DISTRICT COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 296, 14 December 1877, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

[Before His Honor Judge Broad.] lie Henry Hudson, a Bankrupt. Mr Bunny applied for the bankrupts discharge, but admitted the Trustee's report had not been filed. His Honor remarked it was absolutely neceaaary to satisfy him that all the provisions of the Act had been complied with, and as there was no certificate from the creditors, and no proof that the Trustee had called the meeting required by Seetion 179 of the Act he could not grant the present application.

Mr Bunny asked the Court to adjourn the hearing so that the necessary documents might be filed.

His Honor said the Trustee ought to have been present or at least his report should have been filed, however, the matter might 3tand ovar until Monday at 2 o'clock.

The following amusing incident is telegraphed to a Northern paper by its special correspondent at Wellington :— "Mistakes will occur in all well-regulated families, and even in our public institutions. They have in the Government Buildings a guileless new chum, who is not well acquainted with the personal appearance of the xlliuiatera of the Ccown. Yesterday one of the chief clerks, who indulges in the narcotic weed, ran short of a 'load,' and he, preferring 'cut up' to any other brand, told the fledgling to go into a certain room and ask the messenger for a fill of tobacco. The new chum was shown the messenger's room, and boldly entering he addressed himself to a gentleman with a gray moustache, and hair to match, and stated that Mr Quills, of the P.W. office, (wanted a pipe of tobacco. The old gentleman looked hard at his visitor, and demanded if he knew who he was. 'Oh yes, said the new chum; 'trot us out the (tobacco ; I'm in a hurry 1' ' Young man,' replied the person addressed, ' return to the chief clerk and tell him that Sir George Grey does not smoke, neither does he supply cut up tobacco to bis clerks.' The youth left the room hurriedly, and now he says that he shall never f orgefc the face of the Premier."

It is rumored (says the Post) that in the event of Mr Bunny's accepting a permanent appointment under Government, which would necessitate h ; s resignation of his seat for Wairarapa, the following gentlemen are likely to be candidates for the vacant seat in the House of llepresentatives:— Mr P. A. Buckley, Mr C. Pharazyn, Mr R. Barton, and Mr W. Hutchison, It i3 rumored further that a requisition has been presented to and accepted by the last named gentleman. Tne worst fears about the season's crops are being realized (says the Wairarapa Register), and but few farmers look forward to anything even approaching an average return. In many fields, the oat crop looks as if it had nearly attained its greatest height although it is only about eighteen inches high, Other fields are very patchy and lumpy— almost a sure sign of an indifferent crop. Wheat looks a little better, but there are few fields in which it has anything to remind us of last year, What there is of it generally looks healthy enough, bufc ifc ia very thin, and it is an easy matter to aee the grey soil half a chain off.

Somebody is likely to get into trouble in Wellington. The Post says :— Great complaints have reached us about the conduct of a certain person who is in the habit of promenading the Wellington streets attired in the height of fashion— literally "got up regardless of expense "—and amusing himself by following, staring offensively at, and otherwise insulting every passer-by of the feminine sex who may happen to be alone. So many ladies have been treated thus offensively that information has been given to the police, who are on the watch for the blackguard, while a number of stalwart young married men are keeping a sharp look-out for him, with the view of making things exceedingly sultry if they catch him. The Melbourne Age has a. curious sort of correspondent who writes letters on New Zealand, and the reliability of his communications may be gathered from the following passage in his last letter to that journal:— •' Now that the goldflelds are practically done, I do not think the resources of New Zealand are very large. It will always be a fine agricultural and pastoral country, but it has no minerals to speak of, and its coal is little better than lignite."

Our Dunedin telegrams announce that " flower services" are to be held nest Sunday at the Baptist Churches there. Of late years these services have be come common in England, and have spread from the Baptists to other denominations. Their peculiarity cousists in the iact that everyone is expected to take a bouquet of flowers in the baud. A sermon of special reference to the flowers mentioned in the Bible, and their emblematical significance, is preached, and the bouquets are generally collected in large baskets placed at the doors of the churches. The clergy and such of the congregation who choose to engage in the work, see that the flowers are so laid in the baskets as not to be injured, and they .are then divided between the different hospitals, infirmaries, and almshouses in the Down. It is a very pretty and touching sight to see gentlemen and ladies aljke visiting the sufferers, and offering, with the flowers, a few kindly words of sympathy and encouragement.-r-fosf.

The Aucklaud Star says:—" No wonder house rent in Wellington is high. During the session, Mr Richardson, late Minister of Public Works, paid £30 a week for the use of one eqtire floor of the Occidental. Sir Dillon Bell paid £3 a week for the occupation of three front rooms, and Mr Montgomery paid a similar amount for the rent of a house which could be got in Auckland for 25 s.

A gentleman not unknown in literary circles was present at one of the Pope's receptions. The holy father approached and said:—* Are you a Catholic or a Protestant ? ' < Holy father' replied our friends, 'lam neither a Catholic or a Protestan ; I aiu a journalist.' His Holiness lauged heartily, and moved on to some one else. The Advocate regrets to learn that on «o™,. "' atations ia Kaugitikei where shearing the rarages of lice iu the disu....'.!,'

A humorous writer in the Christchurch Prest 3ays :— A friend of mine who takes a very deep interest in the Russo-Turkish war has lately been driven to the verge of insanity by the extraordinary character of the telegrams, fie says one day you hear that Seklamsket Pasha has captured 400 guns, burst up communication between General Androloppoffski and Kalamwiloshillipol, that Russummagdalovitch is surrounded, and the provisions are running short. Then ne-:t day a telegram comes to say that General Androloppoffski denies all the above, and intimating that, it's all a square falsehood, the fact being that the General has annihilated Schlamskefc Pasha, taken 5000 prisoners, and is marching on some place (hitherto never heard of), say Ljenikoyz, and that so far from Kussummagdalwxtch being surrounded and short of provisions, nothing can be further from the truth, becase Objelliman Pasha for strategical purposes has executed a flank movement to the right of Nicitbskz Pass, thus of course threatening the Russian force under General Ninekonsonautzwithoutavowloff. ; After reading this the war enthusiast naturally flies to the map and after getting dazed sleeps over it, to flud that next day it's all contradic ied again. This war new3 would perp'ex any ordinary man into idiocy.

It was stated that one of the Middlesex magistrates the other day waa offered but refused to accept £900 for his collection of foreign postage stamps ; and also that an extensive colection of 17,000 varieties, including many unique specimens, changed hands for £800. It is believed that this is the highest price which a collection has ever fetched iu England.' In France, however, the mania has reached a higher pitch, for it i3 reported that one of the most complete collections ever brought together was sold privately for no less than £3000

A lady has been lecturing at Rangiora (says the "Loafer in the Street.") She chose for her subject " The Soul and after the Grave." It is a topic teeming with cheerful interest to a miscellaneous audience pad one too of which I have no doubt much might be made, Indeed, I feel sure much was made of it. I judge so f ron the following quotation sent to your paper by a gentleman who appears to be indignant at the manner in which the fair lecturer was reported: —"The body was not substance to the spiritual sight; the spirit was a substance in the body and soul, inside that again was in shape and form of the body in electricity." This seems mystic — very, very mystic. I'm not a judge of the article myself, but, assuming that the above is a fair sample of the lecture, I should almost advise the lady to try some other topic nest time — say Grammar.

TheLyell^rjws says, "We have gravelyand calmly read the report of the proceedings of the JBuller County Council at their last meeting. If there was more sense and less whisky amongst them we might have some show. Come good people of Lyell, we are ready now in honor to go with you, throw off Westpoi-t as you would a vile reptile, come, we shall join Reefton."

With reference to the Karatnea the Buller News says: — The crops looks promising. The late flood did not do much damage to them, but it washed away some of the tracks, and drowned some cattle. A meeting of a few interested individuals was held recently to try and get a school erected close to their own doors, and appoint one of their number to the charge of the school. No work has been going on of late, except private work.

The San Domingo Gazette publishes a long account of the alleged discovery of the body of Christopher Columbus in the Metropolitan Cathedral of the State. The Archbishop, the GoTernor of the province, the military commander, and other officials went in procession with the troops to the church, where the sarcophagus was publicly examined, and pronounced from its inscription to contain the body of Columbus.

When that clever, cheeky, libellous, blasphemous, and yet sometimes honestly out-spol-en journal, the San Francisco News Letter, " goes " for anything or anybody, it uses remarkably vigorous language. Alluding to its contemporary the Bulletin, it thu3 remarks,—" That journal born in bankruptcy, swaddled in slander, fostered in venality, whose praises are as blistering to honesty as the cancerous kisses of the crocodile which swelters in Nilotic mud— that slimy sheet— we pronounce, and we care not if we stand alone ia condemnation, to be a fraud and a cheat, a delusion and a curse to this community." '.

In a Dunedin newspaper appears the following:—"A singular rumour has gained considerable currency, that the late Viscount Fitzgibbon, that gallant cavalry officer who was supposed to have fallen in the celebrated charge of the Six Hundred at Balaclava, did not meet that fate which was really believed, but, ou the contrary, he is at this moment on his way home to claim his estates. It was never ascertained whether the Viscount was really killed or not, the fact of his never having been heard of since being the only one that removed almost any doubt a3 to his fatal end. It is now stated that when last seen he was leaning, apparently wounded on hia horse, that he was taken prisoner by the Russians, and shortly after, for some insult alleged to have been giye Q to a Russian officer, was transported to Siberia, from whence, his term of exile having expired, he is returning to Irelaud. A statue of him adorns the Wel-lesley-bridge, Limerick."

Mr William Wilson, one of the members of the Eastern Province in the Legislative Council, Victoria, was named by the President for unruly conduct. The ;Council had disagreed with tbe Lower House on the Railways Bill, which it was proposed to refer to a committee, of 'vhich Sir Charles Sladen and Sir Samuel Wilson were to be members whereupon Mr Wilson got up, and having protested against the House being governed by such secret conferences, remarked that Had there been anotber " Sir" in the House, he would, no doubt, have been included in the committee, no matter how he got his knighthood, or how great a cad he might be. He was taken into custody by the Usher, and was only released upon making an ample apology.

The Bishop of Melbourne writes a long letter to the Melbourne papers, defending theatrical amusements. He say3 : "It is sometimes asked, for instance, whether St. Paul would hare shown himself at a theatre. No, certainly not at heathen theatres, where the performances were usually connected with heathen worship. But if the question be whether he would hare attended a wellcorducted theatre in a Christian laud, to witness a high-toned performance, then it might as well be asked whether St. Paul would have attended a cricket match, a chess tournament, or a spelling bee. In his circumstances, it is very unlikely that he would; but it is equally certain that he would have called none of them unlawful. Amusement is necessary for young people, and it would be equally unreasonable to forbid our boys to play at cricket, and to require grave divines either to join their sport or condemn it." The Bishop concludes by saying that he desires "to do something to make the drama what it should be— the handmaid of religion and morality." Last year in France, out of 300,000 young men drafted for the army, there were but from 500 to 600 who did not respond. In Germany, during the same year, out of 400,000 drafted, 40,000 neglected to respond, " Did you do anything to resuscitate the body ?" was recently asked a w'tness at a coroner's inquest. "Yes, Sir; we searched the pockets," was the reply.