RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 40, 15 February 1872, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Wednesday, February 14, 1872. There was a full attendance of the members of the legal profession in Nelson at this Court yesterday, their object being to bid farewell to Mr. Sharp, who to-day retires from the position of Resident Magistrate here, and from the Government service generally. After the cases for hearing had been disposed of, Mr. Henry Adams, Provincial Solicitor, rose, and addressing Mr. Sharp, said — I understand, sir, that this is probably the last occasion upon which you will occupy that seat as Resident ' Magistrate. I need not now go into the cause of your retiring from the position you have so well' and ably filled, but at the request and in the name of the members of the legal profession in Nelson, I have to express to you their regret that the i official connection between them and yourself is about to be severed. They, sir, have admired the fair and impartial manner in which you have performed the important duties of your office. They fully appreciate, and desire to express their sense of, the kind and courteous treatment they have at all times received at your i hands, and also to express their experience of your being always ready and willing to | consult their convenience and wishes. I am not one given to flattery, but I desire to say that your decisions in that chair, have given general satisfaction, not only to the members of the legal professsion, but also to the public at large, and that, not because you have tried to please everyone, for had you done so you would have pleased nobody, but because of the trouble you have always taken, and of your obvious anxiety to arrive at a just and impartial decision in all matters before you, and to do what was strictly right. In expressing myself as I have done, I feel sure that I am speaking the feelings both of the profession and of the public generally, and we sincerely wish, that in the future, health, happiness, and prosperity may attend you and yours. Mr. Atkinson then rose, and addressing his Worship, remarked that it was said to be one of the signs of great men that they could choose a good servant. He did not know whether the converse was true, and that it was a sign of little men that they did not know a good servant when they had got one, but if it was, then he could only say that the cause of their meeting there on that occasion was of bad augury for the colony. He deeply regretted the occasion of their meeting. Mr. Sharp, who spoke with much feeling, replied as follows : — Mr. Adams and gentlemen, I find it most difficult to express my feelings upon this occasion, and in so saying, I am not merely using a hackneyed phrase, as I am sure you will fully believe, for were you in my position you would readily understand what my feelings are. I am very gratified to find tbat my endeavors to do my duty have met with the approbation of the profession and the public. It has been my endeavor to uphold the dignity of the court, and to do equal justice to all. I wish to acknowledge the uniform courtesy and good feeling exhibited by the members of the profession towards me in this court, and the kind assistance they have at all times rendered to me — not straining legal technicalities — but doing their best to assist in having all matters tried and decided upon their merits. It is certainly some proof that my decisions have given general satisfaction, as has been said, that only on two or three occasions •have they been impugned. Only one ease, I think, ever went to appeal, and in tbat the original decision was fully confirmed. I can conscientiously say that my endeavors have been, in the discharge of ail my official duties, to benefit the public at large. Having been in the Government service for a period of twenty-one years, I have, during tbat time, had subordinates, as well as superiors, and I desire- to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to those who have, from time to time, acted under me for the cordial co-operation and assistance they have always afforded to me. I think it would be unfair for me to leave tbe Bench without expressing this. The Court then adjourned.

A Hartford paper regretfully records the death of a 48 years subscriber. Ten thousand miles of railway are expected to be laid down in the United States this year. The damage annually done to Cincinnati by burning smoky coal, is calculated at 3,000.000d015. One-half of San Francisco, comprising 75,000 souls, has only one English-speakiug place of worship. A California. Court has decided that a lady is not obliged to tell her age while being cross-examined. The United States Government made about 3,000, OOOdols. out of the Chicago fire through the destruction of greenbacks. The coal-fields of Western Virginia cover an area of 15,000 square miles, or about three times the coal area of Great Britian. An Adventurous German Lady. — There is a lady of an unusually adventurous spirit providing: amusement for the public in Germany. She has gone through a variety of characters in male costume with eminent success, acting successively as groom, coachman, valet, &c, to various employers, giving perfect satisfaction, and obtaining excellent characters, her masters never suspecting her sex. The late war roused nobler ambitions within her. Prefixing the title " von " to her name, and donning the blue coat with an iron cross upon it, Miss Bertha Weiss made her debut as a wounded Prussian officer. Passing through various towns she enlisted everywhere tbe sympathy of the inhabitants, who received her as an honored guest, and is said even to have made some havoc amongst young ladies' hearts. Unfortunately she was found out just when her success was at its highest, and placed before a tribunal, was sentenced to several months' imprisonment as a punishment for her masculine .aspirations. So perfectly had she acted her role, however, that up to the moment when the verdict was pronounced she found advocates in the press to defend her manhood. The imprisonment has not moderated the lady's ambition, for although only shortly released, she has turned up once more in manly guise in the very last place where a female would be looked for, viz., in a monastery, near Breslau. The prior declares that she came to him with so truly penitential an air, disguising her sex admirably, that he could not find it in his heart to refuse her. She has lived among the monks undiscovered, her noviciate being a severe one; yet she underwent all the rules of the order with the fortitude of an ascetic up to the last moment. Tired, however, at last of the "monotony of conventional life, she gave the monk 3 the slip after a four months' visit, disclosing her sex only after her departure. — Pall Mall Gazette.