The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1884. THE GERALDINE COURTHOUSE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1156, 25 March 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1884. THE GERALDINE COURTHOUSE.

There is not perhaps a rural constituency in New Zealand which contributes more to the general revenue than Geraldine, and yet it never receives any return for it. There is not in New Zealand so thickly populated a district, there is none more productive, and none produce so much. Consequently it must contribute more towards the revenue than other constituency ; yet all we receive in return for this is three policemen, and the occasional services of a couple of very incompetent Magistrates. We pay too much for our whistle. The services we get are not worth the money, but at the same time we should be contented if we had our wants attended to sooner or later. We may denounce the game of grab very well, and it is certainly to be deprecated, but while it is being played we might as well have our hand in it and take pot luck. While Mr Steward has got an endowment of land for the Waimate High School, and Mr Sutter an extension of the Albury line of railway and telegraph, not one bit has been done for the Geraldine district. There are many things urgently needed in Geraldine. For instance, there is what is called by way of courtesy a Courthouse. This edifice is as uncomfortable as it is inconvenient, and as unsuitable as it would be possible to make it. It is nearly as bad as in iho early days, when Mr Woollcombe used to have to sit on a gin case while he used another gin case as a writing desk. The Geraldine Courthouse consists of two rooms. One, the dimensions of which are about 5 feet by 10 feet, is used as the clerk’s room and a retiring room for the presiding justices. The outer room is about 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, and in this the Court is held. A big table occupies about two-thirds of this room, and around this sit magistrates, lawyers, reporters, and such other personages as are intimately connected with the business of the Court. The only thing that distinguishes the Magistrates from the remainder ot the family circle is that they sit at the end of the table near the fireplace, except of course the “ eye severe and beard of formal cut,” and the magisterial airs that must ifecessarily characterise those who administer justice. It was this state of things that enabled a prisoner, not long since, to go up and shake hands with a_Magis-,

trateon the Bench, and also bring his fist into such proximity to a legal proboscis that a collision was barely avoided by the owner of the proboscis resorting to unusual activity. At the end of this table is an arrangement for which we have no name in our vocabulary. It consists .of about four uprights 4ft high with a cross-piece of wood laid horizontally over them, all being of the rudest workmanship. The Court officials call this a railing, it bears a strong resemblance to it, and for convenience sake we shall call it so. This railing is used to keep the general public apart from the portion of the room where the table and its occupants are, and when a witness is called he has to crawl in under the top railing between two uprights. The space set apart for the general public is about sft or 6ft by 10ft. The outside of the building is shabby and mean-looking, and on the whole it is a disgrace to the town. Now we do not think it would at all amount to “ grabbing” to get a small sum to improve this building and make it suitable for the business for [which it has been set apart. If to build a new Courthouse altogether were considered extravagance, a great deal of improvement might be made by adding a few feet to it, and making a proper bench for the Magistrates to sit upon. This could be done with an expenditure of £IOO or £2OO, and there can be no doubt but we are well entitled to that amount being spent in this constituency. We hope our representative in Parliament will use his influence next session, when in Wellington, and see that at least this small matter is attended to. By doing so we feel sure he will have the thanks and gratitude of everyone who has ever had any business to do in Court.