SUPREME COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 41, 17 February 1871, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

Sittings in Banco.

Jacks, appellant, aud Adams Sf Kingdon, respondants. This was an appeal against the decision of the Resilient Magistrate at Nelson delivered in au action heard before him on the 7th July, 1870, in which the respondants, as plaintiffs, received from the appellant, aa defendant, the sum of £52 18s lid for costs for services rendered. Mr. PHt, for the appellant, contended that the whole proceedings* were incurred for the purpose of curing a default made by the respondents in the conduct of certain preliminary steps in the proceedings undertaken by them, and which they admitted, and that, the appellant could not bo compelled to pay for that which resulted solely from the respondents' negligence. Mr. Fell, for the respondents, argued that the alleged default did not amount to such negligence as would disentitle them to costs, and that even if it did as to the first steps, yet fresh instructions were received for the subsequent proceeding, which were in reality separate causes of action, and that on each point counsel's opinion had beeu taken, and the best advice possible under the circumstances given, and that, though unsuccessful, the respondents are entitled to paymeut for work done. His Honor reserved judgment.

" A GOOD TALE is UOtlQ the WOt'SO of being twice told," ami those cf our community entitled to a vote whose mimes are not placed on the electoral roll cannot be too often urged to register. The time will soon have elapsed when registration for this year is possible, and those who allow it to puss will perhaps regret when too late their snpineness. The Southern Cross on this subject says: — "The mau who, with the atmosphere surcharged as now with political electricity/ on this occasion is oblivious of bis rights as a free man, and ueglects to register when the electoral rolls are thrown open for (he reception of names, should be decidedly ashamed hereafter to stand up before his fellow citizens and say. * Unfortunately I have not a vote ; I neglected to register.'" Ox the passage down from Nelson to Hokitika of the s. steamer Kennedy, an interesting episode iv the journey occurred. When about five miles north of Bock's point, on Friday, the slenmer was hailed by the ketch Redcliffe, of Duneuin, which was then running heforo a south-west wind, the mate stating he wished to speak the Kennedy. Immediately Captain WhitweU was called, and the steamer put about and ran down to the ketch, which was then hove to. The male in command stated he had been fourteen days out from Dunediii, and the captain was very ill, and he requested the captain to tako him on board. The sea was then running very high, and had the Kennedy lowered one of the boats, the chances were that the boat would have been stove, and imperilled the lives of the crew. The person in charge then stated he would launch his own boat, but he had only two boys ou board who could not steer. The Kennedy would have rendered any assistance in her power, hut it was positively impracticable. The ketch i hen bore away with si fair wind for Cape Farewell, and the steamer, after waiting some time, resumed her course to Westpart. Whether the report of the mate is true or not, it will strike al! persons connected with sea-faring matters as s! range, that a vessel should be allowed to clear at the Customs, Dunedin, for a long coasting voyage, with nominally only two hands. The boys, certainly could not be reckoned as seamen. — Grey mouth Star. [The Redcliffe has since arrived in our harbor.] The duties of a returning officer in some of the country districts are no sinecure in these days of elections. Mr. C. Kous Martin (says the Otago Daily Times) the Returning Officer for the Wallace aud Waikaia districts, has had to ride nearly 1000 miles in three weeks iv connection with his duties in that capacity. Int the Wcst.laml County Council the other day the chairman is reported to have stated that the amount paid in General Government salaries in the county for the last four mouths was £5400, aud that on an average the expenditure was about £16,000 a year. The Grey lliver Argus makes the following remarks regarding the Selwyn election : — We regret much to see Mr. E. C. J. Stevens replaced by Mr. .Reeves for the Leeston district. Mr. Stevens was a rising, painstaking politician, whose worst fault was bis having, along with Mr. Rolleston aud others, isolated himself in a political " Cave," and having helped to put Fox and Yogel into office, although he voted against them ever afterwards. His successor is better known than liked politically. Mr. Reeves is a sort of political prig, extremely embarrassing to his colleagues, and of no particular consequence to anybody but himself. We learn from the Otago Daily Times that the Otago Meat Preserviug Company will be ready to start operations in a fortnight. The factory at Green Island is adapted, when in full working order, for the consumption of 2000 sheep per week, or cattle in proportion. A correspondent of the Southern Cross suggests that a great exhibition of New Zealand productions should be held in Auckland in February next, and anticipating the objection that there would be little to exhibit, furnishes the following list of articles, all of which are now manufactured or raised in the colony : — "Flax, ropes, lines, twine, matting, &c, and at no distant period, sacks, woolpacks, &c. ; wool, woollen cloths, woolskins, kauri gum, coals, timber, furniture woods, and furniture in every variety ; carriages, shoes, hose, belting, &c. ; glassware in great variety, earthenware, pottery, firebricks, draining tiles, sewerage pipes, chimney tops, milk dishes, filters, flower pots, jugs, &c. ; brasswork, tinware, gold, silver, copper, steel, aud articles manufactured from these minerals ; coopers' goods, such as casks, barrels, tubs, buckets, churns, &c. ; basketwnre, wheat, oats, maize, barley, hops, potatoes, kumeras, turnips, beetroot, carrots, onions, bottled fruits, jams, jellies, dried fruits, sauces, soap, candles, blacking, honey, bees-wax,

dyes, cement, limestone, paintings, photographs, sculpture, brandy, whiskey, rum, gin, ale, porter, wines, cordials, lemonade, soda-water, ginger-beer, hams, bacon, butter, cheese, and a great variety of other articles." Electioneering Piety. — Every possible* expedient was resorted to by the politicians of Wellington during the late election to get their respective candidates in, but the greatest novelty that ever was introduced into electioneering was to be found in the course adopted by a person signing himself " A Church Member" who industriously circulated during the contest a circular, of which the following is a copy: — "To Sabbath School Teachers and Church Members — Your vote is most prayerfully requested against the return of Mr. J. C. Richmond to Parliament, he being an infidel — A Church Member." With reference to this wretched piece of cant the Evening Post says : — Who is this mau that he should arrogate to himself the functions of Deity, and pretend to look into the mind of a fellow-mortal, accusing him of eutertaining opinions which he indignantly repudiates, especially when the history of his past life affords no warrant for the accusation? The ''Member" seems to have had worldly wisdom enough mixed up with his mock piety to have been ashamed to append, his name to his precious circular. " Your vote and interest is most prayerfully requested ! " What a Pharisaical mockery have we here ! Grammar and religion ou a par. A man who could deliberately circulate a vile aud malicious slander, with the object of injuring his neighbor, in direct violation of the first principles of the Christian religion, and talk about doing it *' prayerfully," must have been present to the imagination ot Moore, when he pourtrayed a villanous character as " One, who will pause and kneel unshod, In the warm blood his hand hath pour'd, To mutter o'er some text of God Engraven on his reeking sword ; —

How they Elect to Public Offices in Philadelphia. — The office of high sheriff is the most lucrative iv Philadelphia, and the politician who succeeds in winning it is sure of n fortune. For this there were two active contestants, Win. R. Leeds and Henry 11. Bingham. At 10 a.m. the delegates crowded into the room, and David Lane, the representative of Walton, one of the candidates, jumped on the stage, and iv a twinkling was nominated for temporary chairman. The nomination was ratified by a portion of the delegates, and Lane, pulling a hammer from his pocket, began calling to order. Ho had not tapped the table more than twice when William Elliott, representing Biugham, was declared temporary chairman, and jumped on the stage also, followed by H. li. K. Elliott, who was the champion of a third candidate^ named Berry. Thus thfre were three chairmen, and a scene of great excitement followed. There was a struggle hotly waged for the hammer. It was snatched from Lane's hands by the Berryites, and in a moment was forcibly transferred to Elliott, the Binghamite. The eutire convention now endeavored to get on the stage, which was six feet above the floor, and a hundred men clambered up, amid yells and disorder, to support their friends. The desk was overturned, the furniture smashed, and the <>as chaudleiers knocked to pieces. The desk was no sooner replaced than William Elliott mounted it to declare the names of the secretaries, and Lane rushed upon him to seize the hammer. Then there was auother melee, aud all the chairmen, together with the furniture and fixtures and a dozen delegates, were swept off the stage to the floor — a distance of six feet. Elliott happened to fall upou a crowd of his friends, who with remarkable alacrity put him on the stage again, and he found his coat was ripped up the back to the collar. There was a momentary lull, when Elliott took off the tattered garment, and, mounting a table, announced his secretaries, and made a speech in his shirt sleeves. 'I desire to say," shouted out the veteran of many a political battle, 'that if it is the desire of the convention that I shall not preside as temporary organiser, I will withdraw. I tell you that it is for the interest of the Republican party that these scenes of disorder should cease. Those who "want me for temporary orgauiser say " Aye." A roar in the affirmative was followed by an' equally loud roar in the negative, and the battle was resumed with such vigor that the reporters fled from the stage. Lane had his hat smashed aud was seized by the arms and legs by half a dozen men, and dragged to the edge of the stage to be thrown off, but he clung to one of the chandeliers, struggled out of the hands of his captors and cried out, 'As temporary chairman of this convention, I nominate John W. Sayers and John Thomson for secretaries, and I want to say — ' What he wanted to say is unknown. Cries of 4 Put him out,' ' Throw him off the stage.' and an uproarious hooting drowned his voice, and, in the meantime, the Bingharn faction, having organised themselves, swept Lane and all the rest 11 of their enemies off the stage in an instant, and Elliott, in his shirt sleeves, remained the monarch. After this the convention, heartily ashamed^ behaved with something like order, aud, as frequently happens, the disorderly out-witted themselves, as the coveted position was awarded to William R. Leeds, famous as one of the most earnest and persistent Republican politicians of Philadelphia. "The Races." — A number of accidents having recently occurred in San Fraucisco from runaway horses, the \fflews Letter, under the above heading, enters a protest against the carelessness that permits of such occurrences, in the following words : — "We recently -emitted a mild and watery fulmination against kicking horses; with what success we leave all who have not been recently kicked to say. Our modesty is innate in character and perpatual in manifestation. It now appears that these incorrigibly restive brutes, deprived of the right of kick, have thrown their vast energies into the business of running away ; and in this manner have succeeded in inflicting an even greater amount of human misery than before. The spectacle is by no means inconceivable of ten thousand horses careering in concert down Montgomery-street, over files of prostrate slain that it would have astonished Ajax to behold in the wake of his chariot, or where be had planted his owu fairy feet. It was only yesterday that something like this might have been seen upon a reduced scale of magnitude — had it not occurred. We have seen with our own imagination the mingled fragments of wagons and women, buggies and babies, jumbled harness and general humanity, littering our streets thick as autumnal leaves which strew the brooks in Napa Valley. Usually there are no mitigating circum-

stances — except tho doctors — attending ihe proceedings. The horses consult together, appoint the- hour, aud without other justification thun that strongest of all provocations, opportunity, they start in. In an instant there is v deafening clatter of hoofs, si stunning bang of wheels, a universal shriek, scamper, crush, and mangle of pedestrians ; when all is over, aud the distant hill is telling of the sound, a thousand battered aud bruised limbs, riven from their parent trunks, are quivering iv ghastly piles upon the gory pave. By some recent statistics furnished us by a gentleman who has exceeded his most sanguine hopes in compiling; them, we learn that San Francisco is decreasing rapidly in population from this cause alone, the deaths by beiug run over exceediug the birihs and immigration combined. We should be disposed to doubt the correctness of these figures had we not added up the totals ourselves. The police officers ought to see that horses standing in the public streets are kept hitched. Upon the principle of settiog a thief to watch a thief, we purpose employing these asses to watch the horses. It will bo observed we are watching them."