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SIDELIGHTS ON LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE.
Witnessing the discomfiture of those in authority is a plea- sure which, for the majority of the human race, never loses its charm. It is, moreover, a particular privilege of those in humble station. Our appetites must ever be in inverse propor- tion to our fortunes. The Archbishop of Canterbury must, poor man, only on the rarest of occasions be able to indulge this very pardonable weakness.
The four Ruabon magistrates who last week found them- selves incarcerated in their judicial apartments may, however jaundiced their personal feelings on the subject, comfort them- selves by reflecting on the immense joy the episode must have given to the small boys to whom they were engaged in meting out justice.
The better to question their youthful prisoners, they had, it appears, cleared the premises. But when, having settled the matter, they attempted to leave the room, they found the door securely locked. The fates had plotted secretly against them. Various officials, including the chief constable and two ser- geants, attempted to solve the problem from the inside, but without success : another was, like a dove from the Ark catapulted through the window. All was in vain. After half an hour's unsuccessful scheming, mind having proved regret- tably inferior to matter, they were compelled to revert to the less dignified method of battering the door down.
The delights of this judicial pantomime must, unless the accused were grossly blasé, have more than atoned for the inconveniences of their brief confinement. It is to be hoped, banality of their respectable ways to content themselves with the more traditional pleasures of the impact of bishops and bananas, will not in disgust embark on a life of crime.
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