The Examiner. Saturday, March 12, 1859. STRANGE BLUNDER.

Auckland Examiner, Volume III, Issue 141, 12 March 1859, Page 2

The Examiner. Saturday, March 12, 1859.

STRANGE BLUNDER.

If 1 might give a short hint to an Impartial writer It would be tohim his fate, Il he is resolved to venture upon the dangeioua precipice of telling unbiassed tr'd!’'; let him proclaim war with mankind— neither to give nor to take quarter. L* he tells the crimes of great men they fall upon him with the iron hands of the law ; if he tells them of virtues, when they have any, then the mob attacks him with slander. But if he regards truth, let him expect martyrdom on both sides, and then he may go on fearless; and this is the course I take myself,—De Foe.)

Public servants who are honest, active, and capable, deserve full measure of praise. They should be encouraged to persevere. Their duty is public duty, and when well done, should be generously appreciated. Some readers of the many articles we have written against extravagant Government expenditure, and too well paid noodleism in authority have supposed that we are disposed to run down all placemen whether efficient or inefficient, honest or dishonest. But none more than ourselves admire those office-holders who are faithful to the trust reposed in them. Office- holders who act as if they cared everything for themselves and nothing for the public; who brim-l'ul of egotism think to do their, duty is a condescension, and to get money under false pretences no sin, are our special aversion We consider them mere vermin, crawling and fattening upon the body of the commonwealth. What more noxious, or more hatefiv, than that state-blood-sucking tribe of lazy snobs, and hero-worshipping flunkies, who swarm in all public departments. Circumlocution is their prime game, salary their sole object. Auckland has its share of such. Auckland also has able public, servants — men who combine fitness for work with willingness to do it. These are public benefactors. Their services have more than merely money value. They improve official mind, and raise the tone of public morality. Even when they err, their error should be accounted ven'al because their character is sufficient guarantee that what they do amiss is done “for the good of the Piovince,” though under some misapprehension with regard to duty, or some misinformation with regaid to facts. These observations were suggested by the “ fix” into which Auckland Customhouse officers appear to have got themselves. Their seizure of schooner Anne cargo has for some days been town talk. All circumstances preceding, and leading up to, that seizure are not yet before the public, or obtainable for newspaper press purposes, but on facts under-giyen reliance may be placed : — Schooner Anne, entered the harbor some time last Sunday. Almost immediately after arrival she was boarded by an officer of Customs. On Tuesday the Cuslom-house authorities oidered hatches to bo sealed up, and tbe vessel herself to be brought alongside Queen-street wharf. Part (or entire) owner of cargo on board at once wrote to the Collector of Customs stating his wish that T'de Waiter then in charge of schooner Anne should not take his meals on board, or if he did, that he should bo charged for them. It was thought that if tbe Tide Waiter had his meals on board at expence of {he ship, a charge of tampering with him might be got up. On Wednesday Custom-house Collector Young ordered cargo boats alongside the Anne and, at his own cost, discharged her. All was turned from the schooner into the boats, and overhauled. We are assured that nothing contraband was found. It cannot be doubted that the Custom-house authorities had received intimation of an intended fraud upon their department. But in vain they ransacked the Anne for demonstrative evidence that their foregone conclusion was just, or that information conveyed to them with regard tp goods on board that vessel was safe basis of action- Bj‘ order of Collector Young ghg was taken from her anchorage and, with all her carg'o out. laid alongside the tybarf. Since then the Custom-house officials Jiave put all her cargo ;n again, alarmed, no doubt, by a threat of legal proceedings. This statement of facts is rough, and incomplete, but still reliable. It leaves no escape from the conclusion that our Custom-house authorities have blundered. I heir having discharged schooner Anne cargo at their own expence, and afterwards at their own expence, put it on board again, is conclusive that they found

themselves in a false and dangerous position. They appear to have acted upo n misinformation. No one can suppose that they would turn out the whole of a ship's cargo for simple sake of turning it in again, or that they did not make their strange blunder upon what appeared to them sufficient grounds.