HOW WE PAY FOR OUR BALLS IN CANTERBURY.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 103, 19 October 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

HOW WE PAY FOR OUR BALLS IN CANTERBURY.

(From the Canterbury Press.) ? r * '>' We had occa»ion T once to'remark: T that tthe English people, as a race, were singularly deficient in the capacity of amusing themselves. It was a remark quoted from that greatest of our modern 'Mr Robertson, of Brighton. And yet' it cannot be said that the Eng--Ish are not. well, ir r c'ined to .pay libe>>all y for any amusement which can (be supplied to them by the genius of others. We compass^ sea^aifd land' for .public performers. We ransack Italy forlsingers, and France iov\arlietes who* most thoroughly gratify our palates". search the Continent for dancers, and call upon the wilds of California to render up to us their mountebanks. And in the last few 4 years' ■" we have opened rich diggings in the regions' of fun amongst the " colored races.*' Nigger performers now occupy a distinct and recognised place in-the realm of art. ' In Canterbury/ we *have achieved , a I new triumph. J Whereas in the Old World these who cater for public amusements prey upon those who must- be amused at any cost, here) it seems, ,we get our fun at the expense of those who provide it for us. .We sup at the cost of* the cooks, and dance at the expense of the purveyors of the ball. In 1863 Mr Thomas Wilson brings an action against — now who of all ; persons do you think ? — our dear friend John Ollivier for nonpayment of the balance of £30, due for the expenses of a ball which occur retf in 1860. Surelythe defendant must have been taken by surprise.' >HaVenot three whole' sessions of the Provincial Council taken place since that fatal ball? And had it for one moment been^ supposed that litigation would have arisen out of the entertainment, surely a little Bill might have been drafted which would have put the matter on a more j satisfactory footing. " Whereas doubts have been raised whether the Annii versary Ball of 1800 was a public entertainment. And whereas it is expedient to set such doubts at rest (see the preamble to the Invrood Mill Ordi nance Amendment Bill, in an obviously similar case, which came to an untimely end the other night in the Provincial Council) — surely, we say, something might have been evolved out of brains in a chronic state of legislative parturition, which might have averted the ignominious disclosures in the Supreme Court last week. But it is not only Mr "Wilson who has been injured. We say that those who danced at the ball have been scurvily treated ; for only conceive the keen enhancement of their delight at that annual celebration, if the dancers had only known that they were ; enjoying themselves at the expense , of the tradesmen. Nor is that all.; Conceive the exquisite pleasure not merely of doinj tha Canterbury Gunier\ — but that man a Scotchman. This is; really the- yourmanderie of chiselling. . To sup and dance at a Scotchman's expense is a heavenly sort of bliss which is granted to but few Englishmen ;-^-not, let it be remarked, as a matter of invitation --rwho so nobly hospitabje as our northern neighbors 1 -^4)ut as a matter of business? it is that which gives such gusto to the joke. To think of those blancmanges glistening with a Scotchman's silver^ and those custards doubly yellow with his ill invested gold. Ah ! had we but known it at the time, with what k. en relish would they not have glided over our ■ dust-d£ ed palates. It was ail appropriate mode of celebrating the annivefbary. of Canterbury. • For did we not : on that memorable day found a new! community in which money has seemed : gifted with some mysterious process of : spontaneous generation, by^ which it j has become more prolific than t'le ducats j of Genoese Jews> or the dollars of! Yankee ;i Contractor's -,• some process' by wb'eji many of us have learned to reap where we had not sown) and to gather . where we had not strawecK It was surety then .-only in appropriate homage' to the occasion-^ fiat our aristocracy should thus have celebrated the corn* mercial astuteness which is the life and soul of a go-a-head community* Canterbury was founded— was it not-H-to: be the model on a small scaleof English society* Perhaps this accounts for it. It is said a certain wealthy confectioner who provided for the entertainment of half the aristocracy of London hadv, some few years ago, to pass through tae bankruptcy court, solely to get in his debts ; and having thus achieved his own ruin, he paid 20s in tbe pound, and started again with an enormous capital of slock ;in hano\ Our Gunter also applies to the law Tor relief, but with hardly the same success, for the jury thought that Mr. Ollivier could not be held responsible for ahe money^ By the way, why the case was taken to a special jury we should much like to know. It was one of those eccentricities in legal proceedings here which would make a curious and instructive law: book. If there could be supposed tb be any bias on the part of one or the other class of jury at all) the common fury at all events, not having eaten Mr Wilson's delitiacies in 1860, would perhaps have' been, stupi4;enough, and disinterested enough^iruthe matter to thinkt he ought to be; paid. JBut-the special jury weie most. of them the very,naen who had been for three years living on the recollections of tha>. artistic feast. They wei;e asked to put, themselves jn the condition ;pf bei^g each of, .them called on' to pay for what they had jopg digested^to spoil a joke of s now thirty - months, standing.. It ,v\rasrlikej asking^ j ury Of cats to find a verdict omar- 'cat for stealing cream; ; ? But the? ;lawyers> ihwd their reasons" no doubt '^perh-apsj Mr Wilson kno ws them as he paid for; themr^ — we don't. , Suffice it to>;4^>| the case came into cpui-t- without ixmelittle of evidence to go to the jury. The evidence for the plaintiff showed

that Mr" Wilson accepted a guarantee of a i certain " number 'of names for* the \ expenses of f the" Kali. * 'He lost that i paper. ' The counsel 'for the 'plaintiff ■*' aevef even 'addressed ftiVj'ury at 1 all. ' He never showe y d that the plaintiff was at the ball at all^nfeverquotedcaie's O r laid down a single .maxim of- law in relation' to the 1 Tfe gal 'liabilities' in such cases.' We hajfe heard the 1 law [laid down repeatedly^ that where a" number of persons^ in "common orcler a dinner and partake of^ it j J the %hotelkeeper can recover -from "any! oi/e^ of* the [ party. Was tlie-guarantee'i joint and 'several t Did MrOniVier^ign"^?' 'And It be signed i^ was hejribtrliable for the whole? These inquiries were not entered on.' In tlfis J case the only attempt made was to ( prove/ that the defendant had Ordered the supper on his own personal guarantee, which, the - plaintiff's oven' witnesWwori^ne had' not» ' The result 'is a 1 y6ry "'diseraCefurbne. Mr Wilson is unpaid. t l Wej have eft'ten. and*drurike*n atf his cost.'and he has-lost his money. - l It ,^ery Well now to send found the hat, but we cannot wipe piiPttie'disgrace of the whol - No wonder our balls have^-gdne out of fashion*- A bair'in^Canter^ury costs more than it is worth, because a trades* man, befoifejie takes a contract to pro* vide Tor it', must be on 50 per cent, for risk. Something ought to be done to liquidate this liability, which is discred* -. itable to the gentry of Christchurch* Nor is this the only case* for we haverheard of another "Case of a similar kind in which 'l/40 was paid by a single indivi* dual to make up the loss incUrreoV and, i oddly enough, that was a Scotchman too* £ It is a species of Highland jting which I quite puzzles us. Time* t indeed, thatf there should' be regular assembly balls T with a x responsible government and »^ regular minister of finance. By the f way> there was' a rumor that there was>| a small balance on the sum r raised andff given by Government for" the Prince o£| Wales' commemoration day* , Some ones ~told us that the Lord Mayor had giveap a dinner with it, but that, was no,doubtlf a spiteful fiction* If TVIr Oiliyier ha»l| had such a balance to deal with, hejl would doubtless have used it to liqui-jf date ilredebt of 1 860. „ , ■%