There were numerous letter exchanges between William Gardiner and the Attorney-Generals Department in 1913 to have Mr. Gardiner sworn in as a JP. Finally on October 1st, 1913 his wish was granted and he was appointed a Justice of the Peace at Mirror Landing, which was to be Port Cornwall within the month.
By the 10th of the month he was already handing out fines. Most of the offenses shown in Gardiner’s records were for such things as “being drunk and disorderly” or for trafficking in wild game also known as selling moose meat.
Mr. Gus Meehan was found guilty of frequenting a “house of ill” fame and fined $2.50; $1.00 of this was court costs and 50 cents for the summons. Frankie Dyer was fined at the same time for “keeping a house of ill-fame”. This was a bit more drastic as he had a $25.00 fine plus $2.50 court costs. (At least we know Mirror Landing was large enough to support a brothel.)
Mr. Gardiner was quickly becoming an unpopular fellow in his jurisdiction and with the Attorney’ Generals Office.
In February of 1915 he had left Edmonton on the ED & BC Railway bound for Sawridge and Round Lake. By this time there were only 3 houses left in Mirror Landing, one of them was Charles Peterson who had nothing good to say about Mr. Gardiner but alluded to the fact this would be normal as he had been fined by him.
In January of 1916 he had disappeared with the Attorney General looking for him in all of the western jails in case he was locked up someplace. He was wanted for the theft of the $572.00 he had collected in fines but failed to turn over to the department.