OFFICIAL QFFICIOUSNESS.

West Coast Times, Issue 346, 1 November 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

OFFICIAL QFFICIOUSNESS.

(to the editor or thi: west coast times.)

Sir — A case was tried before the Re.-i-dent Magistrate on the 30th instant, to ■which I wish to call the public attention. It appears that four minors wore on their way to the Three Mile digging 9*9 * and they had selected the main road for their journey. When they arrived at the road leading to the gaol and cemetery, and where the prisoners were at woik, they ■were ordered by warder Ferguson to go back and take the side path. Three of them did so — but the fourth, named Millard, having a " swag " upon his head, attempted to cross the creek, and thereby gain the bye-path, up and along which the public were permitted to travel. By crossing the bridge he would have saved a distance of some eighty yards. The creek was the only separation of the road from the bye-path, and was but four feet wide, warder Ferguson, being conscious of the brief authority in him vested, approached Millar d and informed him that he would not permit his crossing the bridge. Millard offered no resistance — never parleyed with this "mighty" man — but, nevertheless, did not instantly obey the mandate, and for his slothfulness he discovered that a loaded rifle was presented at him, with every appearance of being discharged. Millard, very naturally, asked the warder's name, which he, of course, refused to give. Millard then intimated that he would lay a charge against him, and he and his mates then returned to town and proceeded to lay the criminal complaint, when Millard was suddenly surprised by finding that he had been charged with obstructing a warder of Her Majesty's gaol at Hokitika whilst in the execution of his duty. The case was heard, and Mallard fined L 2. For public information I may state that at the time Ferguson accosted Millard there was no necessity for the accompanying demonstration with the rifle, for, had Millard crossed the bridge he would only have been passing over that ground and along that identical road his mates were traversing by direction of the warder ; and as the prisoners were some distance away, we are inclined to think that warder Ferguson was a little too fast ; for by pursuing the path indicated, Millard would have beenin far greater proximity to the prisoners than before, as it led directly past them. At the commencement of the road, where one turns off from the beach, there is no notice board to warn the public — no officer stationed, and yet a man is to be permitted to travel 60 or 80 yards, with a " swag" upon his head, and when checked and attempting to save some of the distance by crossing a bridge which would bring him on the permitted road, his life is to be placed in imminent peril. Had Millard evinced any desire to be quarrelsome — had he wanted to pasi throwgh the l ; nes, to converse with the prisoners — had he used any violence, or evinced a desire to have recourse to phj'sical force, then there might have been some cause to have eulogised warder Ferguson's bravei'y in bringing his weapon to bear upon an unarmed and defenceless man, and one too with a swag of some 57lbs weight upon his head. Loaded arms are at all times dangerous playthings, and I ask what would have been the consequences if the rifle had accidentally gone ofi' and taken the life of Millard. I venture to predict thit his situation would not have been a bed of roses. If the circumstances were sufficiently aggravating to warrant the warder in presenting the rifle at Miilard, they were most unmistakeably sufficiently strong to have justified him in taking Millard into custody there and then. I believe the decision of the Magistrate was against the weight of evidence, and I certainly question his dictum, " That any man going on that road was liable to have a loaded gun presented at him;" for surely in a Christian and civilized community one is not to be shot like a dog while walking on a road, being at the time unconscious of having committed any trespass. In conclusion, I trust that warder Ferguson will learn to employ his rifle to some more praiseworthy end than presenting it (cocked and capped, with his hand upon the trigger) at the head of some unoffending pedestrian. I am, &c , Miner.

A very clever, and, at the same time, a very serious case of ".vindling is reported from Pa.is. It seems that in February last oue ■£ the principal jewellers in that, capital received a letter with the Berlin post-mark from a person who styled himself the Comte de Sehafforotsch, chamberlain to his Majesty the Kin? of Prussia, asking him to furnish a design for a diamond cross to be the badge of a new order the Queen intended to create. The jeweller took the bait, and exhausting all the taste and skill of his establishment, succeded in producing an elegant work 'of art, a magnificent cross set with diamonds. This was forwarded, and in reply he was informed that the Queen was delighted with his succc-s, and desired live to be furnished with as little delay as possible ; and it was added that the Queen was so pleased that in all probability he would have the order for the Danubian crown of Prince Hohenzollern, and be decorated with the "Red Eagle." The five crosses were sent and acknowledged, but as nothing was said about payment, the jeweller, in the midst of all these expectant honors became uneasy, went to the Prussian embassy at Paris, and found at once that he had been swindled. Whilst he was deliberating what steps to take the magnificent rascal, rendered incautious by such great success, sent another order ; and eventually, by an artful correspondence, he was traced and arrested. He turns out to be a man of good family, whom passion for gambling has ruined ; he is the son of an old general, and holds himself rank and title at the court of Prussia, &c. The police have seized, at the hotel where he put up in Paris, all the jeweller's letters, some diamonds detached from the crosses, with several visiting cards, having the name of the Count Schaffgotsch on them, together with a blank stamp bearing the arms of the Queen of Prussia, &,c.

Various instances have been cited to prove how lazy a man may be and live ; but it remains for a Michigandev to cap the climax. One hot day, during tbe heated term of last summer, one Mr F , of Jackson Comvay, was observed to throw himself down on the grass, under the spreading branches of a shade-tree, and to exclaim, emphatically to himself, " There ! breathe if you want to — I sha'nt ! "

Why is chess usually considered a lengthy game ! — Because it takes four Anights to play it.