A STORY ABOUT JUDGE MACDONALD.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1241, 8 January 1883, Page 3

A STORY ABOUT JUDGE MACDONALD.

Ths recent retirement of Mr. J. & Mau. donald from the District Jn<lfC s K*P Resident Magistracy of Aueki»***» h* B re * ▼ived an amusing story concemiii# <’ lls *™ visit to the Waikato in his judicial cMpC The hall of justice at Hamilton serves 10 dual capacity of District Court-house ax’® Resident Magistrate's Court, and, like othe*’ country forums, is especially noted for its flea-swarmed cocoann| matting and cobweb, festooned ceiling. Early in the morning, for he is a thorough-paced believer in ths doctrine that ” Early to bad, early to rise Makes a man healthy and wealthy and wise.” —Mr Macdonald thought he would like to inspect the .Court-house. So he strolled over to the building, entering by a door quite destitute of lock or bar, and found himself within the walls so often shaken by the forensic •loquence of the proverbially dull Waikato lawyers, so oft the settling place of bucolic disputes. A. quiet-looking, hirsuit individual, lastly puffiiiig away at a cigar, was abstractedly walking about the room. Mr Macdonald, disgusted at the dinginess of the surroundings, and surmising that the other occupant was a bailiff, caretaker, or something of the kind, began abusing him roundly for smoking in the Court, and after making some caustic remarks about the dirtiness of the room, ordered the supposed underling to get a broom and clean up a little. Now, the suppositious bailiff was really no less a personage than the recently appointed Resident Magistrate, Mr Northcroft. When he was astounded to dumbness by his assailant’s forcible oratory, or whether he intuitively guessed at the judge’s delusion, deponent sayeth not; at any rate, he seized a broom and made an onslaught on the cobwebs with the address and promptness of a skilled Maria Jane. Multitudes of terrified spiders scuttled along the dust caked ceiling, and myriads of disturbed fleas performed steeplechases round the room as the broom of the perspiring Northcroft invaded their hitherto sacred demesness. Mr Macdonald meanwhile, hands deep in trousers’ pockets, as is his wont, performed the duties of foreman on the job, a complaiscent, patronising smile ex pressing the gratification he felt at the exertions of the soi dt'scmf bailiff. After about twenty minutes the real bailiff sauntered up to the door, but passed, won-der-struck, on taking in the scene, i “ Your Worship,” he gasped, “ allow me ; to sweep out.’’ Mr Macdonald heard the i Uordsj and suddenly it struck him that he > had mape some terrible mistake. Mutual ex- [ planations followed, and though vows were no doubt mutuallly registered to keep the little matter sub rasa, somehow or ’’other the story leaked out, and for a long time afforded* boundless amusement to the judge’s many friends.