The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1885. THE WAYS OF THE WORLD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1420, 19 November 1885, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1885. THE WAYS OF THE WORLD.

A delicious bit of information has ,l A w? from Timaru. A few. days ago the Secret S.C. Caledonian Society gave a Ti ra arU^ n ; e ;. anord * r to print the programmes o, -W sports which are to be held,next New i~ arp Way under the auspices of the Society. vSomehfi'w the news reached the Timaru Herald office that an order for the printing had bi'en given to an opposition shop, and fearful was the wrath and indignation it created. Energetic steps wpre at once taken. An official from ihe Herald office interviewed the Secretary forthwith and informed him that ni'less he cancelled the order at once, »n<! gave the w»rk to the Herald OfiSw, no

report would be given of the sports, and that all the influence of the paper—envenomed by scorn, hatred, and illwill—wouki henceforward be levelled agninst ihe Society. A cold tremor coursed through the frame of the Secretary ; lie telt as terror-stricken as lam O'Shanter whpn hunted by tlio ghosts, and he went straight to the President. To shorten the story, a meeting of the Cou»~ mittee was called, and it was decided to withdraw the order given to the other printer and give the j»b to the Herald. Hitherto I have had a great respect for the Caledonian Society, notwithstanding that they have treate.l me shabbily once or twicp. Evermore I shall regard them aa chicken-hearted ancient parties of the feminine sex. To allow themselves to be thus brow-beaten reflects prejudicially on the traditionsof their race. Alas for the degeneracy of the age! There is a lesson in this affair which people in this district wou'd do well to study. Supposing the Timaru Herald succeeded in crushing the smaller papers out of existence, and it became master ot the situation, what wouid be the rpsqlt ? Simply that it would browbeat the people as it did th<* Caledonian Society, and it would be a case of" God help us " with the people of this district. The Herald belongs to a ring of moneylenders and monopolists, and if ever they get a , monopoly of printers ink, the people may rest assured they will mc it to f-uit. their own pnds. I know something about newspapers, but I never beard of anything like the Herald tsud the Caledonian Society before. I have a remark or two to make about the meeting of magistrates held a few days ago in Geraldine. They met to settle a rota of attendance at the Court, but found that only two ol them liyed within the radius of five miles (not six as reported) and consequently were not bound to attend. In order to m*et the difficulty they suggested tha names of several gentlemen who ought to be placed on the Commission of the Peacp. E have not the slightest objection to any of the gentlemen whose nameß were mentioned. They »rn all highly eligible for the office. What I want to poiutout is that it appears to me one who is eminently qualified for the position has been overlooked. The Chairman of the Geraldine Tcwn Board occupies the position of Mayor, and all Mayors are Justices of the Peace ; he is within the radios ; he is a man of education and integrity ; his early training in law add 6 to his suitability, and T think to have omitted his name was an oversight. Apropus of this I have to state that the Magistrates of l'emuka have held no meeting yet. Of course it is no business of mine what they do. It might be as well for me, perhaps, tbey should never meet, as in that case I need not fear them. At the same time it might do no harm to tell them that by the new Act they are called upon to meet on the second Monday in the month of November to settle a rota of attendance at the Court. There are five of them within the radius of five mi!PB, and as they go in pairs. Ihey will not find it easy to arrange the rota, Perhaps they may settle it on the "odd man out" principle. Readers of newspapers will remember that Messrs Bailance and Stout made no end of bnnst of having passed the Married Women's Property Act in 1884. Hens never cackle till after they have laid their eggs. So far Messrs Bailance and Stout acted like hens. They went abroad cackling like hens after having passed this Act, and judging from what occurred in Timaru a few days afo a rotten egg it was. Briefly stated' the case in Timaru wa6 as follows .-—Emily Haste was governess in J. W. Stonyer's father's family. There is nothing extraordinary in a young man marrying his father's governess, and in this case it was not at all to be wondered at, for in some mysterious way Emily possessed herself of Mr Stonyer, senior's, farm. Having possessed herself of the farm, the designing girl set her cap at Stonyer, junior, with the result that she accumulated him on the Ist of last April. What a strange day she selected, "All Fool's day." Thus had she appropriated evidently everything worth having, but then a new difficulty arose ; there WBS no house on the farm to live in. Here her devoted .husband stepped in to her assistance—went to a timber merchant, bought materials for a house, and had it ereeted. The house was erected on the wife's property, and ■of course it became hers. Next some horses were wanted to work the farm. I he husband bought three horses, giving his own promissory note for them ; the wife coaxed him to make them over to her, and he gave her two of them. As soon as she got the horsea into her possession, she gave a money-lender a bill of sale over them. \et she was not satisfied. One of the horses was allowed to run on the farm, aßd the cruel wife bad it seized for rent; she also seized a cart belonging to him for rent. After having stripped him of everything, evidently some feelings of remorse w'zed her, for she lent him money—and when the poor fellow had to file the other day ihe came in as one of his creditors to the tune of LJSO. Who could blame the poor, fellow for filing * HfW could be help it ? His wife had everything { he had nothing I The faithfulness, disinterestedness and kindneea of a wife is proverbial, but, judging from this, Q«r nature has been

completely changed by this Act of Parliament. From a kind and affectionate helpmate she bus beeu transformed into a cruel, unrelenting S-?liylock, who would not allow her husband's horse to graze on her farm without distraining ou it for rent. I wonder if Messrs Ballance and Stout will again boast of haying been the authors of the Act of Parliament that enabled Mrs Stonyer to assist her husband to pay liis debts po easily 1 It is generally admitted that all bullies are cowards. No better example of this could be got than our Resident Magistrate. Let any poor unfortunate person unaccustomed to the usages of a Court of Justiee make the slightest slip, the worthy Magistrate pounces on lura like a thousand a bricks, and annihilates him all at once. He did not dare to treat Mr Hatnersley so a few days ago in 'limaru. Mr Hamerslej accused him of having mado very unjust remarks concerning the case before the Court, and when called on by the Magistrate lo listen to him, Mr Hatnersley . refused to do so. The Magistrate, finding himself unable to control Mr Ilamersley, jumped off the Bench, and ordered the Court to be adjourned. ..Is this not a disgraceful state of affairs A lawyer >o illtempered and ill-mannered that he flings defiance in the face ofj the Court! a Magistrate so weak and irresolute that he cannot maintain order \ It is humiliating. Had any poor man acted as Mr Hamersley did, he would have been committed for contempt of Court. But Mr Bewick dreaded the consequence of adopting 6Uch a course in this instance. Persons who go to Court ought to be prepared. In Temuka yestn'day Mr H. R. was sued by Mr Murray, but it turned out that he was able to dispute successfully all the itims with t l ie exception of £2 9s 61, against which he had a account of £1 16s 2d. He, however, furnished no bill of particulars of the contvi, because he said he had a lrttdr writt.'iiby Mr Murray acknowledging the amouiit. The Magistrate said this would not do, and Mr Pratt asked Hia Worship to adjourn the Court for a couple of hours so that he might g<> to Geraldine and bring the letter. The Magiatr-te would not, but said he would give judgment against him. He then proceeded t> pronounce judgment, when Mr Pratt, altar having fumbled in his pocket for some time, pulled out the letter he wanted to go to Geraldine i' >r! The letter admittud the contra of £ll6s 2d, and Mr Pratt is that sum the richer through having the letter in his pocket. Cori O'Lanus.