Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 149, 13 March 1891 — ON PECULIARITIES. [ARTICLE]

ON PECULIARITIES.

In the cottrs£ of the of lh« Chief Justice oh the recent conteaspt case ia whieh we figured, His Hpnor m deliverijig the J udgment of tbe Court—#r of the majority—on our demurrer, statejl: that our own statute books contained a law on cdntempt whieh ib U peculiar to tbis countrv." We do aot quate HiB Honor's tfords for the purpose of raising any doubt as to their correctness, but for the moral they contain, and thē refiections thcy naturally inspire. If indeed we have * a law whieh goee far- beyond that of any law in the United Stat€S, in empowering our J ūdges to constitute themselves into an arbitrary tribunal resemblihg the star ehainber of Charles the first, the matter 38 a subject .for honest refiecti«n, and we may ask: Isthere any good eaune why this law should not be made to harmonise with the laws ef the United States. We say of the United StateS for the obvious reason, that we regard that country as having advanced more than any ether iriliberal institutions, a fact recognised by the Anglo-Saxon race the world over. As to Judge Dole's reinarks, that we have been oonducting our paper in a "very dangerous and careleBB manner," we will just say in passing, that since starting the paper the impersonal ''we" has occasienally had to be writer, editor compositer, Droof reader and Haachinist by turns. If therefore we have often had voluntary literary help. we have manfully shouldered the responsibility. # of its many inevitable blunders. Of course ao newspaper should be run except by a syndicate of eapitalists who eould seat their editor in a moroco covered easy chair, , and witha fat salary to keep him j independent of all clamor fbr justice ©nthe part of the mob that was not in hannon}' with the interests of his employers. e have not sought td have our lines laid in such pleasant plaeee; on the contra-1 ry, our mission is one of grumble | and discontent. We have declared war āgainBt stereotyped received opinions when found to be wrong, aad have ever fought the battle ®f the undermoāt dōg in opposition to the potentate who barks for the pup on top. We do take the "wrong side" very often ; the gide whieh is at first unpopular but eventually successfdl. We have more notes on " peeuliarities " in the satchel.