The Patea Mail. Published Wednesdays and Saturdays SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1875.

Patea Mail, Volume 1, Issue 42, 4 September 1875, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Published Wednesdays and Saturdays SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1875.

♦* Titles oPlionoiir add not to his worth, Who is himself an honour to Ins titles." Mnssus Kcnah and Nicholson, the two gushing a spirants for magisterial honours, have certainly distinguish)d themselves, hut we leave to our readers to say whether to their own credit or not. As a rule, a community is judged twin the typo, actions, and conduct of its public men, and it Mesrss Kemih cud Nicholson arc 111 he ivyn nlod in tile light Of Wairoa’s choice, we regret that wo cannot compliment their ‘'‘admirers” upon the attitude displayed by these two gentlemen at the public meeting held at Wairoa cm Monday evening last, for the ostensible object of bringing pressure to bear upon the Minister of Justice to confirm, the appointments made at a previous meeting, and we must admit that their conduct was not calculated to recommend them as suitable gentlemen to bestow Her ..Majesty’s Commission of the Peace upon. As these two modest aspirants have stepped out of tidcr private path to become, candidates for the responsible and honourable position of a magistrate, they have, rendered themselves amenable to public comment, and the unseemly conduct displayed by both gentlemen at the meeting reported in another column, goes to prove their unfitness for the oil ice wliic! i a few of their blind supporters would pitchfork them into. We think both gentlemen would have acted wiili more becoming modesty by abstaining from taking part in such an unconstitutional and highly detrimental method of recommending persons for such responsible appointments, and had allowed their friends to light their cause. On a previous occasion, wo attempted to show the fallacy of pursuing this novel mode of selecting dispensers of justice, and it appears our remarks were far from palatable to the tastes of the two disappointed would-be magistrates nominated by a packed meeting, and had the effect of drawing down a tolerable share of invective upon ns at the meeting held at Wairoa on Monday last, hut the .Editor of this journal knows the proper bushel to measure the herangnes of these malcontents, and can assure both these worthy gentlemen that their coarse oratory will not impede ilia course of his pen in the cause of truth and justice. Mr Nicholson, in the absence of the conductor of this journal, no doubt felt himself free to promulgate what assertions he thought proper before an easily beguiled audience, but unfortunately for bint-Ids statements caught a Tartar, and on being brought to bay, he wriggled out as best lie could, leaving an unpleasant trail behind him. Ho informed the meeting that if the proprietor of the Mait. had not given up the. name of the correspondent who remitted the objectionable telegram, be should have taken an action against him for libel. We remember some blustering individual calling at our office in an excited state, and asking what offence lie had given the Press Agency to accuse him of the objectionable conduct described in the telegram. We informed him that the message had been wrongly credited—that it had not been received from the

Press A.geimv, hut from “ a correspondent” at Wah’oa. He then solicited the correspondent's name, and, in the presence of a respectable tradesman of Carlyle, we declined to comply with ins impertinent request, at the same time informing’ him Jhat the names of our correspondents were hold sacred from our readers. Notwithstanding Mr Nicholson’s intimidation of an action lor libel, we again assert that ho displayed exceedingly had taste in canvassing’ for support, and if lie did not actually canvass in hotels, wo can prove that he canvassed persons outside, and now’ he cun proceed with his action as soon as he likes, and, perhaps, the result will bo the means of distributing’ a little of the proceeds from the wool of his sheep among the gentlemen of the long robe. If either Messrs Nicholson or Kcnah should have the honour of heing elevated to the .Bench—which ‘wo very much doubt—we trust that they will have the good taste to abstain from airing their eloquence whenever their actions expose them to censure at the hands of the Press, and Unit Wairoa, which town has earned an unenviable notoriety throng’ll the actions of these would-be magistrates, will in future, restrain their embryo functionaries from giving their utterances in public before the coveted prize is secured. There is no denying hut that Wairoa Ims suffered great inconvenience from the want of one or two local justices, but we venture to remark if the course adopted by Captains Hawes and Newlauds at th- meeting held at the township last Monday, had been pursued from the outset of the agitation, instead of the ;i fiasco” -which brought ridicule upon the whole affair, two suitable gentlemen would have been gazetted before this. St must be patent to the most ordinary thinking individual, that no Minister ot Justice would he weak enough to have allowed himself to be influenced by such counterfeit popular actions in conferring appointments, which, as we have said before, should only be filled by gentlemen possessing ordinary intelligence, and above resorting to such an objectionable inode of securing their recommendation by a show of hands at a public m-cting, persons attending which are often too easily gulled by the clap trap of a few stump orators There are a, number of gentlemen to be found in Wairoa well worthy of receiving the appointment, and we feel certain that the Minister of Justice will take care to make every inquiry as to the suitableness or otherwise of the gentlemen spoken of before conferring the appointment.

Tim s. s, Egmonl: left Wellington on