The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1881.

Temuka Leader, Issue 354, 15 February 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1881.

Tim changes that are taking place in the social position of Ihe people of New Zealand is in noth ng better seen than in the Law Courts of the country. A time was when lawyers cmiid boast of making their five or lon thousand pounds a year, as a matter of course. Even the li.M. Courts, or small debt courts as they are called, had their limes of overflowing, when the neighboring lawyers could not unfrequently be seen with tln-ir trousers-pockeis sticking out like paddlewheels on a river steamboat with the fools’ money that they had Ikeu stuffing into them a’l the d..y long. Time-.are now altered. Either the people have grown wiser, or their fools’ cash has grown scarce. Perhaps part of both. Be that as it may, one thing is ceitain tha', excepting a drunk or two, who are unable to escape the vigilence of our Police Sergeant, and a few" who are hauled up and put to considerable expense, the Court day now would be more like a wake (not an Irish wake) The same may be said of the District Court. At its lust sitting there was barely sufficient to allow all the oflieials to go through the usual forms Our Telegraph Offices also have undergone a radical chnnge. When money kept flowing in, tenpenco or a shilling was nothing ; and if a letter ha<l been forgotten, wire him was the instant reply. Now, however, the pounds are milking themselves scarce, ami the shillings and tenpences require looking after, lest they also should make themselves scarce. In

short every one now seems to estimate a pound at a higher value than formerly. In some eases if it is once grasped it is a prisoner. Lawyers suffer, ami publicans suffer first and most. Shall we say it is not good Thri tis a vihuib'e'acquirement ; once secured brings good to its possessor. Lavishness lias rninod many hundreds, nay many thousands in these Australian Colonies. It is no unusual thing to hear men, wlmlnni wealth Ho wing into them in lapfuls, say we thought it was always to be so. Oak a few years back times were good, wages were high, public works were prosecuted, prices for all kinds of produce weie high. (Joe and another might say “ this L too good to las I '.” Yet the hall ioils on, and m u keep speculating and was ing, and wasting and speculating agiin for more, and often, too, got it. Now this is all ehanged. Our Courthouse descried. Our telegraph office scantily patronised ; the ddfeivn e between a two pinny stamp and a sidling telegram 5s weighed ; lawyers’ three guinea charg.-s cause a long face and a mouth as w ide as a crocodile’s ; the result being the door of the Courthouse is passed by, and men try to im ke it up with one another rather than go to law. This is undoubtedly the best way t o apply the ten per cenl. reduction principle. Mote money is spent foolishly in I,vv (barring spirits) than in any luxury in the Colony. If'here are those amongst us who believe that these flush times will cmne again, we would like to hear them, siyho wit can !>■■. The gold diggings, of course, is the cry. No gold diggings had to do with the I hues of abundance in Canterbury. Expenditure of borrowed money aid speculation in rural laud were the bases of that temporary prosperity. Some made fortunes and cleared the country ; others soared high and fell in (lie mud; some enjoyed a short life and a meiry ; others drank themselves to death. Now all th’s is settled down lo sobei

earnestness. The husbandman has to devise means to enable him to compete with other countries. His grain, his butler, his eggs and his bacon, as well as his beef and his mutton will by and bye, lind their way hi to the English market. Oats and oatmeal have seen their worst. Good news from home is that which says oatmeal arrived safe. With moderate precautions this can be the case with their butter and their hams and bacon. No country in the world, we believe, can produce better meat or bread than New Zealand. No.v that a way has been found to send it to the half famishing factory hands in En land and Scotland they will soon know the value of a good joint, even from this far distant land. This to them will give health; to us wealth anil peace Nola.v, no fighting, no more killing. Beef at a groat, as the Scottie says, and meal at a shilling, and then we can live and let live without lawyers and their long bills.