QUSTICE ON THE WALLABY TRACK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 263, 13 February 1873, Page 6

QUSTICE ON THE WALLABY TRACK.

(By an Occasional Reporter.) It is a legal maxim that the suitor • sits at the door of justice, but in this happy country justice sits at the door pf suitors. Your correspondent hearjng,that a court was to be held somewhere i^ the wilderness lately, mounted his Rosinaute, 'pursued justice in its erratic career through the wilds of Qlago, the mode in which justice £ ;tseth therein being the. object of my researches. After the ordinary vicissitudes of travel, your reporter arrived at his destination — the important mining city of Quartzopolis, and, barring incidents 'at once went for the Courthouse, which we fquiiu to be au unsubstantial edifice of primitive — yery primitive — design, situated on the slope of a hill in isolated grandeur, amidst proudly waving tussocks of snow grass. In order to protect the temple of justice from the irruptions of vagrant cattle, a rail had been errcted around the portal, so that 'diiitp.-g, magistrates— what there was of them, and reporters ditto, were Vompelled to stoop beneath the fence in order to attain the interior. Once arrived therein, my senses were regaled by the maeuificently mouldy odour oV the place. Stale decisions pregnant with profound wisdom, others Jacking that quality, emitted their compound essences fro.m mildewed books, covered with spider-created webs, of equal sublety to any that j lawyers could spin. If Darwin's theory of development be correct, doubtless these spiders were once lawyers in the flesh, for nothing but the love of musty legal lore could have induced even a spider to take up his abode ia such a desolate God-for-saken building. The ancieut paper, and t'h'c still ucre ancient lining bu,n.g in strips, waving sadly to the melancholy wind which pervaded the building, and whistled through a thousand crannies in the weau and worn out wood work. There was not much furniture to mention, aud what there was is not ■ worth- mentioning — barring a stove rusty and sad from lack of fuel. TVhen I entered, the only occupants were, first, a constable, expectant of five minutes excitement, marking an epoch in his melancholy career ; a hirsute mirier, radiant in a beard the most Welsh of goats might envy, aud lastly, a gentle Chinaman placidly awaitiug the advent of the minister of justice, with a " smile that was childlike and bland." Presently unto them entered the minister oi'jascice, who had evidently combined economy with dut\ r by arraying himself in the seediest of garments for attendance upon the seediest of courts. Taking his seat upon a three legged chair — which represented the Bench, he glared fiercely ' tipon the constable, frowned upon the hirsute miner, scowled upon the phinaman, and smiled patrpnisingly Jpon the representative of the Press. 3T:iving thus vindicated his judicial position, he cast his eyes upon the desk before hiai, and, perceiving certain c-oius of the realm thereon, His "Worship fiercely curled hh moustache and inquired what "that" meant, in the saiiie breath ordering the constable to open the court in the name of Her Majesty the Queen. This herculean feat having been accomplished " without prejudice," His Worship proceeded to call on the cases for hearing. The first case was j Hegina against Buggins. Neither plaintiff nor defendant appeared. The constable represented that Buggins had called in at an earlier hour, but j finding His Worship, was not there then, had gone down towu for a drink, ■y/hereupon His Worship blandly requested the constable to go in pursuit, and to present his (the Magistrate's) compliments to defendant, and request liiui to be goad enough to come up, :ind be fined without delay, as he (the Magistrate) wanted a drink himself, aud could not wait. The constable departed on his mission, and during his absence His Worship interviewed the hirsute miner, and tried to interview the childlike Chinaman, but as the Magistrate was culpably ignorant Df the Chinese language, be. was incompetent to perform his duties, a matter which deserves the serious consideration, of the authorities— i,f there be any in N-ew Zealand. She constable returned, and said the gentleman sent for would attend upon His Worship as soon as he had finished liquoring up ; at the time he (the constable) saw him, he was engaged in a, game of Yankee grab, aud of course yo reasonable magistrate could expect l'.im to lose his chance by hurrying up. The Magistrate admitted the excusi , aad waited", takio'g as many half-crowns' ds t the sparse attendance could produce. Bye-and.-b.yc i,n strolled the defendant, \vho nodded fumilku-iv to the Bench, and expostulated with His Worship at haying U'eeu, kept waiting at an earlier period-, of the day. He wan charged with keeping his licensed iouse open at an unholy hour of the against the peace of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, her crown, kzd dj^uity.' He admittedthe offence, b'uc' explained that he was having a auiet chat with a few, friends, and the xltne shipped by somehow unpticed by Eiiui*. * lie was seldom at home biinze\f, aud left; the conduct of the bu,siiieos to his .w.il e. 'Jsie Magistrate in--.quired if jjhcr.p was auy noise in the house at the time, and the constable. Jjaid there wiii iio disorderly noises a^i.t > ..;.. .... ; --• •— * «•■ ■ ;

there were several people in the bar talking, he thought in Irish, because he did not understand what f;hey said. It might have been Scotch, but be was certain that it was a foreign language. His TS r or.slijp puttjng on an air of great profundity, sajd that offences like these could not be permitted wit'.u out dauger to the, commonwealth, , whjch must be protected at all hazaiuls. 'the fact' of the constable not understanding the language used, was only an aggravation of the offence. This sort of thing must be put down. 7so person would be .allowed to talk foreign lauguages after midnight, while he held office in the district. He would mulct the defendaut in the sum of two shillings and sixpence. Hereupon the constable interjected, " Costs, your Worship ? " " Aye, aye,'* said his Worship, " costs, are there any costs." "Six and sixpence," said the vigilant preserver of peace and order. " Then," said his Worship, " I'll not intiict any fine, I'll dismiss the case ou payment of costs \ but I tru3fc this will be a warning to the defendant never to indulge in such infamous practices again.' 1 "Indeed," said the defendaut, who did not seem to be deeply penetrated by a sense of the enormity. of the offence, " then, I'm going into the bush for three mouths, and I wou't be in the way of doing it." Then he handed the constable a dilapidated note. The constable held up the dirty rag to public inspection, aud asked if any gentleman could accommodate him with change. The Chinaman still grinned blandly, the hirsute one stared vacantly ; your correspondent instinctively felt in his pockets (of course in vain), and the magistrate regarded the group defiantly, as who should say v you'll find no, change in me." The constable said to the defendant, "you come qp next week for the change,"- an. ar.nan.gemen,t sullenly acquiesced ' in by the mulcted one, who departed in a hopeless frame of mind. Then the business of the Chinaman was dealt with — a storekeeper of that race having been fished up to act us temporary interpreter. It appeared that the almond eyed one had made application for various mining privileges, and had received notices for posting up, in. accordance with the regulations, a condition which he had scrupulously observed by posting said notices in the recesses of his Asiatic pockets, in order to protect them from the destructive influence of wind aud weather. Of course, there were no objections ; and yet, strange to say, his Worship was not satisfied with this labor-saving arrangement. In accordance with the red tapeism which actuates such officials, he insisted that these notices should be posted in the unprotected atmosphere — a stretch of authority which demands the attention of the Otago Miners' Association — a hint, which I have no doubt will be at once acted upon by the energetic Executive of that body. There was also a civil case called, in which capital to the extent of nearly two pounds sterling wa sat stake ; but neither plaiutiff or defendant appeared, and the constable explained that the defendant had vacated the island prior to the date of the invitation to visit his Worship. The Magistrate then directed the constable to declare the Court closed, and thus euded my experience of justice on the wallaby track.