Deccased Wife's Sister Bill

Manawatu Herald, 15 September 1900, Page 2

Dece ased Wife's Sister Bill

• In 1875 the Parliament of New South Wales passed an Act to " declare valid the marriage of a man with the sister of his deceased wife." On May 26th, 1876, the Sydney Government Gazette contained a notice of the Queen's assent to the Act. The Act comprises only one short clause which is as follows : " Every marriage otherwise lawful which has been heretofore or which shall be hereafter celebrated within the Tolony 6f New South Wales bstween any person and the sister of his deceased wife shall be deemed and is hereby declared to have been and to be valid and of full force and effect, any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." It is contended under this Act, so long a3 the marriage is celebrated within New South Wales, the radius of its validity is not limited to the bounds of the colony, and that it must be held to operato in every part of the British Empire. There is now before the English parliament a Bill to clear up any doubt upon the subject. The Bill is entitled The Colonial Marriages (Deceased wife's sister) Bill, and passed the second reading in the House of Lords in May last. The annual meeting of the Lawn Tennis Club is advertised for Monday evening next. Messrs Barham & Co. announce that they intend entering into business as Auctioneers, &c. on the first of next month. Mr T. R. Bowden has accepted the position of head master of the Culuerden school in Canterbury. Ten tons of strawberries and thirty gallons of cream were ordered for the Queen's garden party at Buckingham Palace. The Methodists soth Century Fund in the United States already amounts to two million guineas.

The H.B. Heralsays — The volcanoes in the Taupo district have been particularly active of late, Ngauruhoe especially so. Large columns of smoke are being ejected by the crater, presenting an imposing spectacle. A visitor from the south-western portion of the colony of Queensland gives a black picture of the ravages by drought. In some places there was no meat to eat atiu . ' * :^ns called a* lost 39,000 out of . j stock had, no gra r * . .ns and the scrub proved ... , .incipal todder. ' Messrs T. Westwood & Co. announce that they have commenced business as Auctioneers, Land and Commission Agents. At Mzftiawatu County Council meeting on Wednesday the overseer reported that owing to Mr Anderson running a traction engine on Long-burn-Rongotea road it would cost Council at le?»st £100 a year more to kecD it in repair. News to hand shows that the Boxers on 29th June attacked Misses Whitchurch and Searell (of Christchurch) at Hsia-mi-hsien. The Magistrate, in response to an appeal for assistance, declared that the soldiery were only there to protect the Chinese. The Boxers, entering the house, stripped both ladies, and then slowly clubbed them to death. The Magistrate had the bodies of the victims buried in the baptistry of the mission. A new advertisement from Messrs C. M. Ross & Co., of the Bon March 6, Palmerston North, appears in this issue, intimating the arrival of new goods for spring and summer seasons, ex s.s. Gothic. The reputation of this firm for fashionable and family drapery is well known, they have of late added to their soft goods business, that of boot and shoe importers, and 'they announce a £2000 stock of these goods to select from. Their goods are imported direcj from manufacturers and of A 1 value. The Premier, in an answer to his telegram to Field- Marshal Lord Roberts, congratulating him on the annexation of the Transvaal, received the following communication : — " Best thanks for New Zealand's hearty congratulations. Am publishing your telegram as an Army Order. Your son has joined me and is very well." Information has been received (says the Wanganui Herald) of the death of a celebrated Maori tohungha and chief I — Te Riaki— at Parapara. The deceased, who was between 70 and 80 years of age, was a great authority on Maori folklore and mythology, there being but one other native in the district so well up in Maori traditions — Te Pohe, a tall, blind old chief, of Waitotara. British farmers and dairymen are today milking over four million cows and producing annually in their dairies thirty two million pounds worth of milk, butter and cheese. A story is told by a correspondent concerning a late Governor of Natal. His Excellency was one day walking down Church-st., Pieterra'aritzburg, when a mounted policeman passed him and failed to give the salute. The Governor promptly stopped the offender, who was slightly the worse for liquor. '• Do you know who I am ? " he asked in a consequential tone. 14 No," replied the trooper. " I'm the Governon of this colony," said that j official. "And a good billet, too," ejaculated the husky trooper ; " I advise you to stick to it ! " Men over forty are practically proof against enteric fever. Only one man over that age fell a victim to it in the Souday campaigu. The receipts of hotel -keepers in Switzerland, which is a great resort of tourists, is five million pounds a year. Here are two tales about stolen umbrellas. A man alighting at a station in a shower of rain ran up to an acquaintance, tapped him on the shoulder, '• as one who would say : How are you? Lend me a bit of your brolly." The umbrella carrier, with detection writ large upon his tace, turned and said without preliminary parley, as he handed the umbrella over; ''Here it is. I didn't know it was yours." A preacher set himself up in umbrellas by a similat accident. His own umbrella had been taken from the porch of the chapel. On the next rainy day, he gave oat, after a sermon on honesty, that the person who had taken away the wrong umbrella should leave it behind in the church porch. When service was 'over, he found not only his own but 25 other umbrellas.