RAGLAN. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1403, 30 June 1881, Page 2

RAGLAN. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

We must be growing in importance, for, sir— will you believe it?— we have two new Justices of the Peace. And so Raglan — quiet, modest Raglan — actually possesses three live J.P.'s. What they will all find to do is a mystery. Surely Court business has not so increased as to demand this addition of Justices. Notwithstanding, the fiat has gone forth that Mr William Powell, storekeeper, Raglan, and Mr William Duncan, farmer, are to be Justices of the Peace ; and we dull folks all say, what for? Are there not more efficient men ? Some think that the Minister of Justice, or whoever has done this, is glad Mr W. P. was not utterly lost in the bush, and has shown his joy by elevating him to the bench ; and others think the aforesaid Minister was afraid the bench would not bear too much wisdom and experience, and so has placed Mr W. D. thereon. Be it as it may, the appointments do not give general satisfaction. As I am your correspondent, and only one, I suppose I must not give my opinion. On Friday last our new Justices were duly initiated into the mysteries of their offices. Their first deliberations had reference to— tell it not in Waikato !— pigs. Mr Bregman, a Te Mata settler, charged some half-dozen others with killing two pigs which he alleged were his. The facts of the case were these : — A drove of pigs appeared in the bush on the land of one of the defendants. The pigs apparently were wild. Everybody claims the right to kill wild bush pigs; so the defendants killed two of these. Mr Bregman, hearing of this, claimed compensation, which, being refused, he tried to recover at law, and on Friday the case was heard. The plaintiff could not swear that the pigs were his, but occupied a whole day in trying to convince the Bench that they were. His son, a boy, recognised the internal economy of the dead pigs as being similar to that of his father's pigs. Hence we infer that the organic structure of Mr Bregman's pigs is different from that of all other pigs. Wherein, nobody can understand, not even the boy. The Bench gave judgment for the plaintiff for £4 and costs, and nobody feels satisfied with the judgment except the plaintiff. Defendants talk of appealing, but I think they had better eat the leek and get the taste out of their mouths as soon as possible, for appealing is very expensive business. Some day, perhaps, we shall have our school machinery in working order) We have had no school since April, and have had to teach our children ; but "there's a good time coming, boys," if we "wait a little longer. " A master has been engaged, and will, soon commence to lead young hopefuls on to that goal to which "there is no royal road.'' If the means of access to the Waikato were easier we might afford you the opportunity of having stone walls, stone foundations, and even stone houses. The excellent limestone of which I wrote in a former letter is being got out in large quantities, and sent to Auckland. While I write, tons of it lie on the wharf waiting for shipment. If Mr A. Brogden, M.P., succeeds in establishing cement manufacture in New Zealand, Raglan ought to benefit by it, for it has the limestone and the clay, both of which are used in that manufacture. One word about our mails. Our convenience is not much considered by the powers that be. The mails are supposed to arrive at six o'clock on Monday and Friday evenings, but they never arrive to time, and the return mails leave Raglan at six a.m. on Tuesday and Saturday. We get our letters at 7 or 8 p.m,, and to answer per return must post before 6 a.m. next day. Don't you envy us tumbling out at that hour, these cold wet mornings, to post ? And don't your Waikato postmasters envy our postmaster, stopping up late to oblige settlers, and then turning out at 5 next morning to assort and seal up the mail. We hope, that in this respect also " there's a good time coming." We had a severe gale here on Sunday morning. The bar was very, high and the sea very rough. We could not help pitying " those in peril on the sea." At about five o'clock the same morning, sharp shocks of earthquake were felt. I happened to be awake at the time. My first thought was that the wind shook the house, but I observed that at the time the wind had lulled, and the shocks were just like those of an earthquake.— [June 27, 1881.]