u but still I think you are liker him than anybody else.” “ And suppose I be him, what ha’e ye to say to me.” “ Something of importance, not as to yoursel’, but to somebody ye are con cerned with ; so if ye be the nun (and I know you are) follow me and ask no questions here.” Saying this she be gan to move away.

! “ Stop, stop ! Luckie; we maun ha’e twa words aboot that. I’m a simple chiel’, to be shure; but I’m no sae green-horned as to talc’ a jump in the dark that gate. Whaur is’t ye want me to' gang ? —tell me that, or I’ll no steer a fit after ye.” “ Please yoursel’; either come or not as ye like, but ye’ll get no expla nation here; and ye don’t follow where I lead ye’ll repent your obstinacy, when it’s too late. Shame on a strong young man like you to be afraid of a . frail auld woman.” This remark touched Robin to the quick ; and im pelled by pride and curiosity, he followed-her at the distance of a few steps, without any demur. At a smart pace for a person of her years, she took her way into the Cowgate, thence into the Grassmarket, and from that to the West Port, to a house not far from the scene of Burke and Hare’s atrocities. She had cautioned Robin not to appear as if he were following her, but to keep her in sight till he saw what close she should go into, and delay entering it for a few minutes afterwards, in case of being observed. Robin acted accord ingly, till he saw her fairly housed, and then he loitered about the windows of some of the neighboring shops before venturing into the dingy entry where Mother Meredith disappeared. But here his courage almost failed him, and might have altogether given way had he not observed, on looking towards the house, the old woman leaning out at an open window at a great height from the street, with a pipe in her mouth, smoking with an air of uncon cern, but all the time watching his motions. Robin would have turned and fled, having the apprehension of murder and other indefinite horrors before his eyes, but for the fear that Jean Brown might hear of his cow ardice, and this he could not brook. Setting all danger at defiance, then, he manfully approached the house, and stepping into the cavern-like entry, groped his way up dark dilapidated stairs, covered with dirt and rubbish, and smelling nauseously with unnam able abominations. The spaewife stood at the top of the last flight which he ascended, with a flickering lamp of the most. wretched description in her hand, to guide him to one of several doors which all opened from the same landing-place. She showed him into an apartment low in the ceiling, with out a whole pane, of glass in the win dows, and the floor broken, uneven, and cracking under every step. Where any plaster remained on the walls or ceiling, which was only here and there, it was.black with smoke and dust; and the few articles of; furniture which this miserable abode cbntained were in per fect keeping with the place. Robin saw not a living creature in it but the old woman herself, who nevertheless signified, in a low whisper, that the mistress of the house was “ mortal drunk ”in bed. She pointed to an obscure corner of the room as the place of her repose ; and there it was barely possible to see, on a heap of dirty straw, something like a human figure, partially covered with a tattered blan ket.

“ That’s the mistress of the house,” said Mother Meredith ; “ and if she had not taken such a dose of drink, I durst not have brought you here,” Saying this, she put up her hand to a broken part of the ceiling, and took out from a hole between the lathing and the rafters a green leather pocket book, and asked Robin if he had ever seen it before.

“ I could tell you better if I saw the inside o’t,” replied Robin ; “ but if I’m no mista’en, I’ve seen’t fifty times—ay, and fifty to the bargain.” The old Avoman opened the book, and pointed significantly to the gilt letters of Mr. Duncanson’s name with Avhich it was marked, and a letter addressed to him and a bunch of notes which it contained.

“An’ hoo cam’ this intil your hands, mistress, if I may speer ?” “By pocket-picking, which is not my ordinar trade; for though I am pinched eneuch, to get a through-bearing, and try mony a strange shift, and though I am treated as a worthless vagrant, I de spise flat dishonesty, an’ abune a’, I never was a thief. But this book I have stolen frae the blackguards who took it last night in the crowd from the young man it belonged to; and as I had some hand in getting it filled for him, and have met with kindness at his hand when he did not know I kent him, I have been at some pains and risk to get it back to its proper owner.” “ But ye hae’na said yet hoo ye got your hauns on’t.” “I have told you I robbed the robbers. They cam’ here last night— twa strangers —dyvers —baith the waur o’ drink. They never saw me nor knew I was.in the house; for I was in the bed there, and oot o’ sight. Weel, they sat drinking at the fire the whole night, till they fell sound asleep, just as grey daylight came in. This randy, the mistress here, had her ain share wi them, and fully mail*, I think, for she hasna opened an e’e yet; but the twa villains got up and awa’, after sleeping only a few hours. But they did not go till I had eased them of this, and

maybe something mail*, that was as little their a in. When I heard them snoring, I slippit from my corner, took what I wanted, and hid it in that hole, and lay doun again till they went awa’, each of them supposing the other had the prize I took from them.” “But what for did ye leave it here, and bring me intil the very craw’s nest to get the pocket-book, when ye micht have had it wi’ you when ye met wi’ me?”

“I was not so simple as rin sich a risk. If I had been taken up as a vagrant (as I have often been), and such an article been found on me, I would have been convicted as a thief, whatever I might have said about my innocence and honest intentions. No, no; I have lived ower lang, suffered ower much on mere suspicion, to venture to carry stown gear back to its owner.” “ And do you think it’s nae danger for me to do the same ? ”

“No, none whatever; but gae wa’ I wi’t, ana stop to ask nae mair ques tions, for ye’re in danger eve r y minute ye remain here. If that drucken limmer waken, or if the twa unhanged thieves come back and find you here, baith you and me will suffer. And there’s nae doubt but they’ll be back whenever they miss their prize and begin to think they’ve left it here. They will likely have quarrelled, and come to blows about it, or they would have been here before this time. So if you value 3 f our life, stop not another moment here.”

Robin needed no repetition of this advice. He buttoned up the pocket book, and gasping with terror, left the den of guilt and wretchedness, with a haste almost as dangerous as delay.

To be continu) ed —commenced on Yidy 2 6).

Vagrancy.

“ No lawful visible means of sup port.” When a man drops so far down in the social scale as to have reached the very uncomfortable and therefore unenviable condition that this sentence describes, he becomes a suitable subject for the solicitous care of the constable, the protection of the police cell, and the administration of justice as expounded by the Justices of the Peace or the Resident Magistrate, guided by their own wisdom in reading the Vagrant Act. Hundreds of men have gone down the social ladder till they have reached the vagrant rung, from which they have- dropped into the arms of the law and have been con veyed from these arms to the store house of crime—the gaol. In most cases no fault can be found w’th the fate that these men meet, because their worthless and weak characters have been so evident, not only to the police, but to all who have known them, that it was more a kindness than a punish ment to the waifs to send them to prison. We presume it was to rid society of such parasites as the genus “ loafer ” that the law was framed, and with the spirit of it no fault can be found. Still, it is by the law as it stands that a criminal ought to be judged, and no undue straining of the law’s provisions should be made to include a case for which those provisions do not, on the face of th<Mn, clearly provide. So long as a statud: is suffici ently clear in itself to enable an ordin ary intellect to comprehend what is for bidden by it, and what is not forbidden, the statute, however unjust, is at least a workable one—inasmuch as only an ignorant man can be at fault as to its provisions ; but it ought to define the offences it constitutes, so clearly in itself as to leave no room for abuse either by the Bench or the police. A recent decision by bis Honor Judge Johnston points to a phase of the Vagrant Act which is to us at least a somewhat novel one, and shows that an almost unlimited discretionary power is entrusted to the hands of those equally erudite and shrewdly dis criminating administrators of the law in New Zealand, the Justices of the Peace. It will be remembrred that three months ago a man named Charles Ryal, in common repute the keeper of a brothel, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment as a vagrant, “having no lawful visible means of sup port.” By no means could he be said to be in the position of a man having no visible means of sup port, nor could it be said even that those means were not lawful, for he was proved to be the owner of a cab which he let at £2 a week, but a clause of the Act provides that those means, however lawful they may appear in themselves, may be con sidered “unsatisfactory” by the Justices, and the man may be sent to gaol for three months, or for such period as the statute allows. Ryal, knowing that he had plenty of “ means,” appealed against the decision of the Justices who sentenced him, and this week Judge Johnston sustained the decision. It is interesting to note on what grounds —as showing how large a discretionary power is given to the Magistrates. His Honor was averse to straining the law even against “ loafers,” and in this case he himself would not have given a con viction on the evidence, but seeing that the “ Magistrate had chosen to say that he was not satisfied the accused had lawful visible means of support his Honor could not interfere.” “ If)” he further said, “ the Act were stretched to the utmost, it would give the police a power of espionage not given in the most despotic conntries.” The decision then was upheld simply because his Honor accepted the ip se dixit of the Justices. Now, be it un derstood, we do not cavil at the

riddance to society of a pest like Ryal. We are just as glad to know that that individual will be removed for a time from troubling the township as any one is, nor do we find fault with the particular exercise of discretionary power on the part of the Magistrates who sent Ryal away from his Pandarus avocation for three months. But the question still arises—ought all and sundry of the great unpaid army of Justices of the Peace have it in their power to send a man to prison because they are not “ satisfied ” with his means of subsistence ? We say No to this, as we contend that some guiding defi nition of what are unlawful means of subsistence ought to be given by the Act that would relieve the Justices from this exercise of discretion, which, if it must be accepted by the Judge, is simply committing the liberty of the subject to the hands of the Magi strate. There is no guarantee that any of the many gentlemen whom the Royal Representative may delight to honor with a Commission .of the Peace will be “ satisfied ” with any man’s means of living, and though we ought to feel flattered with the faith the Judge reposes in the Justices who tried Ryal, we cannot feel equally flattered Avith the Avay in which his Honor shows to us that the Act may be strained to procure a conviction. We contend that, in justice both to the Magistrate and the community amongst whom he sits, the former ought not to be a legislator, but simply an ad ministrator of the law, and to place any man’s liberty at the mercy of a Magistrate’s personal judgment being “satisfied” as to a means of living, independent of any definition by the Act of what is lawful, is surely not in accordance with an Englishman’s notions of the freedom of his country.

THE ASHBURTON HERALD. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1880.



Holloway's Pills. —At the change of seasons many persons feel oppressed without knowing why they are so—they are aware something within them is wrong, though they cannot detect the defected organ. A few doses of these powerfully purifying and eminently cooling Pills will restore regularity to every part of the system—will cast out all impurities lurking in the frame, and will throroughly expel the last traces of disorder, however obscure its cause. With Holloway’s medicine belief is insured without risk : erroneous action is rectified without disturbing natural regularity, health is re-instated, and with it return the cheerful feelings which unmistakably tell the invalid that all within is right again.



Public Notices. TWENTY POUNDS REWARD. 11HE above reward will be paid to any person who shall give such informa tion as will lead to the conviction of any one committing a breach of the Law Practitioners or other similar Acts or Odinances, by preparing Deeds or other Legal Documents, or in any way what ever. BRANSON and PURNELL. F. P. O’REILLY. EDWD G. CRISP. 0. W. IRELAND. 853c-198c mHE NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE JL ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRAL ASIA (LIMITED). Established 1869. Actuary and Secretary—J. M. Templeton, F.I.A. The MOST LIBERAL and EQUIT ABLE OFFICE for Life Assurance in the Australasian Colonies. The best office for young men. Profits divided every three years. Officesiin Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Wellington, and Hobart Town. The New Zealand Branch—A LOCAL INSTITUTION, investing all moneys in the colony. Resident Secretary Thomas Swain, Temple Chambers, Featherston street, Wellington. Agent for the County of Ashburton— S. SAUNDERS (of the firm of Saunders Bros.), Ashburton. Note the name —The National Mutual. 1690-821 c



Business Notices. NEW INDUSTRY. ASPHALTING. JAMES BRADLEY is prepared to take orders for ASPHALTING at very moderate rates. All orders to be left at the Works, Park srreet. All work kept in repair for twelve months. G9sc THE HIOHLANO FLINO, the southland timber YARDS. THE UNDERSIGNED BEGS to in form his friends and the public gene rally, that he has made arrangements with the best SAWMILLS in Southland for a constant Supply of Building Timber, including Red and White Pine ELOORING LINING SKIRTING ARCHITRAVES MOULDINGS and will open the same OCTOBER Ist, 1880, at his yards, corner of CAMERON AND WEST STREETS, Next Jameson and Roberts, ASHBURTON. JOSHUA TUCKER, 17g-8840 Proprietor



Business Notices. T.R. HODDER & COMPANY



PAY A VISIT AND INSPECT Hodder’s First Grand Display OF NEW SPRING AND SUMMER DRAPERY AND MILLINERY.



HODDER’S



Business Notices [a card.] TO BUSINESS MEN, FARMERS, AND OTHERS OF ASHBURTON. GENTLEMEN, —In consequence of the high costs ruling here in reference to obtaining the simplest of LEGAL DOCUMENTS, and in consideration of my having had seven years’ experience as Law Clerk in Christchurch and Ashburton, I beg to inform you I have opened a DEEDS OFFICE and AGENCY, where all Bankruptcy and other Legal Business will be attended to through me. E. WADMAN, Up-stairs office, Saunders’ Buildings. 839c-189g East street, Ashburton. MONEY TO LEND. Trust moneys—£2,ooo, £4OO, and £250. These sums are now ready for investment on real security, at current rates of interest. F. P. O’REILLY, 899c-22Gg Solicitor, Tancred street. A SPRING OH THE PIPES! ASHBURTON HAIRCUTTING ROOMS. IMPORTANT NOTICE. MR. E. A. GARNETT begs to inform the inhabitants of Ashburton and ' surrounding districts that he has DIS POSED of his BUSINESS to Mr. F. CLARK, of Christchurch, and while thanking them for the liberal support accorded to him duriug his residence here, would solicit a continuance of the same on behalf of his successor. Referring to the above, F. CLARK hopes, by strict attention to business and moderate charges, to merit a fair share of public support. F. CLARK, HAIRDRESSER, TOBACCONIST, STATIONER, AND FANCY GOODS MERCHANT, Ashburton. Agent for the sale of the Ashburton Guardian and Evening Herald. 725c-92g THE “ CRUSADER ” is afloat for Lyttelton, with a large consignment of all kinds of Material for GENTLEMEN’S CLOTHING for ALEX. CRAIGHEAD & CO., About which we shall have some thing to say in this space when the Goods are delivered. A. Craighead & Co., Merchant Tailors, TANCRED STREET, (Next Orr & Co.) PERFECT FIT GUARANTEED. 982a-445G



PICTURE BUYERS and others will do well to call at my Picture Frame Manufactory, where I keep in stock some THOUSANDS OF PICTURES, framed and unframed, from Fine Art Pictures to Cheap Lithographs. Two Hundred Patterns of MOULDINGS to select from. Frames made to order, from Is. each. E. BEARDSLEY, PICTURE FRAME MANUFACTURER, AND Importer of MOULDINGS, PRINTS, &c Manchester street, Christchurch, Near the Station. 889 c GHBLEE CALLUM, at 18 8 0. SPRING & SUMMER DRAPERY. EVERETT BROS. & CO., Havelock Street, Ashburton, will make their first GRAND DISPAY OF SUMMER DRAPERY ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 27TH, at half-past 7 in the evening. The Summer Stock is entirely new and oomprises all the novelties. TERMS—STRICTLY CASH. EVERETTBROS &CO. HAVELOCK STREET. 505 c “SECURE THE SHADOW BEFORE THE SUBSTANCE FADES.” THE advertiser wishes to remind the re sidents of Ashburton Town and County that his Studio is open every day for the taking of Photographs, and that his apparatus for this purpose is very complete. Carte-de-viste, and cabinet size portraits, views of buildings, landscapes, etc., can be taken in all weathers, and an inspection of his show cases and studio walls is invited. The advertiser is prepared to guarantee a satis factory portrait of the sitter, inasmuch as he has supplied himself with all the latest improvements in the Photographic art. He makes a specialty of COPYING Pictures also, and parties having a por trait of a friend can have it multiplied to any extent. Having secured the services of an artistic colorist, patrons' tastes can be satisfied on ihis point. Prices are reduced to a minimum, and are now within the reach of all. G. F. Henry, PHOTOGRAPHIC, ARTIST, SAUNDERS’ BUILDINGS, ASH BURTON. 73g-702c



Busin3S3 Notices. IMMENSE ARRIVALS OF NEW GOODS AT ORR & CO.’S. TARTANS FOR THE SCOTCH CONCERT. We are now showing THE LARGEST STOCK OF NEW SPRING GOODS EVER OFFERED IN ASHBURTON.



TARTANS FOR THE SCOTCH CQHGERT. Ex HALCIONE, AT LYTTELTON, AND NEW LONDON, AT MELBOURNE. ALSO, T HE Stock in the Assigned Estate of Messrs. Edmtston, Gondry, and Co. valued at £2,000, Which will bo SOLD at about HALF-PRICE. CONSISTING OP CARPETS, MATTING BLANKETS, TARTANS FOR THE SCOTCH CONCERT. GROCERIES, IRONMONGERY, CHAIRS, MATTRESSES, &o ORR AND CO. September Ist 0 841c-182g



T. Bvjloz'jl rpUE Undersigned bags to intimate to former constituents and settlers generally that he has RETURNED TO BUSINESS AS Auctioneer, Estate, AND GENERAL COMMISSION AGENT In the premises, V ' EAST STREET, •• And at the ■' B A Z A A R, . BURNETT STREET, Formerly occupied by him. Weekly Sales - or PROPERTIES, MERCHANDISE, ETC., Will be held ns formerly, the first of which will take place on Saturday, October 2, ALSO, SALE of HORSES AT THE ... v - HORSE BAZAAR, BURNETT STREET, SAME DAY, and intends holding periodical sales cf Wool and Grain During the ensuing season. Will also attend the usual Fortnightly Stock Sales AT TINWALD, AND AT THE COUNTY SALEYARDS, When opened. 934 C T. BULLOCK FOR SALE—CHEAP. T7IOUR SECTIONS in one block—viz., _|J 502, 5C3, 510, 511, situated in Tin wald. Small deposit cash ; balance by instalments. >. J For sale or to let, with a PURCHASING CLAUSE, 439 Acres, all fenced, and partly improved situated in Wakanui . 266 „ A compact Farm, all fenced, well-watered, and partly in English Grass. Improve ments consist of a comfortable Five-roomed Cottage, Stable, Stockyard, Ac., &c. TOWN PROPERTIES. That Valuable TOWN SECTION, 159, Tancred Street, will b«r’Sold very cheap, and on easy terms. 539, (part of) £ of an acre, terms same as as above. 341, Kermode Street. 77 , - -A . - 37, (Lot) Mayo’s Block. 78, (Lot) with Dwelling-house of Seven Rooms, near the Parsonage, East Town Belt. TO LET, A Four-roomed COTTAGE, situated on the North Town Belt, opposite the High School Site. Commodious BOARDING-HOUSE in East Street. Shop and Office in East Street. That convenient SHOP, situated in the Triangle, Wakanui Road, row in the occupation of Mr. Lublow, tailor. SHOP or BOARDING-HOUSE, situated in Burnett Street, opposite the Mail Office, and lately in the occupation of Mr. Dufrates. Apply,. B7lc-1860 T. BULLOCK. •== : z========zs=======^ For Sale. FOR SALE. A boile good out-houses, and every convenience,: Quarter-acre Section, nicely fenced, well cultivated, with a number of trees planted thereon ; very cheap; can be had on terms. Also, Quarter-acre SECTION adjoining, well fenced. Full particulars by applying to P.H.W.,” Sera Id Office. 798 c SHOUTHER TO SHOUTHER. GOOD Brick Four-roomed HOUSE, with back kitchen, wash-houjse, and ir, all well finished aiid complete,