The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, FEB, 18, 1875.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 32, 18 February 1875, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, FEB, 18, 1875.

The shipment of immigrants to ports in New Zealand situated at a distance from their port of debarkation has given rise to a feeling of irritation against the Agent-General and his subordinates. The facts as disclosed betray a want of knowledge respecting- thfe geographical position of the country together, with an ignorance of the true state of inter-pro-vincial communication which goes far to prove that the home agency in its relation to intending emigrants is little better than the blind leading the blind. Be that as it may we are quite prepared to vouch for the fact that ignorant, ulpable, or negligent as the home representatives may be, they can still be matched by certain civil functionaries vegetating in our midst. The provision made by the local Board of Commissions for administrating the Licensing Act is the particular branch of tlie service to which we wish to draw attention. According to notice issued under the hand of the clerk of Court the licensing districts are fixed to be held : — For the town of Balclutha, at the Resident Magistrate's Court ? Balclutha ; and for the licensing districts of Kaitangata, Matau, Tokomairiro, Mount Stewart, South Molyneux,* Clutha, Clinton, Popotunoa, Clydevale, and Wyndham, at the Court House, Tokomairiro, for the purpose of taking into consideration all applications for certificates for such licenses as by "the Licensing Act, 1873, Amendment Act, 1874," are authorised to be granted by Licensing 1 Courts, and the transfer or removal or renewal of such license, &c, &c. We have no means of knowing the principle upon which this allotment of districts proceeds, at the same time we are free to add that no ordinary amount of perverted ingenuity has been brought to bear upon the task, Nay further, we are quite prepared to challenge contradiction when we state that, it would be almost impossible to devise a scheme of allocation better calculated to defeat public convenience than the one in question. A brief analysis of the arrangement will fully establish that point. Kesidents at I Wyndham are not only taken away from their homes a distance of one hundred odd miles, but in making the journey they are dragged past the very threshold of a court exercising co-or-dinate jurisdiction with the one upon which they are called to dance attendance. The case of these unfortunate people is particularly hard. It is quite bad enough to have to leave their homes and make a journey all the way to Balclutha when arrangements for administration of the Act equally effective could be made nearer their own doors. That is not the point, however, to which we are called upon at present to take exception. What we have to do with is the gross stupidity of compelling them to go as far as Tokomairiro, at the very time when the Bench of Magistrates is sitting in solemn conclave at Balclutha. In a lesser degree the hardship applies with similiar force and effect to residents at Eaitangata, Matau, Mount Stewart, South Molyneux, Clutha, Clinton, Popotunoa and Clydevale. In sitting at Balclutha it would surely have ueen a very easy matter to. have made arrangements for disposing- of the

business belonging to these places, andby that! means the additional' journey of 40 mileß have been saved; ii ßa : dther'eTbe'6n no Court holden at Balclutha an excuse/ though perhaps a lame one, might have, been made for this allocation of districts. It might have been, argued that there was no real necessity for the Commissioners travelling beyond Milton, but seeing that the.-court does set at Balclutha for the despatch of business arising within the Municipality, what earthly reason can be adduced for refusing to hear cases arising immediately outside the township? The whole arrangement as it stands is utterly prepostrous, and unless the Commissioners are prepared to accept the responsibility of pandering to a narrow-minded, paltry commercial policy, which has been more than once imputed to our neighbors at Tokomairiro, they will take care the present arrangement is not allowed to survive the ensuing licensing quarter. We have one word more to say in reference to this point. The time has now arrived when the question of providing for a periodical sitting of the Court at Clinton must be taken into account. At present, suitors from there are compelled te go all the way to Balclutha for adjustment of their disputes, however trifling they may be. A Resident Magistrate, we note, has been lately appointed for the Mataura, and we should think it is not too much to ask that he be commissioned to attend, say once a month, at Clinton. The judicial business arising at the Mataura cannot be of such pressing* importance as to leave him insufficient time to make a circuit of this kind. A police establishment is about to be erected at Clinton, and we have no hesitation in lecommendino 1 that a Court-house, should also be provided! Were an arrangement of that kind given effect to, we would then be placed in a position to say that it was both right ana proper that the Licensing Bench should also arrange a sitting there, so as to obviate the necessity of residents at Clinton, the Mataura, &c, being put to the trouble and expense of coming as far as Balclutha to transact their licensing business. •