Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1338, 1 June 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1872.

The next sittings of the Supreme Court at Napier are appointed to be held in the Council Chamber on Monday, 10ih June, Should his Honor Mr Justice Johnston not arrive in time, the Court will be formally opened, and adjourned to the 18th inst. In the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, the Resilient Magistrate gave judgment in the case Chapman v. ICaaho He considered that good consideration wa> given for the piomissory note, and as the defence was an occupation of native land for which no certificate of title had been issued, he would not go into the question whether such occupation had taken place or not, as he considered it would ht an illegal consideration, which could not be set op in discharge of the promissory note. Judgment for the plaintiff for £29 and 19s costs. Jn the District Court this morning, in the case of Bell v. the Victoria Insurance Company, Mr Lascelles, on be half of the defendants, applied for a new trial, on the ground of the absence of a material witness at the time of the hearing.—Mr Lee opposed the application on two giounds- -that there was nothing to prevent the witness from being present, and that the case, having been abandoned by the defendants' counsel, could not be re-opened.—His Honoi reserved his answer to the application till Monday. Qrniond v. Thompson.— Claim of £75 Us 8d on three prom is poi'y notes, with interest.—Judgment by default for the amount claimed, with &.% costs and M'3 3s solicitor's fee. In Bankruptcy.— Re Joshua Cuff.—The bankrupt was represented by Mr Lee, but failed to appear in person, having put in an affidavit to the effect that he could not appear, the expense being too great.---Mr Wilson said' that the bankrupt was setting the Court at defiance. The case had been adjourned again and again simply to suit his convenience, and in the present cas**, he was in Napier a very few days ain.ee!,—Hi« Honor

agreed trith the view of the bankrupt's conduct taken by Mr Wilson, and said that if the Court had the power to compel the bankrupt's appeal ance, he would have issued a warrant for that purpose. —Mr "Wilson applied that the matter should be removed to the Supreme Court, which po«semd the power requisite to deal with such oases.—His Honor reserved his reply to the application till Monday. Re James M. Boyd.—Mr Wilson, on behalf of the trustee, Mr Jacobs, applied for an order that all letter* addressed to the bankrupt, on or before the 2nd August, should be received by the trustee. — Application granted. S. B. Firth, corumitied on a charge of receiviug stolen property, surrendered to his bail, but the case was remanded to the Ist July, on his entering into fresh recognizances. The following notice, dated Wellington, 26th April, appears in a recent New Zealand Gazette : —lt is considered necessary *-o call attrition to the inexpediency of the practice which has grown up of making too free a use of the Telegraph for ordinary official correspondence, which could be as well conducted by the Post; a piactice which, while it adds very greatly and very unnecessan.lv to the labors of the Telegraph Department, is, as compared with transmission by Post, extremely costly. Officers of Government are therefore strictly enjoined to confine the use of Free Telegrams to matters only of pressing importance, which do not admit of the delay oi the Mail, and t<» make such telegrams as brief as may be consistent with their being intelligible. It further enjoined that the use of the Telegraph on Sundays may be avoided as much as possible, in order that the officers of the Department may not be deprived of the privileges oi the day more than can be helped. Any infringement of these directions will be followed by the officer in fault being surcharged with the expense of the unnecessary work thus occasioned. -—W. Fox, for the Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs. It appears that there are 820 justices of the peace gazetted for the colony of New Zealand, oi as near as may be one magistrate for every 275 men, women, and children in the Colony. We may mention that in the colony of Victoria the number of justices is considered to be under 600. A Wanganui. paper says that more steam is wanted. A llax manufacturer who wished to send some flax to Auckland applied to the Manager of the Wanganui Steam Company, who replied that he could not entertain an\ proposals for freights as the St. Kilda was engaged for fourteen trips. [The Keera i* now, we believe, in the trade between Wanganui and Manukau.] Linseed has been successfully cultivated at Waipori (Otago) Last year, the sum of j£2,775 was realised from the dog tax. An Opotiki correspondent says the cutter Woodstock has become a total wreck off Whakatane. Several miners from the Dunstan district (Otago) have taken their departure for the South African diamond field*, says the local paper. Br Hector's report on the probabilitv of rinding artesian wells in Wanganui says there is no likelihood of one being discovered under 1000 feet. He refers to the Virginia Lake as a preferable source of supply. A proposal to a*k the General As sembly to increase the miner's right for Chinese to 40s has been carried in the Otago Provincial Council. Importing grouse into the colony should be a paying speculation if the price (<£100) recently asked for a pair in Canterbury is anything like their market value. The Wellington Provincial Council was prorogued on the 17th May. The Nelson Acclimatization Society are obtaining from Melbourne hares in exchange for pheasants and Californian quail. In a Queensland journal there is the following comparison, which may be new to most of our readers ;—-Queensland exports per head of population per annum, £22; New Zealand, £l9; Victoria, £18; New South Wales, £ls ; South Australia, .£ls ; Western Australia, £# ; Tasmania., £6 10*.

in the Australasian, says : —There are, T think, times when a statute might be construed as slightly elastic—when its operation would be more honored in the breach than m the observance. Lately some home-abiding British folks sent, as a birth day gift to a young lady in Melbourne, a diamond ring of small value and a little necklet. They enclosed their gitt in a letter and sent it through the Po>t-. Now thi.-* of course was all very wicked, ibi these trinkets are subject to duty in Victoria, and had the letter been delivered in the ordinary way the revenue would haw, su.ffei.ed. The contents of the letter were suspected (it isn't for nothing Detective Black keeps one eye perpetually at a Post-office key-hole), and the Customs authorities were informed of the contraband missive. It was opened, and the worst tears of the two departments were realised. Up to this point there was nothing Unit could be objected to. Hear the sequel. The intended recipient, learning the fate of her little cadeau, waited on the hon. the Commissioner of Customs, represented that the senders had forwarded the packet in all innocence of the state of the law here, and finally that she n-as prepared to pay the duty and any fine which the head of the department might th.nk it pioper to inflict, in order that her gifts might be handed over to her. The reply final and decided, was, «* The goods are confiscated." The girl couldn't have her little gift. Is this what the Chief Secretary would construe as a broad, wise, and liberal administration ot a nation's laws? Would Chatham have done the 'ike, or even Cocker? The Hon Mr Woods, Minister of Public Works, Fiji, informed a depu talion in Melbourne the other day that the revenue of Fiji for the coming year is estimated at £72,000. A bill to reduce the salary of future Governors to £4OOO has been passed by the South Australian Parliament.