NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2605, 12 August 1882, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Disteiot Oc-tisT. —The only business done at tliis Court yesterday, after we went to press, was the settlement of the case Anatey and another v Keltey. This was a claim for damages for a broach of contract, £2OO. His Honor ( ave judgment for one month’s de lay, viz., £BO and coats. The Court then adjourned till 11 a.m. on Monday.

Caxtkebuby CoETESrsa Meeiikg.— The result of the running for the Cup and Leger was given in our issue of yesterday. Bridegroom, the winner of the Cup, is of the same litter as Courtship and Bussloy, and this* season has run twelve courses, eleven of which he has won. Beatrice, the runner-up, is sister to Bannerman, and has run nine courses this season, seven of which the has placed to her credit. Mr Qco. Haydoa wot the trainer of Bridegroom and Fieri Molvor, the winner of the Leger, and Mr Jas. Forward of Be* rice, Olio, und Wheel of Fortune, The other doge were in privity charge.

The NoCokeidehob Dhbatb. The division on Mr Montgomery’s amendment was taken this morning, and resulted in » xnsj 'rity of six for the Government. Ine result was hailed with vociferous cheeringThe galleries were crowded to the last. There is some error in the telegram transmitting this division list, ns names appear bath in the division and the pairs, bnt the mam fact remains that the Government had the substantial majority of six. Subsequently, the second reading of the North Island Mam Trunk Bailway Loan Bill was carried by 4b to 24.

Thbatbb Botai/.—There was o very good attendance ot the Theatre last night, when

“The World ” was again produced very successfully. To- night it will be played for the last time, haying [to be withdrawn in order to make room for “ Now Babylon.” Shis piece was the great success of the present school of picturesque drama produced in London, Mr Clarence Holt producing it at the Holboin Xbeatre and playing in it himself his character of Flotsam, the Yankee detective, which ■will be assumed here by Mr Bland Holt. It may be said of this drama that it has had a considerable patronage from Boyalty, their Boyal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Marquis of Lome haying visited the performance several times; while on one occasion the Prince of Wales became a “ super ” for the occasion, leaving bis box and joining the throng in the Q-ocl-wood race scene. Among the chief scenes is the sinking of the steamer Antarctic by a collision in the Atlantic. This is a mechanical effect which, we understand, has no equal in the drama of “The World.” Then there is Oremorne, with its revelry and brilliant eurroundings ; Tatteraall’s, with its horse sale ; Goodwocd, with its race scene —a magnificent scenical production from the pencil of Mr John Hennings, the effect ef which is heightened by ths introduction of three racehorses and jcckeys in colors; and Seven Dials, with its attendant squalor and habitues. Mr Holt in this act appears as the “Brummagem Bullfinch,” and sings a [couple of songs, with popular airs. The piece will he §ut on the stage with the same attention to etoils which has marked the production of CCho World,” the scenic and mechanical effects of which have been on a scale hitherto unprecedented in Christchurch. A Viotoeian Legiseatob on the Liqcob Te attic. —A member of the Victorian Parliament, Patterson by name, was very emphatic the other day in his denunciation of the liquor trade. Ho gave the House on account of bis visit to Eohuoa recently. Eohuea is a pretty little town on the Murray, hut its astonishing feature is the number of publichouses, fifty in all. The population Idles away its time in the bars, and often a man spends as much money in a visit as would keep bis family iu comfort for a week. Landlords are described by Mr Patterson as “ a big, useless, lazy lot of men,” who ought to be ashamed of fallowing such an ooonpation, but still more degrading is the occupation to women. In some parts of America women are not permitted to serve behind bars, and that legislation, Mr Patterson nrges, might be introduced with advantage in Victoria. The prettiest girls are picked out in order to attract men to the bars, and the whole system is a scandal and a shame. Another member, Mr Simon Fraser, adopted the same tone, Bcflsction and experience, Mr Fraser said, bad induced him to recast his opinion, and to change his vote, and he will now support local option, with a view of suppressing the low drinking dens, which are a curse to the community. The liquor retailed in these establishments would, says Mr Fraser, poison a pig.” Mr Patterson’s description of publicans as “big, lazy men,” who ought to do something better than draw beer, was much objected to by some of the members of the Assembly. Several replies were made. The happiest hit was that of Mr Mclntyre, who interjioted—“ls it worse than the ablebodied men standing up with a little hammer in their hands knocking down nothing ?” The critic of the publicans is an auctioneer. Leoae Ebtoem. —The South Australian Legislative Assembly by 26 to 6 have passed a Bill providing that accused prisoners may give evidence on oath. A startling reform is contemplated by Mr Symon, Q. 0., who has obtained leave to introduce a Bill to provide for the abolition of oaths in judicial proceedings. Speaking on the latter subject the Attorney-General warmly defended the retention of the oath in evidence, witnessing “ unhesitatingly from bis own experience that on a large section of this community it has bad a most beneficial effect. .... So long as the Christian

religion prevails among us so long will we consider the oath has some sanctity. There may bo perjury at present. There would be a grevt deal more without the oath.” The proposal to abolish tho oath has naturally evoked the opposition of the clergy, who have memorialised for tho rejection of the measure, on the ground that snoh abolition “would ignore the will of the Supreme Being as the bieis of law and authority, and would lower the sense of obligation to apeak the truth.” The “Register'’ rebukes the clergy for endeavoring to stifle public discussion. No one can deny, it contends, that the present mode of administering and taking the oath in onr Courts of Law is flippant in the extreme, and any plan which would do away with such flippancy, and at the same time ensure the truth being told, would be an improvement npon existing procedure. It thinks that in the lower Courts, where trifling oases are heard, an affirmation would be much better than an oath glibly takes by witnesses, many of whom have no reverence for tho Deity and no respect for the Bible. In the higher Courts, where graver issues axe at stake, the solemn form of oath in use in Scottish Courts, where the witness, with sight arm uplifted and with left hand holding the sacred Scriptures, has to audibly repeat certain words to tho effect that he will avoid telling lies or equivocating, would be impressive and well calculated to evoke the truth. Loans. —New South Wales has beaten Victoria after all, says a Homo paper, and now offers a loan of £2,000,000 in four per cent, bonds, at the upset price of £lO2 per cent., repayable at par on the Ist of -July, 1910, or twenty-eight years from now. The existing bonds of this colony are quoted very little above that, if accrued interest be allowed for. Although a terminable loan in its present form, a Bid is to be submitted to the Colonial Parliament next session providing for the conversion of the loan into inscribed stock at the option of the holder. Tho loan is sure to be all sold, but we doubt if the price offers much temptation to the intermediary dealers. They like to sea a profit. Tho New South Walts agents are quite right in endeavoring to get that profit for the colony. A new loan of £3,000,000 for the Cape of Q-ood Hope is announced. The same colony borrowed £3,000,0000 last year, so that it is getting into debt apace. It wants the money for railways, of which some parts of the country stand in need. Tho minimum price at which tenders for their bonds will be received by Messrs Baring Brothers and Co., tho agents for tho loan, is £94 per cent. As the rata of interest is 4 per cent, they thus form one of the cheapest colonial investments. The unsettled political situation at the Cape, the dangers arising from the ill-feeling existing between the Dutch and English there, the intensity of which has very much increased since the Transvaal war, and the native difficulty, are all elements tending to keep the bonds of this colony at a comparatively low price. But the country may overcome these in time, and as yet the debt is not excessive in amount compared with that of some of tho Australian colonies.

Wbul Does, John Chinaman. —A Riverton correspondent asks us to insert the following : —ln the month of March last the 0:ago and Southland Presbyterian Church stationed at Riverton, in Southland, their Missionary to the Chinese. In the town of Riverton the number of Chinese is small, but at Bound Hill, distant some eleven miles, there are about 500 miners. Since his appointment the Missionary has held services weekly at both places. At Round Hill, now and then, some difficulty would arise over the getting of a suitable place wherein to meet, and the seeing this may have moved the Chinese. However, about three weeks, withou*- even a hint from the Missionary oa the subject, they commenced to subscribe towards the building of a meetirg houao'at Round Hill, and inless than a fortnight raised £65. The end they have in view is the raising of £9O or £IOO, and doubtless their characteristic perseverance will be rewarded with success. It is quite fresh in the memories of the people of Riverton how that the last oontribution by the same Chinese towards the maintenance of the Wallace Hospital was a handsome sum. And these sums, it should be remembered, are contributed by a community the greater part of which, if each member possessed £SO clear, would leave for China as scon as possible.