The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1888. NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1939, 8 September 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1888. NOTES.

Baron Bramwell has ruled m the English Courts that it is unnecessary for a female witness m a court case to remove her glove when being sworn The same would apply to a male witness. Often m courthouses the Sacred Book upon which the oath is taken is far from being clean or sweet smelling and objec tions to handle such a medium of swearing a witness are often well founded. The feeling of the public is indeed to substitute a simple affirmation m lieu of the oath and there is much to be said m favor of such an alteration m the machinery of our Courts. The happy time when a man's Yea will be Yea and hiß Nay Nay is perhaps still far distant, as oath or no oath the statements of witnesses' m somo oases go for very little. The real and true signification ot an oath is too frequently unconßidered and it is looked upon m general as being a mere form with no particulai binding demand on the conscience, and accepted as lightly as it is rattled off : by the Court functionary whose duty it is to administer it.

An old man named John Walker who was found dead m bed at Dunedin, and particulars of whoßo death wo published, left about #4000 m realisable bonds and shares. As there was no will it was thought his property would go to the Government, and articles headed "windfall for the Government," appeared m a ' number of papers . Jt appears now from a letter which Mr B. 0. Hamorton, Public Trustee, Wellington, has sent to the " Wellington Post " that the Government do not obtain any advantage from the so-called windfall. Mr Haraerton says : — " lho public are given to understaAl that the late John Walker's proporty passes into the hands of the Government, becanse ho died intestate, and h,a<l refrajned from making a will on the ground Jliat as h.p had njade his money m the Government service it was righfc that it should revert to the Government when ho no longer needed it. Allow TOO to point out that if tho deceased had made a will bo queathing his property to the Government, it would have been the duty of his executor to prove tho will and pay over the residue to the legatee ; but not having done so, unless any relative appears and applies for administration of the estajbe, Jt wi}} foe the duty of the Public Trustee jbp m orfler that the rights of the next of km may be conI Bory.ed. It is a popular fallacy that if [mtn dies jntegt»te f the, Cfov«rnm.eiit;

claims his property. Such an impression it is my desire to dissipate, and to make generally known that all such estates are dealt with strictly as the law directs — viz., by payment of all just debts, and distribution of residue amongst the next of kin who prove their rights m due form." We think this explanation will dissipate very much misconception which exists aB to intestate estates.

Ihose who go down to the sea m ships leave a pretty fair per-centage of their number m a watery grave, and how the ships themselves suffer m their buffetings with the elementß appears from the list of shipping casualties which have occurred during the past year on the coast of this colony. A tonnage of 16,420 tons was lost along the coast, and was represented by 54 vessels ; bo it woulp appear that no large craft were among the vessels which were wrecked. The decrease m the number of lives lost as compared with last year is a matter for congratulation. Only 33 persons were drowned m shipping casualties last year, against 62 m tbe previous year. Uf the lives lost on or near the coasts of the colony, 8 were lost m the Reward, 4 m tbe s.s. Boojum, 1 m the s,s. Goahead, 6 m the s.b. Sir Donald (all hands), 2 m the Clematis, 4 m the Columbia (all hands), 5 m the Recamia (all hands), 3 m the Bessie, 1 m the Pleione, 1 from the s.s. Staff a, and 1 from the Gleaner. Of those lost beyond the colony, 1 each was lost from the Ploione and the Xirkdale. The number (14) lost m the wreck of the Derry Castle, on Enderby Island, m the Auckland Group, m March of last year, while on her voyage from Melbourne to London, are not included m the returns, nor is that vessel herself included The survivors (8) were rescued by the sealing schooner Awarua, and conveyed to Melbourne.

The Melbourne boom is likely to affect New Zealand after all, and just now we are experiencing a boom m wheat. The huge grain stores m Ashburton will aoon have their piles of grain m them considerably reduced, and vessels are being chartered to load at Lyttelton out of Ashburton stores, and the wheat trade altogether is very brisk. Auck land buyers are freely opprating, and ABhburton can supply any quality as well as quantity of wheat, and really there are some splendid samples to be bought from. Good prices for farm produce means more work and better prices for other things, and though the price of bread does advance there is a prospect when wheat is selling well that there will be more money m the workman's locker. Some of our northern contemporaries have been misled through a paragraph which appeared m the " New Zealand Timera " which quoted wheat at five shillings per bushel m Canterbury, The five was an evident misprint for three, but although we are not enjoying the luxury of seeing our farmers sell their grain at 5s per bushel there seems no doubt but that wheat will yet further advance. Oats are steadily going up, and shippers are hopeful that they will realise handsomely. Though frozen meat shows a slight declino, we think it is only temporary. Kefrigerating works are steadily and almost continuously at work, and generally there is a little more animation than usual, which betokens hope that speculations m sheep and shipments of frozen meat will turn out well. Returning to the wheat rise ifc may be remarked that the estimated quantity of wheat m store m Canterbury alone on July Ist was nearly 8,000,000 bushels, and taking the colony's consumption tor six months to be 1,500,000 bushels, or at the rate of two and a-half bushels per head for a population of 600,000 it will be seen that we can supply Now Zealand out of Canterbury stores until the next crop comes m and still have 1,500,000 bushels for export. These facts should go far to assure us that at last the silver lining ii becoming brighter and brighter and tbt dark cloud of depression is gradually becoming dissolved.

Simultaneously with a rise m wheat Bank of New Zealand shares are going up, and the prospect of an increase m the Bank's capital has no doubt had the effect of bringing this about. We can remember how shares went down after the half yearly meeting when no dividend was declared, but the policy of the Directors on that memorable occasion, though unfavorably traversed has now come to be regarded as having done the Bank the greatest good. Hard times affected the Bank, as well as other institutions, but it seems to have fairly got the whip hand now and is likely to prosper. With a million additional capital new life and energy will be instilled into it and the profitable extension of its business is sure to result, 1 ■hm^_^__ I