A BARRISTER'S DODGE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 254, 2 November 1878, Page 5

A BARRISTER'S DODGE.

We remember an audacious trick in winch a liying ex-judge,' then Sergeant 8., once obtained a verdict for £1000 on no evidence or materials at all. He infortuad the jury that the case was a short undefended one, an action on a bond for £1000 given by Messrs O.ubifct, the great builder, for the completion ot some houses within a certain time ; aud that, t^ere being some mistake in the specification, the houses had never been commenced, and the bond was therefore forfeited. The learned counsel then called for his witness to prove the execution of the bond, but again addressing the jury, said that the bond (holding up a paper) carried interest at £5 per cent., which they would not press for, though it amounted to £250, but would go simply for the £1000 This unexpected speech surprised the yery excitable Sergeant C, who defended, and who immediately started up any said that " he feared they could not contest the bond ; it was a mere question of interest, and as that had been given up they would take a verdict by consent for the £1000 without any proof of the bond." This was done; the two sergeants met in the robingroom. " Brother," said Sergeant C., " you sold your client nicely !" •" How so ?" quoth Sergeant B ; "I'm not accustomed to sell my clients, though I sometimes sell counsel on the opposite side."' " But why didn't you go in for the £250 interest ? You must have got it, if you had read your bond." " We did not want to readmit. " Why!" " Because we've lost it." " Why, what was the paper you had in your hand ?" " Only a blank sheet of foolscap, brother !" The verdict had been taken by consent, and could not be disturbed.— Leisure Hour for August.

The French press reporters are ah omnivorous class, who will take almost anything tbat is given to them, even if they do not burst their coat-sleeves reaching for things, as is the case with their fraternity ia this— but never mind about tbat now. Paris correspondents say that whenever the Grand Jury starts to inspect any given department the Press Gang, to the number of a couple of hundred, promptly join ia and Bam pie everything with the moat appalling thoroughness. For illustration, when the California wine exhibit was reached the jury found the reporterss had got a little ahead of them, and every drop of the native (alleged) champagne had been quietly put away. They testified as to its merits, however. They even got away with a whole hogshead of Nantucket codfith, and the Commission found them blandly picking their teeth with the bones, and watting for the cmued Saddle Bock oysters to be opened. This ao exasperated Governor M'Cormick, the American Commiasioner-in -Chief, that he called a council of war, in which a most horrible job was put upon the unsuspecting scribes. A gross of Seidlitz powders was quietly procured from the Drug Department, and about fifty pitchers were filled with, water in which the white papers had been mixed. The attendants then supplied the cohort with glasses and filled the same, the Governor announcing that he deurad their best attention to a celebrated American mineral water. Ha proposed a toast, as is the eugtorn, arid the glasses were solemnly drained. He then asked them to sample another and equally famous American spa; and the glasses were refilled with the blue papers, mingled this time with the beverages. When all ..was .vready, M'Cormick gave " the French Press." The army of reporters solemnly bowed and empt*ed their goblets. As they did so, 200 smothered shrieks were heard, and 200 hanun fountains began to gush over the spectators. When the last reporter ceased bubbling over, the entire Commission was being escorted out of the building in the midst of a hollow square formed by the marines. Not a solitary prize will be awarded to this country if the French newspaper men can help it.— American Paper.

Oatmeal and water, the Toronto Globe says, is coining into general use on Canada farms as a grateful and strengthening beverage for both men and horses. The Paris correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writing of the Exhibition says,:— A banquet of a monster, and monstrous character was held in a skating rink, near the Bois'de Boulogne; the subscribers consisted of the employes of the exhibition, that is, the persons in charge of stalls, machinery, &c. When the hundreds sat down to dinner no dinner was forthcoming, and hence set in a terrible devil's tattoo with 'knives and forks. It leaked out that the waiters had' struck, because one of their order had received an ignominious kicking from a steward; next it seems the stewards disagreed, and the workmen of all nations that met together in the interests of peace, amity, and other nice words, fell to pulling each other about, shying the plates and glasses at each others' head 3, and tearing flags to pieces. Three Chinese workmen, believing they were in California, or that a revolution had broken out in honour of the exhibition, got on the tables and ran for their lives, becoming a common butt for plates, loaves of bread, &c. Many think they are still on their way to Pekin. The Agriculturists of South Australia, who suffer from the ravages of rabbits, find the most effectual means to destroy them is the use of bisulphide of carbon. This powerful chemical suffocates the little depredators in their holes. The means of using it are simple. Pices of stick, two feet long, with a piece of rag wrapped around one end, are dipped into the bisulphide and are then placed in the holes, which are immediately after filled up. In case there is underground communication between the different holes, the rabbits all make for the last open aperture; but of course their fate is sealed as soon as the hole is fumigated and closed, as* none of them dare to leave the warren while men are walking about it, and if they did dogs are usually found ready. More profitable, if not quite so effectual, is the plan adopted by a farmer in the State of Idaho, North America. He has three miles of brush fence, along which are his trapa at points made convenient for the pest to jump over; and when one alights, it strikes on a board which turns on a pivot, and down it goes, & doomed rabbit, into the trap. The trap resets itself for the next victim. There are seven men employed to do nothing else bufc run the traps, build new ones, &c. The number now caught averages 400 per day, or about a 10001 bof meat, which goes to fatten two or three hundred hogs. According to the local journal, the hogs thrive on the meat, the 6ating of which ha 3no injurious effects on them, notwithstanding it was asserted that the fur of the rabbits would clog their stomachs, producing inflammation and death. A bonus of two cents per pair is paid for rabbits' ears in this State, so the farmer reaps a profit. Have our friends in South Australia tried feeding hogs with rabbits?— « Sydney Mail,