Metropolitan Notes.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 43, 6 May 1875, Page 7

Metropolitan Notes.

(By our Dunedin correspondent.)

There is a slight movement here in certain circles about the forthcoming election of Mayor. Some are canvassing already. Mr Walter expects to get in this time j but I am afraid that he was nearer being* Mayor last year than ever he will be again. There is a strong feeling abroad against elevating hotelkeepers to the chair. They may be as decent as it is possible for those carrying on the traffic to be, but the trade is a pernicious one ; and although hotels may be a necassary evil, still that is no reason why we should appoint their keepers to posts of honor. Mr Ramsay will stand again, I am informed, as he does not believe in the of^ce b&ing a rolling one, but holds the Darwarian principle that the fittest should survive, and there is not the least doubt, on his. mind as to ,who is the fittest. Mr Reeves is also coming forward. He is a gentleman of moderate ability and great ambition. For a long time he struggled unsuccessfully to get into power, and when at last he managed to get a seat both in the City and Provincial Council, he set neither on fire. Mr Prossar is said to have an eye to the chair j but he has turned out such" a magnificaht blank in the City Council that his chatace's are nil. Mi; Isaac, Mr Carrolj and Mr. J. G.,S. Grant are spoken of, but the thought of either of these succeeding is absurd. The last named gentleman is the only on& among them of even passing intelligence, but that is a qualification in nowise requsite in ! order to be Mayor of Dunedin. Mr Tish declines the honor, as. he As going .to Wellington at the next general election. There- is- an. old- saying- thatl" justice ;isr blind," but it would seem that she is not only blind but very capricious in New Zealandi One^aptyris cqnvicted lof manslaughter and is sentenced to .two- : roanthV imj^psqnmen^r • without jhard laoor; while another is "found iguilty of the .^SPJQr.ofifejace and is condemned to fifteen years, with hard

labor. In the latter ease the prisoner had ~bejBn.~ .greatly provoked and even strftclc^'Mig victim^which the Judge took iiito bonsiderati6n>?bTlt it his duty to inflict the heavy penalty, in order to deter others siihilarly"6mplo"y¥d from committing similar crimes. Iff: the former case his Honor appears to have overlooked the consequence of so light a punishment being dealt out for so serious an act. Nor does there seem to have been any extenuating circumstances in the girl Collins case, but such as must be in every case of the kind. It r is said that she must have been nearly insane when she perpetrated the crime 5 but the same may be said of every unfortunate girl so situated. But she seems to have been very cool on the ; matter, going about her duties in her usual manner. lam inclined to think that pity presided too heavily on one ! scale, and that "Justice held not the . beam fairly. lam no advocate for [ severity, but how will we deal with ! such cases in future ? If the jury believed her to be irresponsible at the time of committing the deed, she should have been discharged ; but if they believed her guilty and responsible, the punishment should have borne some proportion to the crime. The minds of the people have been much divided concerning the affair. The ' Times ' holds that such lienency is a great mistake ; while the little * Star ' en- ; deavors to prove that two blacks make a white by reminding the former that ! when the Green Island murderer received so light a punishment it, the ' Times,' was silent on the matter. In cases 'of lingering and hopeless illness, death gives relief, not only to the patient, but to the surrounding ; friends. In such cases joy, instead of sorrow, fills the breast of the professed mourners. A notable case has just occurred in Dunedin. The Scottish Volunteer Company No. 2 is dead. The painful end has been long* forseen. Alas, we are all mortal. The friends of the deceased, to the number of 2CO, assembled in the drill-shed on Friday evening last, and amid the joyful sound of music, dancing, and singing solemnly consigned its remains to their last resting place. These remains consisted of a Challenge Belt. It v/as handed over to Mr Jamieson, captain of the late company, who on receiving it made the following touching speech : — " Ladies and gentlemen — This is the proudest hour of my life. Your kindness quite overpowers me. Had I won the belt, I would have felt a sort of right to it ; but as I did not win it, the act on your part is doubly kind indeed. It shall go down to my children's children as a token of the great service I have rendered my country. They shall feel proud of it. There is one thing I should like to explain — though the company is dead, it was not I who killed it. Its murder rests on another party. I declare this to be true on the word of an officer. But should our Queen or country ever require its aid, I am sure it will come to life again." (Cheers and cries of (i Oh, why did ye die.") But I say, Captain Jamieson, it won't be required. If we depended on such assistance, God help us. The gallant Colonel Cargill, in presenting the belt, also made a speech. He narrated some of the wonderful deeds which the late company had performed, and told some tales of suffering which it had endured. On one occasion he had actually marched at its head to to the Taieri, a distance of eleven or twelve miles, and slept in an empty barn all night. How the barn could be empty and the company in it, hedid not explain. The nig-ht was cold and the floor hard, and they could notget sleeping for talking and laughing. What unheard of sufferings. The wonder is not that the company did, but that it had survived so long. Oh ye heroes of the Crimean War, who talk of spending whole winters amid frost and snow in a Russian climate, what was. that to sleeping a long summer's night in a cool barn in New Zealand ?. Permit me to use a vulgar phrase, and say in future " shut up." Mr Bathgate likewise gave a short address. He said " that he had a sword presented to him some nine years ago,; of which he was , very proud, which he intended to hand down as an heirloom to succeeding generations,, who would .be equally proud of the relic." No doubt of that; we should all be proud of haying in our possession things virtuous and innocent; and Mr Bathgat^s sword is innocent, not being stained by human gore, but bright and spotless as the day it left its- maker's hand. It will ever, remain a proof of Mr Bath-, gate's >eif-care' /and! peaceful nature. , A happy nig-ht after w^ds'^was^ 's^'t : by all present^ all telling Els" own tale" of battles lost and won! „ _..\ Your contemporary the " Guardian " has lately come down very heavily on ' the clergy. Pretending to have, sbnle respect for them, the editor at the same > time tells them' tnat, as a body, they are in the wrong ; place. Neither by nature nor culture were they qualified for their duties. Hence few went to church, save women and children j and' even these few more to please their wives- and - sisters -than : -to- listen-to-tfae-dull, badly deltrefe"d/a'nd unmeaning sermons. The * Tablet/ Roman Catholic pap^r, has taken, up -the cudgel for thu^ ipriests/ and* attacked xhe '"GtoardiaM But this time the arguments of* tire •5 Tablef* afe T asT %ea£ as 1 M&ihe is hopeless, < . f.fTrutJiVa.shil .^at' winna ding, and canna*lbe refuted."