A PATEENAL J.P.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 160, 6 October 1883, Page 3

A PATEENAL J.P.

Opinions are freely expressed in the colony as to Mr Eliott Eliott's peculiar indiscretion in sitting on the Bench in the Dunedin Polic* Court very recently, and using his influence in that position to screen his son (Mr Q-. W. Eliott, the local agent, of the New Zealand Insurance Company) in an assault case arising ©ut of the horsewhipping case in which a pretty barmaid plied the whip. The barmaid, feeling insulted by some remarks made to her by a married man, called on him at his office and whipped him soundly ; but though the incident was reported in the Dunedin Star without any names being mentioned, everyone knew that it was Gt. W. E. who had been punished. Later, a reporter of the Star was assaulted by a person in no way concerned in the horsewhipping, but who chose to take the matter up. It was this assault case which Mr Eliott had the bad taste to sit and hear, and to repeatedly interrupt, in order to stop any reference to his son's name. Naturally, people ask what were the urgent points of the case which induced the old man thus publicly to sacrifice his dignity and reputation for justice, if not hii self-respect ?