The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1882.

Temuka Leader, Issue 925, 9 March 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1882.

At the Roa,d Board meeting which was held last Tuesday, Mr John Lawson poundkeeper, waited on, the. Board to consult them as tjp whether he was bound by law to advertise in the Temuka Leader. The members of the Road Board, after having read the clause in the ordinance referring to the subject, told him that of course he was, and advised him, to advertise both in the Tfmuka Leader and the Timaru Herald to insure publicity being given to the impounding of any animals.- Mr Lawson told the Beard that he believed he.

was not, as Temuka was not a town, and that Mr Mendelson who knew a great deal about law had told Mm that it was unnecessary for bjm to advertis* in the Temuka Leader as this was a road district; and not a town. Now the clause in " The Canterbury Trespass of Cattle Ordinance 1872" under which Mr Laweon works, after recapitulating the duties of a poundkeeper says—" And he shall adyertisp in one or more public newspaper of the nearest town, and shall cause such advertisement to appear twice at least before the day of sale of such cattle." This quotation is very explicit. There id no getting out of it. In order to comply with the law, cattle impounded in the Temuka pound and also in tne Geraldine pound mu3t be advertised in this paper before they can be sold, else the sale is illegal and the poundkeeper is liable to be mulcted in damages. Mr Lawson is laboring under a delusion if the thinks that this is not a town, and we should advise him whenever again he wants any legal information to go to someone who knows something about it, and not to depend on what " the gentleman up town —Mr Mendelson —who knows a great deal about law" tells him. In order to satisfy Mr Lawson's scruples on this head, we refer him to the New Zealand Gazette for the Provincial District of Canterbury, dated, 18th of M&y, 1871, in which there is a proclamation signed by | William Rolleston, Superintendent of of Canterbuiy, proclaiming the township of Wallingford and Arowheuua, so as to bring them under thp Cante bury Police Ordinance 1, 58 Session X, No. 1. This town WB§ therefore, proclaimed a town nearly twelve years ago, and consequently it is rather late in the day for Mr Mendelson or Mr Lawson to try to make out that it is not one. Mr Mendelsop, no doubt, knew that Temuka was a town, but hp knew also that Mr Lawson had such a high opinion of his legal knowledge, that he would believe anything he would tell him. and he told him fhis in order to prevent him from advertising in this paper. Why Mr Mendelson thonght fit to try to injure the proprietor of this peper by telling people with whom ho bad mfluence not to advertise in it, we canno.t understand, unless he did it on the same principle that he seems to adopt in all matters that have any tendency to advance the interest of this town—that is ? to d. 6 all in his power to mar their success. At the time Mr Mendelson vouchsafed his advice to M~ .Lawson, he professed to be very friendly towards the proprietor of this journal, but it was not a friendly act to go behind his back and do him injury. There are certain classes of peop'e to whom a newspaper is a terror, they hafce it because they fear that it would expose their little peccadilloes, and it is possible that it is some feeling akin to thie that prompted Mr Mendelson in taking the aption we have referred to. It is possible that he contemplated the total extinction of this paper in this underhand way. Such a high and mighty man as Julius Mendelson Esq., J.P., might well aspire to the accomplishment of such an action as the crushing of a, struggling little newspaper, but it was very mean of him to go in this underhand way about doing it, while still he had smiles and terms of friendship for its proprietor. The hypocrte's mask has, however, been now torn off him, and we know him as an enemy. We know he will do all he can to injure this paper—he may do us harm, but we feel confident that we shall outlive his malignity, useful to the district. It may be that some persons may think it not right of us to mak o s 0 n?uch of a matter of a personal nature, but we may be pardoned if we say in reply that it is a duty we owe to ourselves to protect ourselves against such underhand attempts to injure us. We want to let our readers know Mr Mendelson's disposition towards us, bo that if he attempts to injure us in any way they will be prepared, and they will not be led nway by anything he may say. " Self-preserva-tion ip the first law of nature," and this must form our excuse for taking this course.. Mr Mendelson has taken, other means of injuring us, but as these have not been made public. a,t any public meeting, w>e do not think that we would be doing right; in referring to them. We knew for. the last mouth that Mr Mendelson, told Mr Lawson not to ad vertise in this paper, but as it had not been made, public we took no notice of the matter,. Our readers, may feel assured that we. shaljl n ( ever pry into private matters, bu,t when, qnestionp involving our own, interest aud the. interest of the district, which we. regard now as inseparable, become public, we never shall hesitate to give a true version of them.

-The New Licensing Committee for this district will sifc at 12 o'clock tomorrow in the Resident Magistrate Courthouse. The Committee consists of gentlemen who, we feel confident, will administer the Jaw impartially, and if not to the satisfaction of all, to the satisfaction of the greit majority, but they have one thing to contend with ; they have not been provided with a copy of the Licensing Act to enable them to discharge their duties. The County Council is the body to whom all licensing fees are payable, and the Licensing Aot says that all the expenses must be f< defrayed out of the fees by th e person receiving the same." This made Mr "Wills, clerk to the Licensing C >mrnfttee, apply to the 0 >uncil for copies of the Licensing Act so as to be ready for the Licensing Committee when it sat, but no sooner was the letter read in the Council, than our local representative, M_ Mendelson, suggested that the Licensing Committee should pay out of cheir own pockets for the Acta. He said that anyone who had an ambition to be a Licensing Committee man ought to buy his own Act to enable him to discharge his dutu-s. Now we should like to know has Mr Mendelson bought his own Acts of Parliament to enable him to discharge the duties of a J,P. 1 And also does he take any expenses for attending the meeting s of the County Council? If he does, "what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander.'' and members qf the Licensing Committee ! ought not to be called upon to incur expenses while giving their services to the public np more than Mr Mend son. It is no indication of want of public spirit in the members of Committee that they should require to be supplied with what ig necessary for them to carry out their duties. It might be as well to say that they ought to build a Courthouse for themselves, as to tell them they ought to buy the necessary statutes. But the Council did not look upon the matter in that ight. It so happened that Mr Mendelson hit upon a moment favorable to his scheme. Mr Tripp was not present. Mr Tiilbot as a member of the Licensing Committee and therefore interested did nqt interfere, t'vo members whom it would be easy to lead into anything were talked intq the matter by Mr Mendelson and so the Council refused to provide the Licensing Act, the only member present who made an,y stand against it being Mr Moody, who no doubt must have felt humiliated' at seeing the Council qommitt£ 1 (p. such a peddling pettifogging act on. If Mr Tripp had been present we feel certain this resolution, would never have been passed, but he was not, and so Mr Mendelson had it all his own way. The whole matter involved only a sun; of 12 shillings or 14 shillings, and we think that to refuse the request, especially when the law orders all expenses to be borne by the receiver of the fees, was the most paltry podding action of which a public body has been ever guilty.