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Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 340, 10 February 1871, Page 2

The case of the man Watts acquitted yesterterday from the charge of " forging and uttering," aud to-day committed for trial on the charge of " obtaining goods by false pretences" brings to the surface the facilities afforded for the commission of crime in the readiness w.th which strange cheques are received. The document which passed in the commission of this offence was the most ungainly possible. The signature is an almost undecipherable scrawl. The body of tho cheque in which the amount is usually written bears certain cabalistic figures huddled together in the most unbusiness like way ; and altogether the document has an aspect most deterrent, and yet we do not suppose that its acceptauce was anything remarkable, or contrary to the usages in the transaction of business. But it does seem passing strange, that while a storekeeper would perhaps refuse credit to a customer, he will permit him to hava valuablo goods, on the presenting a document known as a cheque of which neither the signature nor the signer, nor his banking account is known. This document is received on the word of the giver, so that really the goods are virtually sold on credit ; nor is there the smallest additional security given to the person parting with his goods. It may be supposed that greater legal responsibility is incurred by tho purchaser. But if be signer of the cheque have an account at the Bank on which the cheque is drawn, howerer overrun, and however unnegotiable the document, there is no legal criminalty. So that a storekeeper parting with his goods to a stranger on the faith of|an unknown cheque, incurs an amount of risk tbat might be supposed to be sufficient to induce great caution. And y t the case illustrated in the Police Court is one re peated every day, and traders within sight of the banks, merely because it may bo after office hours, are willing to bear the risk. Of course in so far it is their own concern, but looking at it in the light of public interest il cannot be denied that great temptations are presented thereby to the perpetration of crime ; and the means of rai.si-ig money or getting goods by valueless cheques is so simple that the wonder is that the offence of " forging and uttering" is not more frequent.

On the night of Tuesday Inst (says the Burrowa Advocate), Miss Ellen Sheedy when about retiring to rest at hrr parent's residence, Frogmore, observed on tho floor of her bedroom what sue conceived to be one of those articles used by so many of the fair sex for the decoration and adornment of the hair. She stooped to pick up what had attracted her attention, but speedily discovered her unfortunate mistake, the supposed article being a brown snake, coiled up, but which, on being seized at once revealed its venomous nature, sting;ng tbe .unsuspecting, .young lady in the right baud, between the first and second fingers. Ou discovering the true nature of the unwelcome intruder, Miss Sheedy at once raised the alarm, and her parents and their son-in-law (Mr. Bourke) immediately proceeded to her sleeping chamber on hearing the outcry. She related what had happened, and Mr. BourUe promptly seized the injured hand, cut open with a penknife the affected part, and sucked the wound. Other measures were also adopted to relieve the pain of the sufferer, whose arm begau to assume a dark color, and became swollen to very large proportions. The reptile that inflicted the wound was dispatched shortly after the occurrence, and on being measured was found to be nearly five in length. The young lady recovered with medical assistance.

The Ballarat Star reports a long speech of Mr. W. Clarke to the electors of Grenville, giving one passage of the address in the following form :—" He made these assertions to dissipate the slanderous reports that had been set abroad. 'Against slander there is no defence. (Loud laughter.) Hell cannot boast so foul a fiend, or man deplore so fell a foe. (Laughter.) It slabs wid a word, wid a wink —(laughter)—wid a nod, wid a shrug. It is a pestilence that walketh in darkness, which the most weary traveller cannot avoid ; it is th heart-searching dagger of the assassin. (Cheers.) To revile innocence is its delight, to destroy reputations is its chief object and aim.' " We Jearn that tbe candidate received a vote of confidence.

| We understand that the Rev. D. Jones will Officiate at St. Mary's church, Parnell, on $unday eyening next.

i An emergency meeting of Lodge United Service, No. 421, 1.C., will be held thi» evening. . 7