CORRESPONPENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 55, 4 March 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONPENCE.

TO THB EdiTOH OP, THE -NbISOK EVENINGJMAn,. .. Snir-In the Evening Mail of Friday' last, a paragraph appeared, referring to a case'in the Kesident Magistrate's Court here, «i2, Stanton v. Miles, wherein the defendant, as iq tpart.-of the alleged debt, pleaded the ''.statute^ : ,of limUations. A. similar . paragraph, appeared in the .:Nehson : Examiner on Saturday last. * The paragraphs referred to, written I presume > corift'naaftort o/«eW« see /our <A/Jii^. ; \'" {

vby or at the- instance of TVTr Stanton 'or ! his solicitor, state that" Mr Fell" appeared for the . plaintiff and "Mr Pitt *''. fpr the defendant, and . certainly imply that I bad advised the defendant) to pl<»ad such a defence. .'.•.,};+ I never did so, as Mr Stanton and his solicitor ; are •well aware. I was merely, acting as., agent 5-' for •Mr Travers, the defendant's solicitor, and as .1 feel somewhat personally aggrieved by the pub- : lication of the statements contained in the paragraphs alluded to, I deem it due to myself to mention the following facts. ;,;:; The summons 1 in the case was returnable on the 12th February last, when it was .called on ~: ? the defendant did not then appear, .either personally or by solicitor, and the 1 ; affidavit of service ;. being : defective, ;the case: was adjourned until (•February 24th. On February 18th, I was in- ., rStructed on defendant's behalf, by Mr Travers, by letter enclosing the copy summons, not but giving any particulars as to the merits of the case, "-simply starting that the defendant-wished to plead the'6tatute. On the Saturday following the plea was delivered, and afterwards on the same day Mr ; Stinton volunteered to me his version of .the case'- lat oifee'said that if His- statements were true, the defendant ought not to plead such (.a defence. However, Ifelt and said that I could not be justified. in withdrawing the plea upon the exparte statement of the other side : <Vnthe Monday following the case wns again called on , when lappear ?d for the defendant. PlaintifFs'solicitor was unavoidably absent.and / sug' (jested* further adjournment in order that he 1 might be present, and in order that I might, if possible, hear from the defendant in the meantime. The adjournment was had, and J subsequently received notice that the case was withdrawn; I had not heard from the defendant. In the paragraph referred to it seems to be taken for granted that the fact of the amount claimed being actually due by the defendant was neyer disputed, insomuch as part of the amount .claimed— seven sliiilinqs and interest was paid -..into .court. -Thi? -payment was made by me in the absence of any instructions as to the amount being due or not, and to avoid the risk of the defendant having to pay the who^e costs of the , , action in the event, .of the p'aintiff obtaining a judgment for the seven shillings. Mr Stanton and his solicitor knew this from me. The paragraph in the Examiner states that the case was twice adjourned and ultimately with- : drawn, thereby implying that there had been a contest in Court, whereas the matter was with-drawn,-without any evidence having been taken, and the facts as to the adjournments were as I have stated. If the amount claimed is justly due to Mr Stanton, he must naturally feel very irritated at being unable to recover it, at the same time he ' , will see that I have jus(< cause to complain of the ■' statements* in the paragraphs mentioned so far as they refer to myself, inasmuch as by implication they impute to me that I had advised a client to plead the statute as a defence to what was morally and indisputably a just claim by his creditor — an imputation wholly unfounded in truth and fact. lain, &c, Albert Pitt. ' Hardy- street, Nelson, March 3, 1873.

A Fisherman on the Hokitika river, on drawing his seine last Tuesday morning, found three sharks in it, measuring about 3ft 6in each. Two of them, judging from their array of teeth, must have been over two years of age. The following agricultural intelligence is furnised by the Wakatip Mail : — "Harvesting operations have proceeded vigorously during the week, and the weather has been really magnificent. We have heard of some heavy yields on some of the farms. Messrs Brown, Smith, Bell, and others have had fields giviDg 50 bushels of wheat per acre, and Mr Bell, we hear, as high as 60 buebels. But the average is* not likely to exceed — if it reaches-MO bushels. So far as information goes at present, oats are light, the average being about 30 bushels, which is not a paying crop, even at 2s 6d per bushel here." West Coast Coal Mines. — The following is from the Evening Post of Thursday last: — -The Rahgatira which arrived in harbor last evening^ brought 190 tons of coal from tha Brunner mine, which had to be taken' on board at Greymouth. Mr Harttnaan reports that so far as he can judge by the result of one trip the coal is at least equal to that of Newcastle. He visited the Brunner and the Ngakawau mines. From the former the coel is brought down in boats of 25 tons bnrden, but owing to the want of rain the river is now so low that only seven tons can be carried ; by each' bbatj- and even then they ground on the rocks nearly the — *wfeoJibway.;' Themethod adopted is rather ingenious. Horses are yoked on to the boats, which are turned broadside on. By , this means the force of water against them is greater, and they are also turned over on their sides, making their draught less. In this position they may be heard \ grinding on the rocks nearly the whole distance from the mine to 1 he; port. From inspection of the Ngakawau mine and the port at,.' Westppre, ' '^Mr.; ; Hartmann is of opinion that NgakaWau will eventually be the coal port of New Zealand, the river being a fine one which? vessels of 300 or 400 tons can enter, and the bar being better than ';.th.a]b at _;thei 'iGirey. The ' draw- , back at present is the want of a railway or a tramway from the mine to the port, V; a .distance, oflß miles, in the construction :>6f which no difficulties would have to be encountered, as it Vould run along a' level; ; ; terrace^ and timber bein^ abundant in the / : :,neigl|iJi6rhJDo^ kawau minevpr^ r.of^ms^; coaliHwhiol^^h^a^sbeeni, fullriarand report. A capsaio of one o

the small steamers on the coast reports that for many months he has used nothing but Ngakakau coal, and he considers it sqperior^to^ewcastle coal; ; .: w American Couet Incidents.— On a certain occasion, the counsel took some exception, to the ruling of the court on a certainpbint, and a dispute arose. "If the court please," eaid the counsel, "I wish to refer to this book a moment," at the same time picking up a law book. " There's no use o' you referring to any books ! " exclaimed the court angrily. "I J have decided the p*int! " " But your honour," persisted the . attorney. "Now I don'fc want to hear anything further on the subject !•" yelled the court. " I tell you again I have decided the p'int I" "I tell you you are wrong!" retorted the counsel "I am right ! " reiterated the court. " Darn a nigger if I ain't ! " "I soy you ain't ! " persisted the counsel. '" Crier ! " yelled the judge, "I adjourn this court for 10 minutes !; V And jumping from the bench, he pitched into the counsel, and after a very ; lively little fight, placed him hors de combat, after which business f yas resumed. But. it was not long before another misunderstanding arose. "Crier !" said. the court "we will adjourn this time for twenty minutes!" And as he was about taking off his coat, when the counsel said — "Never mind, judge—- keep your, seat. The p*int is yielded. My thumb'sout o 1 j'rnt, and I've sprained my shoulder. " — American paper.