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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1121, 15 September 1871, Page 2

Up to the hour of going to press this evening, there was no appearance of the Luna, with the English mail. The prevailing (southerly weather is without doubt the cause of her delay.

In the District Court this morning before his Honor J udge Rochfort, John Harvey and Florence Sullivan, bankrupts, received their discharge. In the first case the assets were <£l7l, and the liabilities, £2OB 19s 6d. In Sullivan's case rhe assets were ,£1,908, and the liabilities, J 2677. The cause of bankruptcy was said to be pressure on the pari, of creditors His Honor .said it was much to be regretted that such an estate had been forced into the Court. Application was made by the bankrupt's solicitor for the sum of <£3s costs. His Honor said this was considerabl / in excess of the usual amount; but on the affidavit ot the solicitor and the trustee that unusual difficulties had been experienced in winding up the estate, the order applied for was made.

One civil case eame before the District Court/ this morning—Davie v. Floyd, a claim of £39 14s 4d for goods sold and delivered. M r Stedman appeared for the plaintiff. Defendant disputed one or two minor items in the account, and filed a set off, amounting to £7l ss, for work executed. This was disputed in toto by the plaintiff, who thus raised an issue on item. His Honor went into the case very minutely, and the hearing occupied a considerable time. The case was not concluded at 1 p.m., when the Court adjourned for an hour. In the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning an inebriate was sentenced to 48 hours' incarceration. Hamon v. Mann.— A small claim for rent.—Judgment for amount and costs; time granted for payment. Grey v. Davie. (Adjourned case.) Defendant appeared, and denied any knowledge of the claim; also say that no summons had ever been served upon him.— The plaintiff swore that he had served the summons himself.—-The defendant said plaintiff had come to him drunk and insulted him, and had given him a piece of paper (produced in Court) which was not a summons at all, and was all he had leceived—His Worship said that as the plaintiff had come drunk to Court on Tuesday, it was quite likely that the defendant was correct. At any rare another summons must be taken out and served before the case could be proceeded with. During the course of the trial of Reichelt for arson at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, on the 6th hist., Thomas S. Mitchell, the watchman at the Bell Tower, made the .somewhat unexpected admission that when he first undertook the duty he used to go to sleep, giving as an excuse that, at that time, he was not accustomed to stop up at night. Thirteen other witnesses were examined for the Crown.

A late paper states that the fish in the Jnvercargill Acclimatisation So ciety's ponds at Wallacetovvn have commenced to spawn for ihe first time. The Otago Times, of the 7th instant, says :—-An accident occurred to the Tokomairiro coach when it was coming down the hill on the Caversham side of Lookout Point,yesterday. Fortunately only the driver and a lad were on the coach at the time. The former received .some bruises, but he is not seriously injured. The lad escaped altogether without injury.

A translation, of "The Battle of Dorking" has been published in a popular German periodical. The Glasgow Locomotive Works, which commenced in 1864, now employ 1000 men and cover acres. Up to the middle of June, 33 yards of columns in the Times had been devoted to the debates on the Army Bill. A " Society for the Encouragement of Flying " exists in London. The export of coal from Japan is be ginning to assume large dimensions,

Thete are 40,000,000 of Germans in Germany, and 20,000,000 beyond the boundaries of the JEjmpire,

We learn from the Southland News that an accident by the explosion of gunpowder occurred in a dwelling house in the rear of Spey street, Invercargill, on the 2nd inst. } by which a man named John M'Fall, a saddler, was severely burned about the face and arms. The accident resulted from the ignition of about half a pound of gunpowder, which M'Fall was drying over the fire. Fortunately, at the time of the explosion, Mr Sugar was in another part of the dwelling, and rushing to the scene of the report, found M'Fall with his clothing on fire. Mr Sugar succeeded very quickly in extinguishing the flames, and judiciously drenched the sufferer with oil, which was speedily pi-ooured. Some delay took place in obtaining the attendance of a medical man, but ultimately M'Fall was examined and atten led to by Dr G rigor, and on Sunday he was removed to the hospital. His face and arms are much burned, but the sight is uninjured. No damage was. done to the building. The Wanganui Herald has the following : Judge Johnston remarked some time since upon the impropriety of bankrupts paying lawyers beforehand money to take them through the Court, and, pointing to two instances, where such items were down in the balancesheet, said the solicitors ought to be struck off the rolls for such a disreputable practice. Judge Richmond also holds the same opinion. At the close of a number of bankruptcy cases he observed : " Costs allowed solicitor in each case; he could not expect them to appear without being paid, but it was nothing less than misconduct on their part to accept money out of estates before adjudication." It appears that the way the Judge approves of is for tr.e solicitors to wait for their fees until the Judge makes an order for them to be paid out of the estate. This is worthy of consideration by the legal profession. At the quarterly meeting of the Presbytery of Dunediu, held on the 6th inst., the following minute anenb the death of the late Mr John Gillies was read :—"The Presbytery express their deep regiet at the death of the late Mr John Gillies, and record their appreciation of his Christian character, and the many -valuable and willing services he rendered to the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland, and specially in connection with its organisation, Sustenation Fund, Church Extension, and Missions. As an elder who frequently sat in this Presbytery, and whose large experience of Church Courts and extensive knowledge o£ Church law were of great benefit to the brethren, he will be long and affectionately remembered by this Court. Few exemplified more than he, in the words of Scripture, what it is to be ' stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.' The Presbytery further express their Chiistian sympa-* thj' - with his widow and family, and 'commend them to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up, and to give an inheritance among them which are sanctified ', and direct an extract of this resolution to be forwarded to Mrs Gillies."

The Otago Daily Times, 7th inst., savs ; —The heaviest iall of snow that has taken place in Dimediu tor two or three years, occurred on Tuesday night and yesterday morning. The landscape in the early morning a thoroughly wintry one, the streets, houses, and hills in the distance being covered with snow. With the return of day, however, the temperature rose, and the snow soon vanished, except in some places on the hills where it had drifted, and where it lay ill patches throughout the day.

A city astrologer, says a New York paper, advertises that he uses "all kinds of witchcraft." Sons of the Puritans, whose sires made New England blaze with wicked witches, will you stand this 1 Will you tamely «ulfc rait to have your cows made farrow, and vour b-itter stayed from " coming?" All kinds of witchcraft, forsooth! Why, the insolent scoundrel, what does he take us for? We shall fire a silver bullet at every black cat we see on tJje street for the next six months, and it shall go hard if we do not fetch that astrologer. Anyhow, we shall make our nights less vocal with the witchery pf cats.

AN EXPLOSION ALMOST. A becent Wanganui Herald contains the following : —" Information was received at the Custom House a few days ago that the Satellite had on boai*d a quantity of ammunition 'contrary to the regulations made and [provided.' In consequence of this important intelligence, that most indefatigable officer ,of her Majesty's Customs, Mr Jonas Jjockett, immediately proceeded on hoard, armed with the authority, and assuming that severity, of the law which is the terror of evil-doers, and commenced an exploration in the bye-ways and secret recesses of the vessel where contraband was likely to be stored. But an argus-eyed black had noticed the officer on his way to the vessel, and conscious of his intention, look means to secure from the vioilant scrutiny of the official a quantity of gunpowder in canisters, which, sure .enough, was on board the Satellite. Genious operates quickly—in flashes—and it was only the woi k of an instant for the quick-witted African to make his arrangements and adopt measures that should defy all the rules of logic familiar to the detective. The canisters were hastily snatched from their ordinary hiding place, and as quickly dedeposited in an oven—the cooking apartment of the stove ! But this was not sufficient, for why should not a ■stove the officer as an object of investigation? The cook reasoned as to this in a manner almost intuitive, and proceeded to get up a ' roaring fire'— an admirable suggestiofalsi —which was' very soon accomplished under so ex perienced an hand. Regaidless of his impending fate, Mr Jyockett proceeded with his search, while the fire blazed and the oven hey ted; the cook all the M-hile gloating over his triumphant device, as unconscious of consequences .as the crew were of facts. The fruitless search fortunately was soon over, and the officer was no sooner on the wharf than the cook, with those feelings peculiar to men when they have achieved some great success, told one of the crew how he had baffled the Custom House. The ingenious darkey, wjih all his promptitude, was not half so prompt in placing the powder (31bs) in the stove, as his confidante was in removing it therefrom—aDd only just in time, for the canisters had be ,come so warm that they must soon have exploded. For what Mr Lockett has escaped, he may offer up his thanks. His reputation for a smart officer has not by any means suffered—if he had looked in a stove with a 'roaring fire' on, for gunpowder, he might have been considered a proper subject for Karori." —The same paper in its next day's issue, says:-—"ln reference to our paragraph of ye>terday u pon the search lor ammunition on board the Satellite, we are able to supply an important item of intelligence. The powder deposited in the lighted stove had been duly entered at H. M. Customs."

With regard to agricultural prospects in the Oamaru district, the Jocal journal •writer as follows : —We are thankful to he able to offer congratulations on the opportune downfall of rain. Tmmedi ately after the bulk of the crops had been got in during very tine and favorable weather, and just as we were needing it, we have been visited with a most welcome rain. In fact, we can scarcely remember so favorable a season for our agricultural add pastoral friends, and we are led to hope that our Oamaru prestige for the growth of cereals may once more be regained, and that the farmers will be both cheered and encouraged, and enabled in some measure to recover their past losses and disappointments. And although we well know that it must take patient endurance, perseverance, and economy to fuirmnount the damages occasioned by two or three bad years, yet, with the improve men is effected in machinery, increased facilities of communication, and the opening up of so many markets, we think that agricultural operations will be carried on with greater success arid more remuneration than heretofore. Farming stock of all descriptions is keeping its value, and, as far as we can judge, there v-'ill be no difficulty in obtaining a market for fat stock. The almost unexpected rise in the value of wool must also be very welcome to the and add greatly to the

wealth of the colony. Altogether, we think that although the present dulness is apt to make us desponding, yet the prospect of a fine harvest should reassure all, and tend to make us hopeful of a much brighter future. What are the American bachelors about 1 One by one they are suffering all iheir great beauties and great heiresses to be carried off by foreigners. Another great conquest has been achieved by Prussia. Miss May Parsons, the brilliant belle of the last season at Compiegne, has just become Princess de Lynar. The Prince is on the staff of King William, and the old Kaiser is said to have taken such great interest in the successful issue of the courtship, that he has expressed a wish that the marriage should take place in Berlin. But even the commands of the Kaiser fell powerless before the resolution of the little American girl, who insisted on being married at her native place, Columbus, Ohio, refusing the the compromise suggested by diplomacy, that of having the marriage ceremony performed at Washington, by the Chaplain to the Prussian Embassy. The Prince de Lynar was, therefore, compelled to make .the journey to Columbus, passing through London on his way thither a £ew weeks ago. Such is the discipline observed on the JEtoyal Staff, that the Prince was fain merely to hint at his impatience to start forth on his love chase, never daring to ask point blank for the conge. But Kaiser William good-naturedly set the lover's heart at rest by turning ;o the Prince at the grand banquet given at Beilin in honor of the return of the .Royal Staff while the various toasts were being proposed, and saying, " Prince de Lynar, I drink to the health of your American fiance, and may we soon behold her at your side here in Germany. A pleasant voyage, Princes and a safe return amongst us ! " The next day the Prince received his leave of absence, and started from Berlin immediately. So the resignation of Count Gerolt, who has been five-and-twenty years Prussian Ambassador at Washington, gives rise to rumor that he will be replaced by the Prince de Lynar, who was for some time Secretary to Count Goltz at Paris. Two of the proof readers on the London Times are lawyers, who look out for anything libellous.