Sir Sidney Shippard, K.C.M.G., delivered a

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 3

Sir Sidney Shippard, K.C.M.G., delivered a

most interesting address on tbi* justice in topic before the Royal Colonial south In»titule in January, and ho a fiuc a. paid an eloquent tribute to tbe administration cf justice in tlio dominions voder British iriflusnee. South African law is b.ised upoo the old common l%w of Holland. The written law of Cape Colony was first collected and puoli^hed in 1858 by a commission appointed by Sir George Grey, then Governor, and still remembered with respeab and affection by the people of South Africa. The ULiwrittua law oi Cape Colony, and, of •juuree, also Natal, Transvaal, aud tha 436pfindain.>i'=-s of tke colony, consists of tin Civil or Roican law as modified by fch« Legislature of Holland and the judicial decisions *nd customs of that country prior to the great upheaval which followed tha French Rtvo'utiion at th-"5 close of lasli century. It is not our purpose at this remote distance to describe the raniific*tioos of chis complex system of law?. We arecoucjrnad rather wit.h the uudeniable success that has attended their adminiabr** tion. Thia ha 3 extorted reapec:, and Sir Sidney Shippard's dic l .uaa may D 9 accepted without hesitation when he eaya that the success of the British in governing colonies and dependeucie^, aud especially in dealing with native race*, is mainly due to the confide^cs inspired by the administration of juatics, and the discretion exerc'sed in moulding existing conditionn to a new state of things. In paiuf al contrast to the B table and impartial administration of justice m Cape Colony is the state of affairs in the Du'fd Transraal, where the Uitlandera labour under a number of ge-juine grievances. The judges are kept in a dejiendent and subordinate position by the Volksraad, and are shamefully underpaid, with the result that the courts have lost; publics confidence.

The Waimate Brass Band has a credit balance of £19 5s 9d Mr J. L. Harwood has been, elected bandmaster, with Mr A. Tregonning as assistant. ■ Mr J. O'Brieo, who is shortly leaving ths band, was elected an honorary member in recognition of services rendered during the past four years. ' It is rare, probably, to sea a man so flabbergasted as Robinson was when he met Jones on the street the other day. " Why, old man," hs exclaimed, " I never expected to see you on your pins a^ain. The laab time I was up a'j your place, what with wheezing, sneezing, heavy cold, and expectorating I thought you were already as good as in the coma." To which ple»sant and cheering ' remark Jones curtly replied : " You mistook, Robinson — in fact you usually do. It was not I that went into the coughin' —it was Woods's GbbaS i Peppermint Curb. Ta-la."