IN WANT OF A WITNESS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 7

IN WANT OF A WITNESS.

Among the marriages registered in Johannesburg this month (writes the correspondent of the " Otago Daily Times," on December 20th) appears the following: — "James Henry Sheard,. of Victoria, to Mary Eliza Bobbins, of New Zealand." From time to time the "of New Zealand ' appears in the published civil marriage list, and I only mention this one specially for the reason of a, peculiar incident as floriated with it. Strolling along Commissioner street a New Zealand officer was accosted by a young man in an evident state of agitation, who, without any superfluous talk, came to tho matter on hi.i mind:—"Would the gentleman be so good as to com* and be witness at his marriage ceremony?" The officer at first thought the young man was joking, but wnen he found he was seriously in want of someone to see the nuptial knot securely tied, at once hied him to the church, where the clergyman and bride were waiting. In all solemnity the ceremony was gone through. The signing of the register following revealed the fact that the home of the brid« was Waikonaiti, and the officer, who oome* from Otago, discovered that the bride was a member of a -family he knew very well It was a strange meeting. The young couple were overjoyed and proud of the one they had secured for their witoees, and what would have been a Tather formal function resolved itself into quite a joyous one.