ALEXANDRA FROM "A MOTHER'S" POINT OF VIEW.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 303, 12 November 1873, Page 3

ALEXANDRA FROM "A MOTHER'S" POINT OF VIEW.

(To the Editor.) Sib, — Our quiet (I was about to say sleepy) little township was thrown into a furore of excitement by the report that a bridegroom was taken from a buggy and locked up by the police on his return home, after having the marriage ceremony performed. I bcli;ve the quarrel originated from the bruL groom being in greater hurry to get home than the officer thought proper, whereupon ensued an altercation, which ended in the bridegroom being kept in durance vile for several hours. Great indignation is expressed against, in this instance, unnecessary interference by the police officer, and a strong wish is expressed to have him removed ; but I consider the head and front of his offence lies in his having performed his duty so well as to become a terror to evil-doers, so great as to cause some wouldbe jolly companions to hold their orgies in hotels outside 'the town boundary, where they are wont to observe in the township, that one can't rattle a dico-box but the police are sure to hear it. If the publicans find it a hardship to bo so restrained, their anger ought to be directed against the law, and not against a paid servant for putting that law in force. lam afraid the loss of the almighty dollar is quite as rampant in the breast of English settlers here, ■as in that of their cousins in America. The law is allowed to take its course ag long aa it does not trenoli on the pockets of many of tho community. Should an unfortunate chemist happen, at any time, to soil a dose of poison without the proper authority, and a police officer to trace him out, lie is "not; only applauded but very often promoted ; and yet the same poison is openly sold in the shape of adulterated liquors in every city and town in the southern hemisphere, and yet there is a law against tho sale of adulterated liquors, just as there is against poison, only in the former case the law is a dead letter; even our law makers and law givers tell us that the sale of such poisons arc filling our lunatic asylums, hospitals, and cemeteries, and that it is casting disease and death broadcast amongst the flower of our adopted country. But woo to the individual who would attempt to stem the torrent- and for what reason ? Because it would materially effect the profits of so many people that the law, especially on the goldfields, is often brought into utter contempt. I believe a law is in existence preventing an hotelkeeper from holding an auctioneer's license, or being in any way connected therewith ; and yet the proprietor of the principal hotel in Clyde has advertise .1 his auction sales in tho " Dunstan Times " for the la3t twelve months, just as if no such law existed. I think if tho Provincial Council, instead of amending and reamending and then amending again, wore to put the originally good laws in forco, they would relieve the statute book from a deal of lumber, and save their servants from the horns of a dilemma, for they must cither ncg!ect their duty or offend the public, and are very often tempted to do both. I am now happy to stato that the great water question, which, troubled this little community for so long a time, is now amicably settled, or nearly so, at least, the opposing parties have come to an understanding with each other in this wise. The Town Clerk, town councillors, and cx-countnllors are allowed permission to divert the water from the town race whenever they may require it, all others are refused. This, at one time, bor? a threatening aspect, leading to the B'ispicion that if matters did not take a brighter hue, the waters would soon be tinge.! with a redder glow, when tho l&dies suddenly came to the rescue — Mrs. Miner, or Meek, as the oase might be, begging the loan of the race of Mr. Clerk, or Councillor, for half an hour to fill their tank 3, and as the ladies in this question are not only good natured but compassionate, this modest request is always complied with. This lias so far smoothed matters, that peace anl good will laave again become the ordor of the day. but perhaps it is only the lull before the fury of the pending storm ; and, if so, it will form the subject of a future letter. — I am, &c., A Motiiee.