The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1880.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3526, 30 August 1880, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1880.

It is not our custom to criticise judgments given by Kesident Magistrates or District Judges, for at times those gentlemen are sorely pressed. Questions are often brought before them to decide in which points of law, equity, and common sense are so nicely balanced, that either one or the other of them has to be sacrificed in the judgment given. No one will dispute the expediency of protecting Courts of Justice from outside pressure or interference, and it has been for this reason more than anything that has caused us to refrain from commenting on several strange judgments which of late have been given. Courts are created for the purpose of maintaining right between man and man, irrespective of the class or the creed, the poverty or the wealth, the influence or the insignificance of the persons who come before them. They exist for the purpose of shielding the weak and the simple from direct wrong at the hands of the strong and crafty wrongdoer; and the purpose of their existence is defeated if they are allowed or are liable to be made indirectly the instrument of fraud and oppression. A Resident Magistrate has large powers l given him under the Act which creates his Court. He has discretionary i powers delegated to him, with sufficient scope to use common sense if necessary when satisfying the ends of justice; but he has the power given him also to be an unjust tyrant. Magistrates of the present day, however, seldom attempt to follow Lord Jeffries' example, for they know that the press would bring their conduct so prominently forward that their removal from the Bench would soon result.

It is not our custom, as we have stated, to comment on the judgments given in our Courts, and we should not do so now but for the insult offered by the Kesident Magistrate to a public body, by an after action of his. As our readers are already aware, Mr. Irvine, who was formerly engaged as Engineer to the Harbor Board, and who, according to his own statement, was " dismissed without notice," brought an action the otherday against the Board for some expenses he says he incurred in testing some local cement. The decision of the Resident Magistrate was in favour of the plaintiff, and in giving that decision Mr. Mansf ord would have been wise had he refrained from stating his reasons, we can only presume in giving his judgment that he had only the plaintiff's evidence before him, for it was decidedly against common sense. It is not, however, the judgment we intended particularly to refer to on this occasion, for we should have allowed that to pass as one of those unaccountable things which occasionally happen — but the subsequent action taken by the Magistrate was so hasty and illadvised, that we should consider it a dereliction of our duty did we allow the matter to pass by unnoticed. We learn that a few days after the Judgment in the case referred to had been given that the plaintiff applied for a distress warrant to be issued and levied on the " goods and chattels of the Harbour Board." This warrant the Eesident Magistrate granted, and allowed to be issued. Now, distress warrants as a rule are only issued in extreme cases, and never against public bodies, except those public bodies resist the claim or are insolvent. The Harbour Board meets every fortnight, and the Treasurer is not authorised to pay moneys away except at an ordinary meeting. ; The Board had not met, and does not meet until to-morrow; therefore, as the matter had not been brought before the members, the claim could not be settled before that time. But the Kesident Magistrate does not take the trouble to enquire how the claim is to be met ; he does not care a fig for the inconvenience he may cause, nor the justice of his action; but before his opinion and decision have been uttered five days he signs a "distress warrant to seize the goods of the Harbour Board." Such a proceeding, we do not believe, will be found on record in any Court in New Zealand, and is an insult, not only to the Harbour Board, but also to the public who have elected the members to sit on it. We have heard it said that the action was "legally" done, but we can find nothing in the Kesident Magistrate's Act to warrant such a proceeding. The Magistrate has power to fix the time for payment of a claim when judgment is given, and, knowing as Mr. Mansford must have done, or as he should have made himself acquainted, that the judgment could not be legally satisfied till the Board met, he should have withheld issuing the warrant, at least till next Wednesday morning. The indecent haste with which the warrant was issued has all the appearance of an attempt to injure the credit of the Harbour Board, or a personal insult cast on its members. Any how it is a public matter, and, as such, the Magistrate's action deserves censure. It is to be hoped that the Harbour Board will not allow the affair to drop, but will lay the facts of the case before the Minister of Justice, so that steps may be taken to prevent a recurrence of such an insult to representatives of the people.

Captain Edwin telegraphed at 11.45 to-day — "Bad weather probable in any direction between north-east and north, and west. Glass further fall. Expect sea heavy."

The Telegraph Office is shortly to be amalgamated with the Post Office, and the necessary alterations are being effected for the purpose of supplying the required accommodation.

The Education Board, at Invercargill, has determined on the following reductions in the salaries of teachers and officers of the Board :— £loo to £149, 2 per cent. ; £150 to £199, 4 per cent. ; £200 to £299, 6 per cent.; £300 and upwards, 7 per cent. Bonuses to teachers and allowances to Committees were reduced 50 per cent., and allowances were reduced to actual travelling expenses.

It is reported that the Princess Beatrice is to marry the Grand Duke of Hesse, and that this is the reason why the Prime Minister is urging forward the Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. There can be little doubt that the Princess would make the best of stepmothers to the little girls whom the good Princess Alice has left behind, and the Grand Duke has proved himself a kind and affectionate husband.