What Everybody Says.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2015, 19 June 1875, Page 2

What Everybody Says.

" In multitude of counsellors there is safsty." ~O^b l Ji:ovEnE. This day last-week speculation was rife as to what would be the upshot of tho Tairua cases, and everybody had a groat deal to say, but it was principally onesided. The most far seeing ''ldividual never dreamt that the end was so near, or, that it would be gained in the manner it; was—'SO easily and simply, and with such satisfactory results to some of tho parties concerned. But cheap law may have had .something to do with the matter. t .When that which is sought for can be attained by amicable settlement, even lawyeis can be found sufficiently self-denying to throw up thei 1; briefs and arrange matters.--THs they have done over the Tairua cases, and apparently to their own andntheir clients' satisfaction. A few—a very few thought thevcases would, go hard with ihe prospectors, but?it is satisfactory to know that had the litigation been- fought out to the bitrer emVtHe prospector .would have- been made all right. Une of the moving spirits amongst the objectors had the magnanimity to' say that' if he gained the case Neves would get a "show.",. "What that show would have been had the individual in question gqt all,that;he asked:for: wi.ll for ever remain ia. moot .question, but it would not have been, ec[ual''to the show he has _ got now-—that's cci tain. The magnanimity of this class of person isja quaHty-'that no- one.;'w6uld;like'to ti;ast xar. It might have constituted a redeenii ing:feature in,'the xas© I:if 'circviistariceshadreqrircd that it should: fee tested^but there are doubt 3 about it. However, the, matter has been; arranged without ~ the exercise of any unusual, generosity, •. except on the port oi' the Prospectors, and Neves js so far independent of the show that was to be his if things had gone differently. . It is a prel y well knov a fact that, on BaUarat and other goldfields of Victoria in the early days, the members of the legal profession—a pretty numerous body in the jumping days—employed certain persons to provide work for them. These persons were ostensibly clerks, but their antics were not cpnfined to copying deeds or preparing briefs', neither were their labors confined to a dingy' back ofCce, perched on high stools or mutilated chairs. Their occupation" was mostly out of doors amongst the miners. The; ~ reaLbuaiiness was to procure work for their employers I —to make'work, in fact. By tlie exercise of cerHin qua^ficatiens,' pecr i;ar to men of their class, they managed to stir ,up strife amongst claimholders. Differences trivial in themselves were magnified in an artfr 1 manner until they as"umed -iroportions which coufd only bo adjusted oj au appe?l to law ; and when the machinery was once sefrin motion, rtho honorable gentlemen who'reaped the harvest appeared on the scene. If the miners goc fleeced that was no business of the lawyers, and that they did get fleeced many a man on this 1 field can testify. There is no necessity for the legal fraternity on the Thamos to resort .to the means so successfully employed in Victoria to make Ttork,| even if they were not above us^'ng such means, which everybody says they arc. The Thames has given birth and being to a class 'of jackals as efficient at providing work for the lawyers, pnd as servile in their labors, as the animal referred to is in hunting out prey for the noble forest King whoso friendship ho courts, Andsolongas tools arefoundready and willing to do the dirty bus;iess, there ; i win be no necessity for' members of an ' honorable profession to descend to unpro-. l fession?l tactics in order to keep their ! hands in. There is just one danger : that the facilities afforded- to the jack? 1 class by association with the lawyers .may embolden them 'in a career; wuich has little to recommend it to the sympathy or countenance of honest men.

There is a story told of an adventure that happened to a Provincial' Councillor during the late session which should not be allowed to remain in private circulation. Kis said that the worthy councillor one day received a polite invitation from a high church dignitary to an " at home."- JS"ot 'being on 'visiting terms with the clerical inviter,, the M.P.C. hesitated aboufaccepting the' invite; but after taking tho advice of some of his honorable colleagues, he decided to' go', and for the purpose he rpisacked his wardrobe for the necessary swallow-tail and etcoteras. Arrived at the clerical mansion the Provincial Councillor was announced, and ushered into a room of fair proportions in which which were assembled numerous guests; the host and hostess rising to receive the newly announced guest. But a dead stop ensued, and then an rwkward pause. The host took one, two. three steps in true military style, and then murmured something about "not having the pleasure," " not the Mr Blank: expected, 6"'and similar expressions. The difficulty was, However, got over apparently to tho satisfaction of the host andhis guest. JN"ot exactly to the complete reassuranco of the latter,, who, soon found one gentleman' in the room to whom he explained tho uncomfortable position in which he found himself. ,This confident sympathised and promised to gel him out of tho fix. Presently the host left the room, ?ad the M.P.C. and his friend embraced. the opportunity of quietly stealing out too, the former bent on leading the gay and festive spenc. , They bad traversed the labyrinthino pas- ; sages <and halls.of % the, clcrico's palatial ] mansion, and were-just entering a narrow ipassage.;b.7 which, to escape,, when who , should malic his appearance but tlie host. | ltetreat was impossible —mutual recogniI tions took piece, and the host endeavoured •to explain his seeming rudeness. Our I M.P.C., who possesses a considerable , | share of the sziaviter in modo, accepted • the' explanation with a .good} .graee^anxl ;on "making his adieus expressed * the hope that his host would visit his house the next time ._ he hapipened to be in ' % the neighborhood, when he hoped that he ."would be treated with a little more 1 courtesy-than he (the M.P.C.)rh^d ..received, on that .-occasion. :The C6uhcj!loi% : jiad tha^Hest.. of it then, : and as for the host, everybody says, "sai'Ted him right." ; '.-'^