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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 204, 7 October 1878, Page 2

Our Greymouth morniug contemporary of a recent date says.* — "A novel and at the same time interesting case will come before the law Courts shortly. It is a prosecution on two charges, one for illegally marrying a deceased wife's sister, and the other for misrepresenting facts aud inducing tbe Registrar of Marriages to marry the couple in question. We believe that for the first of these offences this will be the first instance where the law has been set in motion, and how the police will manage to sheet home an indictable offence in it remains to be proved. The fucts are very simple aud unquestionable. The bridegroom is well known in Hokitika, aud unsuccessfully endeavored to be married there, but as the relationship of his late wife was known he could not get the knot tied there, lv Kumara, however, by, as is alleged, a misrepresentation of facts, he was married by the Registrar, and the police have received instructions to prosecute for the dual offence of marryiug witbiu a prohibited degree of kinship, and for deceiving the officer in question. At present we withhold numes, but know that the matter is under investigation, and that a prosecution will perti>inly follow present inquiries."

. Hacking is to be revived fi.i _ faan'biiable rjeld-s^b'r'j for iadves in England. The Russians estimate their total war expenditure sit 08.000,000 roubles. The Bank of France is about to change ita issue of notes, on account of forgeries. The French Government is about to allow the return of a number of political refugees. Califonilau salmon have been abundantly piantcd in western j-ivev*-* nud have muUi plied largely-. , Ji^obo the Hlo^f* of llie-ciirreni year, it is •expected liujifc telephones' will be used iv 220 telegraph ounces, in Germany. There are 472 theatres.; music haHs.,concert rooms: '* liaruionif* meetiiiSs;" jie.j iii L'oiidon, amusing nightly 302.0ut) people. The London IV or Id says there is a rumour that the Princess of Wales's youngest sister Tiiyra is to marry the Prince Imperial. " Peter Parley's" old house at Sothbury, Conn , has been turned iuto a summer inn ; his grave is in a small burial-ground near by, marked by a small tablet. The 14th October is appointed for the representatives of the Good Templars of the colonies to meet in Sydney, to form a Worthy Grand Lodge for Australia. A screen in the Japanese court at the Paris Exhibition is valued at £2,000. It is composed of leaves stnd fWerS of nlother-of - peat!, porcelain, gold; aiid siiver. The Duke of Argyll owns 175,114 acres of lair], and has an income of about £51,000. The most valuable of the estates are Roseneath aud the lands of Kin tyre. The revision of the Bible" will be finished in three years. The enterprise has been undertaken by seventy-five of the best scholars of Great Britain and America. Within a few short weeks a vast mass of human beings, equal to ten times the population of New Zealand, has been swept away in Chiua by actual starvation. The latest thing in microscopes is the " polymieroscope," which is arranged en a principle "similar to that of the revolving stereoscope, and pei mits sixty preparations to be seen at once. Nature says that Mr Stanley's book, "The Dark Continent," reads more like a prose epic thau a story of stem facts. There is no narrative of travel with which it cau be compared. Yesterday (says the Wanganui Chronicle) as Mr 11. I. Davis was ploughing some land at the back of the Wesleyan Church, Carlyle, he sprung just beneath the surface, what. is believed to have been an old Maori ammunition plaut. Therb were several percussion Cap pouches, powder boxes, sword belts, I straps, aud a quantity of bullets, together '> with tbe remains of what appeared to be ] cartridges. The belts were marked 43rd ' Regiment, so the plant must hare been laid during the first Taranaki war. There appeared to be a tolerable deep pit, but Mr Davis did not trouble to bottom it, or he niiirht have found other relics of the past. The Canterbury Preis of the 20th says :— A case of gross cruelty was disposed of yesterday in the Resident Magistrate Court A number of sheep were secured in a yard with scarcely any food, and some of the wretched creatures slowly starved to death, oue truss of hay for nearly a hundred sheep being all that was given to them in fourteen days. It is to be feared that this is not au isolated case, and butchers will do well to be careful when they yard or peu up cattle to see that they are adequately supplied with food aud water. His Worship characterised the act of defendant as a gross piece of cruelty. The accused was fined 4' 1 s and costs. Hanlon, a Canadian rowing wonder, is named as the rival to Trickett. A letter from Toronto to a gentleman in Sydney, after recounting Ilanlou's exploits, says: — " Up to this dale of writing, tbe race has not come off between lianlou and Ross, at St. John's, New Brunswick, owing to the rough weather, but he afterwards beat easily. The boy (Hanlon) has taken everything" before him this year; he first beat Plaisted easily ia Toronto; then beat Morris, Pittsburgh, easily, and then won the championship of America; then he beat all comers at Bookrille regatta, — Plaisted second; then he beat all-comers at the 4th of July regatta at Cape Vincent, where Plaisted again came in for second place. The much-wisbed-for trial between Hanlon and Courteney, in consequence of the wonderful success of the former, has been declared off, and now, as there is no one left to eomp'ete with him, send on Trickett." During the debate on the Electoral Bill, Mr Sutton said that he had looked up tbe returns of five important and hotly-contested elections, which took place during the recess, and found that less than half the total number of votes on the roll had been polled. He also said that in bis own district there was a mau whose name appeared ou the same roll for tbe House of Representatives no less than three times. Mr Woolcock mentioned the fact. that two Cornishmen had been struck off the roll-on the ground that they were unnaturalised foreigners. The revising officer had judged by their name "Molitto," that they could not be Britons, and, without futher inquiry, had drawn his pen through their names. Every steamer from the South (says the Westport Times) brings away old residents from Hokitika or Greymouth, seeking uew fields for enterprise. On board the Charles Edward on her last trip northwards was Mr Thomas Ecclesfield, one of the pioneer storekeepers at Hokitika. He is taking his family to Hawera, a rising place in the North Island, where he intends to settle down in business. Creditors have discovered a new way of '* taking possession " in Westport, and debtors have invented a novel method of resisting the same: — A live'y little passage of arms occurred in that place on Wednesday at Stewart's brewery. An attempt was made to take possession by a creditor who ostensibly has a legal right of occupation, but tbis attempt was resisted, and locks, bolts, aud bars obstructed tbe invaders. Axes were brought into application, and a breach made, but the lively application of the contents of a paint pot, followed by a shower of stones, from the beleagued force, beat off the assailants. One day last week a fearful accident happened at Tuapeka, Otago, to a man named Thomas George, a stock rider of Lower Waipori, whilst driving a bullock from Upper AVaipori Flat. It appears he had been driving a number of cattle, and " cut out" the bullock, which after going a short distance, turned upon bim and gored the horse iv tbe fleshy part of the thigh, inflicting a fearful gash, causing the * horse to fall. George in attempting to getaway, was rushed at by the bullock, aud tossed into the air several times, leaviug scarceiy a shred of his clothing upon him. Ou calling for help, assistance was soon rendered; and on examining the unfortunate fellow, it waa discovered that he had sustained several injuries of a very severe nature, from which he is not expected to recover. A Tauranga telegram dated 3rd instant says .-—The monotony of the place has been disturbed this day by a melodramatic performance. The well known native assessor, Mita Hikairo appeared before the Registrar, Mr Clarke, for the purpose of obtaining a marriage license. The lady he desired to marry was Mary Anu Rogers, tbe daughter of an old settler. The affair did not eventuate, as, iv consequence of representations made to the Registrar by members of the would-be bridegroom's tribe that there were grave objections to the celebration of the marriage, the Registrar wisely refused to issue a certificate. Much interest is created in relation to the circumstances of the case, which warranted the Registrar in refusing tbe certificate.

lii the Legislative OotaUcii the Hon. Captain Fiaser designated the recent conference of local governing bodies, "a lot of miserable delegates. A new process for treating wives has been Invented by a resident of Ilealdsbnrgh, 1) N. Phelps, By it last year's wive may be made to reneuiblc iviue eight years old. The tyranny of" the Judges (says the UiwnicU) is ahotit to be put in the Hie shade by tile. Unmiilant despotism of the Colonial 'I'l-fcastirfei*, wild Ufa apparently formed the fiendish design 6f de'-pr/t/fig Viit city belles of the pleastfre. of lii'i-ipin'g rfbout h hi>**liheeled.bbbt?. In the disci'ission on the iirst schedule of. the Customs tariff Bill last ; night tlie •CiJloiiiaJ TreWsi-'rer/v^i'th' relentless i determination, and utterly objlrions oi the ladies in the gallery, persisted in inserting ; " without military heels" after "ladies' from No. 0 to No. 6 boots " and "• slippers others thau childrens," arid he rudely brushed aside the very reasonable suggestion of Mr Barff that an interpretation clause should be inserted in t.he Act to define the height, length, and breadth of the " military heels " aforesaid. Thus It will come to pass tbat the ladies will hate to walk about in lowheeied boots and slippers, unless tbey are willing to tamely submit to pay an extortionate contribution to the revenue. An Auckland telegram says :— A meeting of Mietmeti passed the followiug resolution : — That this meeting views with alarm the intention of the Govefnm'ent tobn'Dg in a new Fisheries Bill this session ; that the monopoly clause is, in our humble opinion, contrary to the avowed policy of the Government and injurious to the working classes ; that we hoped and expected that Government would give every facility in their power to encourage honest labour, so as to promote the welfare and happiness of the whole of the inhabitants of New Zealaud, irrespective of wealth, position, or colour. The Poverty Bay Hiruli of Monday says : —•In our issue of Friday last we published a telegram from Auckland, statiug that H.M.S. Nymphe bad arrived from Hicks Bay bringing news that the natives at Waiapu were preparing for an inter-tribal fij;ht. It ! seems that the hostile tribes bad formed pahs, and coustructed redoubts with the intention of having a good fight among tbem- J selves. On Saturday last a messenger arrived in Gisborne from Waiapu, ahd he ' states that the fight has begun and that shots have been fired, but that up to the time be left, no one bad been killed. Tbe row is over a land dispute, and one of the geutlemeu interested is Wiremu Keiha, a personage who delights in what the Irishman would term " a little bit of mild divarshun." Mr Keiha is like tbe gentleman at Donnybrook, who exclaimed '• Pour o'clock and not a blow shtruck yet." Wiremu has been longing for a row aud at least his fondest hopes have been realised. We understand thafc the Native Minister bas been connnuuicated with, and he has sent telegrams to the leading chiefs of the Ngatiporous, asking them to settle their disputes by civil means instead of resorting to violeuce. The Pest of Wednesday publishes the following extract of a letter dated Sept. 2G received from Dr Hector from Christchurch: —I am kept bare by the weather, having had for the last two days the fiercest gale (N.W.) that I have ever experienced. The wind had full hurricane force, and blew away light buiidiugs like chip boxes. It lifted the English ("hurch, on tbe other side of the river, for five feet bodily, aud knocked another down flat. The hotel lam staying at is fortunately of brick, but two houses that were on the other side of the road are now in the form of a long train of boards and sheet iron across the plaiu. The iron was whirling about iv the air like paper scraps, so that no one darod go outside. It is now pouring with rain, and as the rivers are up I am likely to have a lively time of it going to Hokitika." The following telegram is dated Oamaru 2nd inst :— " Mr James Mitchell, a surveyor, who for time time past has been engaged in surveying Lake Terania, was drowned yesterday in one of the overflows of the Upper Waitaki River.* He was ridiug down to North Waitaki railway statiou, accompanied by another gentleman, who was driving a buggy. Iv going through one of the overflows the latter geutlemau became alarmed, and Mitchell then took the buggy, giving his horse to his companiou ; but the buggy soon afterwards overturned. Mr Mitchell was unable to swim, and was drowned. The other gentleman was washed off his horse, but being a good swimmer was enabled to reach laad." The Christchurch Press speaks highly of the new American engines, introduced for railway purposes. They are to be used for express, trains, and are considered infinitely superior to the English locomotives for the light descriptions of railways in this country. The two in use are wonderfully equable in their rates of speed, arjd may be depended upon almost to a second. With the exception of the first return trip from Duuedin to Christchurch, they have not varied a minute from the time of arrival, and in a journey of nearly 250 miles this is a great deal to say.