, on the books or periodicals, written in the margin opposite the paragraph referred to the emphatic exclamation, " What aHe 1" Wo udmiro the candour of--the commentator, and regret that so eminent and influential a writer as Mr Chambers should,in his honourable e■orerneßs to .advance tho.cauß»of' colonifvuion, have penned the passage which, honestly judged, justifies the exclamation. There are, unfortunately, a good many unemployed people in the "colony, and to assure ourselves of the fact we need not confine our considerations' to the large number, of men which a few months ago besieged the Government for employment nor to the unemployed persons that are at present carrying the.lr, .swags through the rural"district's in search of that work which- very many of thorn cannot find, for proofs : are to be'found within our urban communities.