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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 129, 31 May 1878, Page 2

Mr M'Donogh the Government " if o Insurance Ageut had a narrow escape from drowning iu the Clutha lately. He was driving ulong the river-bank road with Mr Robertson, when the horse shied, taking the vehicle and occupants over a thirty-feet bank into the fiver. Both were swept some distance by the strolisr bnt managed to get ashore. Mr M'Donogh wrts unhurt, but Robertson was cut and. bruised. The Canterbury Pres*, referring to the recent contradictory telegrams about Rewi, says : — " It is a singular irony of civilisation in New Zealand that colonists should have to go to an ex-savage for corroboratiim of the statements of their Ministers. It is more astonishing still that instead of giving the desired corroboration, the retired savage should give the statements the lie direct." The Napier JeUgrapk of Thursday last says: — Another land sale was held at Gisborne yesterday, being the late Capt. Reid's suburban sections iu the Gladstone-road and in Childers-street. Several Napier people thought of speculating and. made enquiries aa to what the prices were likely to run, and they learned from a well-known firm of land agents and auctioneers that it was thought the land would average about £40 an acre. At that price they were disposed to speculate, and gave instructions accordingly. The answer they got yesterday, after the sale, vras^" The people have gone mad : the land sold for upwards of £90 an acre." These sections were bought by the late Captain Read about five years ago for £5 an acre. They are about two miles from Gisborne, and are con.pxratively useless except for building purposes, as the soil is sandy. A caße of some importance, as concerning the copyright of telegrams, has (says the Argus) been recently decided in the Supreme Court at Singapore, before the Chief Justice, Sir Thomas Sidgreaves. The plaintiffs were the proprietors of the Stra is Times, and the defendant was the owner of a paper called the Da-li/ Sheet. The former paper had purchased the exclusive right of publishing Reuter's telegrams in Singapore, but had allowed the defendant to use the telegrams \ in his papar after they had appeared in the ; Straits Times, on payment of a trifling subsidy. After a time the defendant gave up paying the subsidy, but continued to publish the telegrams as before, and application was made to the Supreme Court to restrain him from doing so. The case was argued on the 6th March, and on the Bth the Chief Justice gave judgment. He was entirely with the plaiutiffs in the matter. " The defendant," ho said, " is confessedly taking advantage of the plaintiff's enterprise [and "expenditure'to make a profit for himself. This the law will not permit." The injunction prayed for was granted, with costs. The _ Aucklaud Herald says :— Governor Weld, in a speech delivered at Launceston, in Tasmania, on April 20, said that he had Colonel Scratchley's authority for stating that Hobart Town and King George's Sound were the points most valuable to an enemy as strategical positions, aud therefore most likely to be attacked. Those places could be made impregnable, and would entail great effocta and immense expenditure to recover them if once lost. The speaker also mentioned the notable fact that Russian newspapers had lately published the colonial bank returns, and mentioned the billion as a valuable prize. According to May fair, the profits of the London Times have decreased 30 per cent, during the last twelve months. _An Irishman was once asked why he wore his stockings inside out. " Because there is a hole in the other side," he replied.