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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 225, 22 September 1877, Page 4

Breach of Promise Action against

AN AOTEESS. —Miss Ada Wurd has been pitying havoc wilh the hearts ol the Melbourneites. AMr G 0 Barne, ■finding his suit hopeless, (breutened an action for breach of promise of mar riage. Miss Ward took ber farpwf-U at the Theatre Royal on August 23, belore _oing to Brisbane, and the plaint.ff — he of the shattered hop--s and bli*j;liied affections —thought it necessary to take precautions against tho defen laut leavthe colony, and himself in the lurch. So on lhe succeeding Monday he wt*.ot belore a Judge of (he Supremo Court to take out a capias to compel tho fair Ada lo leave substantial security for the payment of the damages an enlightened and sympathetic British jury might award him. The Judge heard his case, granted him the writ prayed for ; but, alps ior tbe expectations of the

lovelorn swain, the prudent actress had, in view of any mercenary proceedings of this kind, taken a very unostentatious deparlure from the colony a couple of daye before. So that poßSibly all that injured plaintift will have to serve him as a memento of this tender passage of bis life in which love and dramatic art and Supreme Court litigatafcion all combined in charming harmony, is this somewhat formal but peremptory order to a vanished defendant not to leave the scene whence she had already flown. Nothing vow remains, says a vivacious writer, but for the loving and litigious plaintiff to carry his woes and his pleadings to Brisbane, and to follow, if need be, his Dulcinea to the end of the earth rather than allow his wrecked affections to go without the compensation which an intelligent jury could not fail to award. Ministerial Apologies. — Apologies from Ministers tare becoming the order of the day. Mr Ormond haa had to apologise to Sir G. Grey, bufc he had an example first set him by Major Atkinson. The Wellington correspondent of a Southern journal tells us how several members in Committee on the Education Bill touched on Abolition. Major Atkinson jumped up in a temper, hit about him in an unusually warlike manner, and addressing his remarks to Mr Gfisborne, said " I am going to talk fco the hon gentleman. lam going to tell bim of the means he adopted to get into this House." Mr Gisborne at this jumped up and objected to what he considered an imputation that he had used unfair means to get into Parliament. "The hon members seems unhappy," continued Major Atkinson, but before he could get further Mr Rolleston jumped up and exclaimeJ— "l am unhappy," no member of this House can now criticise the Government without receiving volleys of personal abuse." The excitement in the House, which was unusually full for Committee, grew intense, Mr Rolleston'a face suffused with anger, and v Major Aikinson was nofc much better as he stood, with his bands in his pockets swaying backwards And forwards. Mr Rolleston and Major Atkinson both spoke together for a minute, and then Mr Gisborne joined in. Afc last Major ! Aikinson, amidst loud cries bf "adjourn," apooglised for anything he might h&ve said calculated to hurt the feelings of tho member for Totara, and the House adjourned. j In money matters (says Financial Opinion) the Czar is a perfect child. Although in mauy respects a highly j cultivated and fairly intelligent mao, ! he has never been able clearly to understand the difference between a rouble and a kopeck. He will at times squander thousands, aud at other momenta hug^le about sixpence ; not because he is extravagant or avaricious, but simply because he has no idei of the real value ot monoy. The following anecdote, illustrative of this singular intellectual deficiency, has caused much amusement iv St Petersburg:— Count Alderberg, the Czsr'a most intimate friend, is often in debt, and the i Emperor, since his accession to the tbrone, has ungrudgingly paid millions I to release him from his embarrass- | ments. One day, last wioter, the Count appeared at Court, coughing violently and lookiog very ill. "What is the matter with you, Alderberg?" asked the Czar. " Severe bronchitis, sir," replied the Count. "My doctor says that I ought to go to Nice for a couple of months." "Then why don't you go? I will give you leave." "I cannot efford the journey, sire." "Never mind the expense; I will defray that." The Count brightened up. "I will defray the expense," in the Emperor's mouth, could not mean leas than ten or twenty thousaod roubles. The next morning his Majesty sent for the Count, and gr-iciotisly handed him a five hundred rouble note 1 Lees than £70, at the present rate of exchange, for a two m mths" trip from St. Petersburg to Nice and back ugaio ! Count Alderberg got iid of his bronchitis aa best he could in Russia.