HOW J.P.s ARE MADE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 25, 4 June 1892, Page 3

HOW J.P.s ARE MADE.

/Continued)^

; w . , [Oontsibdted] ! ;. In the early days ifc so chanced that -' amongst certain emigrants arrived from the "old country," was an American family consisting of father, mother and two daughters. The parents were soon

. engaged for an up-country station, leaving the two girls in a millinery establishment of their own. They were .about seventeen' and eighteen years of age respectively, and being pretty -; showy girls, of which commodity at < : that time the "Colony was much in want, 1 they attracted a considerable amount of ■masculine attention. The elder one had been sought in marriage by the chief '"officer of the ship in which they hither, and it had been . arranged that on arrival in port they Bhould be married so that the bride "could then proceed with her husband on ' 4ib:e 'ship's homeward voyage. *' Mais . I'homme propose efc le Dieu dispose." . Soon after the opening of their millinery 1 shop, they became acquainted with two

■ of ** the aristocratic swells of office," \ who became greatly in need of pocket .'handkerchiefs, shirt collars, &c, &c, and used to patronize their shop in ■ of same, and very shortly, much "to the scandal of the heads of families, the.constant attendants of these said young girls. Some four or five

"weeks elapsed before the ship had discharged her cargo and was ready once „ more to proceed on her ocean way, and .in consequence the marriage day was flixed for that before the ship's sailing. ■ The parents were unable, through their occupation and the difficulties attendant ;on travelling in those days, to attend, 'but sent a certificate of their acqnies- ; -cence -to the marriage, which took place ■on the said day, and the wedding festivities were held at the principal hotel. "Our two swells with some brother spirits managed to be invited, and acting on some concerted plan, they so plied the •bridegroom with constant libations to

'•■the rosy God, that towards midnight they;hadliim conveyed on board hisjship in a-state of utter unconsciousness and »only awoke to find the ship ploughing the broad Pacific minus his wife. The above facts were pretty well known at the time and some-what talked about. The .two L Lotharios each took a sister

into his own special nest, and were rewarded by the addition to their names of the letters J.P., —I suppose for the meritorious manner in which they assisted to increase the population of the •colony. In after life both the girls did •well, —the elder went to America and rejoined her husband with a very fairly 'filled purse, and the other married a hard-working 'honest farmer and soon "became the mother of a young family, and became well known for her hospitality and good nature. The two, J.P.s never made themselves prominent on r the bench; they were too wise to force themselves before the public. ,

, Another that-I knew well had been jail actor,in some very strange scenes in life. Some of my readers may be old enough to remember the. burning of a "Government steamer called the Caroline on one of the lakes in America at the time of an incipient rebellion in Canada , about the latter end of the thirties or beginning of the forties. The outrage Vas committed by British subjects, and .to avoid the retribution which they ■expected from the British Government, come of them " skedaddled," and, with whatever money and effects they ■could gather in haste, sought shelter in these lands. Hither came the one I have spoken of above, and he strove to inculcate his revolutionary ideas into the minds of the new colonists. After a time he made the acquaintance of one who was a retired officer, formerly attached to the Royal Artillery, and got introduced to his wife and her sister, to whom he got married some time after.

.The retired officer and his brother-in-law

purchased adjoining sections in a country district, and positively, with the consent ybf all parties, changed wives once a month, —and both these "gentlemen" were rewarded with the. Commission of like Peace. The children of these

marriages are like a good many mor they know their mothers but find puzzling to say which is their fathe —some claim two !

Another of these creditable J.P s recurs to my recollection, and one which, from certain well-known circumstances which transpired in his after colonial life, created a considerable amount of excitement and table-talk. He arrived in this country somewhat unexpectedly in a vessel said to be his own property, and at once started as a merchant (the same as he had been at home), using his vessel as a mode of transport and communication with Australia. His brother-in-law came to the. colony with the same vessel. Suddenly it became current report that the two had run away with the ship from a home port, and this was afterwards confirmed by the arrival of certain parties who had been expressly sent out to recover possession of the said ship. On their arrival she was seized, taken to Australia, and sold on behalf of the real owners. Our merchant escaped trial on the ground that ehe had been placed in his hands at home for sale or charter. As he had made considerable monies with his ventures in trade, he was able to hand over to the com--1 missioned what he termed the chartermoney, and so the matter dropped, and so the two—the merchant and his brother-in-law —were raised to the degree of J.P. In there after-lives, although known to be guilty of some very shady transactions, these same individuals were nominated to the Upper House and held Government appointments 1

AIMSUS.