THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 236, 16 October 1879, Page 2

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

To the Editor of thk "Evening Mail." Sir— Considering that Mr Joshua Bird has taken uo notice of what has been said in reference to ins appointmeut as Crown Lands Commissioner, I thiuk he is the last person that should have taken upon himself to caution the electors in Mr Shephard's behalf, as his action in the matter is so palpably, and plainly only another " brick" iu "the House that Jack built." Hoping such conduct will call forth the resentment it deserves. — I am, &c, A Waimea Elector.

To the Editor of the " Evening Mail." Sir,— Allow me space to say a few words to the electors of the Waimeas. I was in-fo-ined yesterday by one of those gentlemen who are giving their time to the public in carrying round a petition that they are frequently asked to wait a few dajs, to see if Mr Shcphard has any solid reason for betraying his constituency. I ask what excuse cau he make ? I know some of his friends are foolish enough, still, to think that if the Grey-Macandrew party get into power again he would be one of the Cabinet, but, if they were to give him a seat after what has passed, every time he rose to speak in the House he would be met with a storm of hisses and groans. I say it is not probable he would get a seat as the House would not be insulted in such a manner. The only means we have of keeping our representatives up to their promises is by petitioning them to resign if they break them, therefore it is the duty of every one of Mr Shephard's constituents to sign that petition without delay. —I am, &c, One who signed it.

To the Editor or the " Evexi.vo Mail." Sir— l have no special fault to find with the memorial in last night's Mail signed by a portion of the jury except that it is entirely beside the point a3 regards my letter. It was agreed that the clause objected to should be omitted from the form of verdict on which I took the sense of the jury with the result stated. To end — at least as far as lam concerned— this unseemly squabble, I must ask your permission to publish the verdict insisted on by Mr Ilacket, reluctantly entered on the inquisition by me, and then read and approved of as the verdict by Mr Hacket an the audience of all the jury. "The said John Heifer did then and there die of fatty degeneration of the heart accelerated by a b'aw given by one of the lunatic patients whilst the deceased, John Ileffer, was in the discharge of his duty." After reading the above can any one be surprised that thefe was a desire to alter the language ?— I am, &c, J Mack ay\

To tiik Editor of the "Evening Mail." Sir— ln your number of Tuesday evening are two letters, from Dr Boor and from Mr J. Mackay, each denying their intention to alter the sense of the verdict arrived at and insisted on by the jury at the late inquest. Tins assertion is, to say the least, an astonishing one, and is denied by six of the jurymen in a letter in your yesterday's issue. To clear up the matter and to let the puDlic be able to judge I call on Mr Mackay to publish the proposed verdict dictated by l)r Boor, which he still has in writing i'u his possession, and I think it will be found that it is entirely contradictory to our verdict especially in its last sentence. It was to this that we particularly objected, and not to the necessary preliminary insertion of " time and place." Mr J. Mackay in his letter says : " I took the sense of the jury individually and found eleven out of the thirteen jurymen quite willing that the verdict should be entered up, &c." He does not, however, state that tins plebiecitum was attempted' only at the c'ovcnth hour, say, some jfive minutes before the final signature, and long after the adjournment, and only in respect to the substitution of the words "fatty degeneration of the heart " in place of disease of the heart," which, with the addition of the name of the deceased for a second time in oue sentence, was the only eventual alteration in our verdict. Mr J. Mackay asserts that the deadlock was caused by the stubbornness of Mr ilacket and another. This I emphatically deny, and aasert that the jury was perfectly unanimous until the last few minutes of the two hours wasted in the attempt to coerce u? ; and when our verdict was virtually adopted (the exceptions bejng the two verbal alterations above stated.) As regards myself and my UK) inquests (held in Queensland, which Mr Mackay has mistaken for X.S.W.) I can only say that I ottered to {ill m the printed form of verdict, on the acting coroner's expressing his inalilify to do so ; and I must s:iy that I think it would have been more decorous for this form to hnvc been ulled in by the foreman of the jury than to have been dictated by the medical witness, even although "known intimately for many years" As regards the " combined intelligence of the jury," I cau only say that it was evidently equal to the occasion, and successfully resisted the intended coercion. Mr Mackay quotes portions of Dr Marks' evidence, presumably in favor of Dr Honr's verdict, but docs not ouote Dr. Marks; reply 10 tne ..question or one of the jurymen to the effect whether in all probability the deceased would have been slill aiive if lie had not received the kick. Mr J. Mac.kav also auntcs from J".l"« ''-'■„-;„_>.' j " New Zculaud Justice of the Peace" ; but I ; would suggest that he should have studied tins won; t -.jure, instead oi a/tar the case, and there would then have been no necessity for him to have repeatedly expressed and shown bis ignorance ou a subject which it is his duty to understand. I presume, however, that he will do so, and endeavor to make himself competeut for his duties as a Justice. Yours, &c, T. li. llacket. [This storm in a tea pot must now bo concidered to have blown itself out. — Ed. N.EM.] Previous to the division on the 3rd inst , Mr Sheehan, the late Native Minister, said': — " If we are beaten, hon. members of the Opposition will be left to select members from their own side. Coalition, I say, is not only impossible, but unfair and dishonest' and not a single man on these benches will

listen to any proposal to join in the formation of a coalition Ministry. Of course, I may be told they do not want rae. I may be so. X will bide my time. I am perfectly certain they will not bave Sir George Grey He will bide his time also, and, to my mind, a very short time indeed. There are on this side of the House men whom the Opposition would like to have ; and not one of them will join the new Government. We are determined that, if we are beaten on this occasion, we will stand with oar party. If we are beaten, we will take defeat iu a proper parliamentary sense. The New Zealand Law Society has taken proceedings against a local tradesman because, they allege, he, not being a lawyer, drew out a bill of sale over some property, worth very little— at any rate, not nearly sufficient to make it worth while to go to a lawyer about -and the case comes off on Thursday. Without saying anything about the merits of the case, which will of course, be brought when the action is tried, we feel, bound to express an opinion, that the action, if successful williuflict great hardshipon those whose dealings do not run into high figures for every item, and whose requirements yet compel them to trade with those who cannot always pay ready cash. The case should prove an interesting one.— New Zealander. . I , b^ S y dne y correspondent of the Auckland Herald, writing with reference to the Exhibition, says :— lt appears that whateve may be the comparative degree of immunity from death enjoyed by the inhabitants of your favored islands, accidents involving loss ot limb are not unknown among you • at least such is the inference to be drawn from an exhibit prominently exposed-an artificial leg with moveable joints, constructed by Mr J. A. Packer, of Nelson. So far as my information extends, no visitor to the court has, up to the present time, expressed any rapturous enthusiasm at the sight of this appliance, nor has felt an irresistible impulse to qualify for wearing it. There is a rumour that a wooden-legged man was detected trying to pick the lock of the glass case which encloses this work of art, but I suspect the veracity of my informant. I have not been in the habit" of wearing artificial legs myself, my circumstances being too narrow to permit of indulgence in luxuries, and must consequently confess that I am no judge of the article. The only fault I can find with it is a lack of originality. It is a faithful— nay, a servile-imitation of common legs. There is no freshness of conception in tne position or adjustments of the joints. I have compared it carefully with my own leg, and can discern no particular difference in contour or adjustments, and would have thought more highly of Mr 1 acker s ingenuity had he introduced a few novelties— say an extra joint in the shin-bone, or something of that sort. Still, I am not blind to its advantages, and can quite see its superiority for wearing where snakes are plentiful or savage dogs are about ; and I should fancy that a one-legged man could make quite a hit by wearing one of Mr Packer's articles on the stage, and having it smashed up nightly by railway trains, or circular saws, and so forth, in the sensational drama. A farmer living on the Murray Flats (states the South Ausralian Advertiser) writes in the following sanguine tone to a friend in Adelaide:—" I have been offered £1000 for a pebble I have picked up. I offered it for .£IO,OOO, but I think I shall make more than double that amount. The stone has been valued at £100,000 It is a diamond of the first water, and the largest ever found in the bouthern Hemisphere."

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