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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 101, 28 April 1880, Page 2

The Kumara Times of the 20th inst. says : — We understand that a young lady at Dillman's Town has been attacked this afternoon with all the symptoms appertaining to diphtheria. Births on a railway train are of sufficiently rare occurrence to justify their mention when they do take place. On Saturday (says the Southland News) the morning train from Mataura to Invercargill had the number of passengers unexpectedly increased by what the papers call an " interesting event." A doctor was "on board," and was of course only too happy to render his services on the occasion. Mother and child, it may be added, are both doiDg well." The Opunake correspondent of the N.Z. Times writes :— The married unemployed, whose ranks have been reduced hy thirteen of them having left seek employment elsewhere, are still doing next to useless work, I imagine, to keep them out of mischief, until such time as some person in authority can make it convenient to come and point out useful work for them to do. Amongst those who have left was a man wbo was declared to be notorious Sullivan, the Maungatapu murderer, and such was the feeling amongst his fellow-workmen that they refused to go out to work with him, and he was shunned and avoided by all, both unemployed and A.C.'s. He is said to have always slept with a Jarge knife under his pillow. Your correspondent did not see the man, or he would have known whether the impression was correct or not, as he had seen Sullivan both in Dunedin and Nelson. The following are the particulars in connection with the indignity offered to Mr Rees, at Gisborne, mentioned ih our yesterday's telegrams :— " The Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday (April 21) again presented an undignified scene. The case against A. P. Hardy, for perjury, was proceeding, and during the examination of one witness for the prosecution, Mr Matthew Price, one of the presiding Magistrates, expressed hiß astonishment at tbe witness recollecting what had transpired about three months ago. Witness objected to discredit being thrown upon his testimony. Mr Price replied that witness' recollection was better than a shorthand reporters' notes. Mr Rees, solicitor for the prosecution, remonstrated with the Bench, and stated that such scenes tended to bring the administration of justice into contempt, and made it difficult to conduct cases in a proper w-ty. Mr Price forthwith committed Mr Rees for contempt of Court, and ordered the bailiff to take him in charge, which the bailiff did. By this time the Court was thronged with spectators. Mr Rees refused to withdraw the expressions complained of, and after a little time, when things became cooler, the Bench fined him £1, and then adjourned the Court. Mr Rees declined to pay the fine. The Court again assembled, and a number of persons were ahout to pay the fine, but Mr Rees would not consent, preferring to take the alternative of a fortnight's imprisonment. Mr Rees declined to go on with the case, and his clients being unable to conduct their own case, and refusing to employ other counsel, another adjournment for two hours took place. Through the influence of some friends of both parties, Mr Rees consented to the payment of the fine, and appeared in Court for his clients in the afternoon. A Pittsburgh minister has a very stubborn little five-year old boy. The boy's mother determined to conquer him, and having administered a severe chastisement, ohe said :' " Will you mind me now, Johnny ? " With sobs and cries he replied : "Yes, mamma, I Willi hut I bate to awf ully,"

A good story is told in Hokitika (says the Star) about the diptheria. A family father, who ia living in a two-story house, and is an early riser, last Sunday called the balance of his household, who slept in tho second story. But they preferred an extra snooze on the Sunday morning, and three or four calls could not move them. All ac once the father remembered the brimstone he bought the day before for the diptheria. He commenced to burn that on the staircase, and it was not long before he heard them coughing. This exertiou got more violent every-.minute, and presently the whole family appeared on the ground -floor—mother, daughter, and boys, with clothes in their arms, dressing themselves on the ground floor. This goes to prove that sulphur is not only good for diptheria, but also for early rising. The N.Z. Times says: — A capture which which reflects credit on Sergeant Anderson aud Constable Laurie was effected yesterday forenoon; Early iv the morning, a woman named Smith complained to the former that ber husband, James Horace Smith, had neglected to provide for her and her family of six children, all of whom, she said, were under nine years of age. She added that she believed her husband was about to leave the place. On the advico of Sergeant Anderson she took out a Warrant. Contable Laurie having received a description of the man, said he believed he had gone aboard the brigantine Annie, which had left for Hobart Town early that morning. A telegram waa despatched to the pilot 7 station to ascertain whether the vessel was still within reach, and the reply being to the effect that she had not cleared the Heads, a boat with Constable Laurie on board was sent in pursuit. On gaining a view of the the entrance to the harbor it was found that the Annie was just making her last board. All speed was put on, and Constable Laurie had the satisfaction of reaching her just before she rounded Barrett's Reef, from which she would have stood away with a fresh and favorable breeze. Smith was soon found, and brought ashore, no doubt rather surprised at being overtaken when he thought he was safe. The following extract from a recent issue of the Taranaki Herald will be of interest to j business men, as furnishing another judical interpretation of an important portion of the Bankruptcy Act:— "An application was made this morning by Mr Govett at the Distnct Court, for the final discharge of John Drisscoll, a debtor. The trustee's report was unfavorable to the bankrupt, but his Honor held that a trustee could not oppose a debtor in obtaining his order of discharge, it heing the duty of the creditors to do so. Ifc was stated to the Court that in this case a meeting of creditors had been convened for the purpose of considering the debtor's application for discharge, but none of the creditors attended the meeting. His Honor said he noticed in tho report of the meeting of creditprs, the trustee was instructed to oppose the discharge of the debtor, but the Act didjnofc contemplate such a mode of procedure, as the trustee waa as much the trustee of the debtor as he was of tbe creditors. His Honor granted the order of discharge, with costs." The Otago Daily Times says : — What might form a farcical commentary upon the mode of criminal procedure has' occurred in connection with a case tried at the Supreme Court here lately. The case, was from Oamaru, the accused being charged with the theft of a watch from a woman with whom he had been living. Tho whole maohinery of the law having been set in motion — first the committal from the local Court, then the Grand Jury's solemn investigation, and finally a four or five hours trial before His Honor the Judge — the common jury took the view that the affair had arisen out' of a jealous quarrel. They found the accused " not guilty," but with misplaced generosity, as it turned out, advised that the watch be handed tack to the prosecutrix. A legal argument even took place as to whether this could be done. Eventually it was done, but will it be believed thafc witbiu a few moments the woman not only returned the watch to her paramour, but more positively handed him in addition something more thau a £10 note to recoup him the expenses he had heen put to in connection with the trial. This is how the Liberals in the old country work the oracle. As a set-off to 160 faggot voters created by the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Roseberry has, as if by a sudden touch of enchantment, thrown up 160 cottages near Edinburgh, on the Tyne side, to house 160 working men and add 160 to the Liberal constituency. The work was pushed on in a few weeks in a most picturesque and energetic manner, four contractors taking each forty tenements, and a force of 500 masons, bricklayers laborers, and so forth, relieving each other in relays night and day. Mr Allwright in addressing his constituents at Lyttelton the other day, made the following remarks .- — ■*■ He might say of the great Liberal party that he thought next session would find it thoroughly disorganised, without a leader (or at least with five or six leaders), but without any man at its head who would carry the party through. If they got into power, his opinion was they could not command the confidence of the House for twenty-four hours. Tbedifficulty was,they all wanted to be Ministers, and they might agree were there about forty-five portfolios,, to be filled, as then they could command a majority. Ab to the course he proposed to take, it would depend upon the Hall Government's sincerity in endeavoring to carry out liberal measures, and if they conscientiously worked to carry measures for tbe benefit of the colony, they should have his support, not without. He meant that he would pledge himself to them only so far as they endeavored to advance thewelfare of the colony. (Cheers). It had, he said, beeu argued tbat an independent member could do no good, but he was not convinced of the truth of that proposition. The Liberal party had behaved like a lot of cats and dogs, and under such an existing state of affairs as that it was impossible good could come of it. So far as the Hall Government were concerned, they had gone ahout the business of the country with an evident determination to do their duty, and bring about an era of prosperity in the colony. So far he was satisfied with the measures they had brought down. The finances of the colony, it was true they had depicted as in a most gloomy state, and ifc was no doubt too true that they were. But the Government had faced the difficulties like men with the welfare of the country at heart. His audience, he said, was well aware that about half I the last loan of £5,000,000 had been virtually pledged before the present Government came 1 in— bef ore indeed the loan itself was floated. This was surely a most alarming state of financial management. He believed, however, that, for the most part, the men now in power were thoroughly honest, and would get the colony out of the difficulty if possible. As to the Native Policy of Mr Bryce, the present Native Minister, he was delighted with it, and with the firm action of the Minister. Before Mr Bryce obtained bis portfolio he, the speaker, had met him, and been much pleased with his abilities. He { regarded him as one of the most worthy men of the House, and when Mr Bryce said that if he could not by next session show that he had reduced the enormous expenses of the Native Department he would lay down his portfolio, he, the speaker, was sure he meant every word of ifc. He trusted most earnestly that Mr Bryce would succeed, for he felt sure he was the right man in the right place." (Cheers). Mr Boehm's Btatue of the late Prince Louis Napoleon is ready for removal to Westminster Abbey.

The city fathers were much exercised (says the Lyttelton 7Y»ie_.)by an application from aMr Jackson, who informed them that he had started a pack of beagles, and suggested that on account of his enterprise he should be relieved from the payment of the customary registration fee, or of . some portion thereof. The term beagle was by various Councillors rendered as beadle of beetle, until at length it had been clearly determined that beagles were hounds and therefore dogs. A resolution not to remit a farthing of the tax was most heartily carried, and a suggestion was made to add a rider that the Council regretted its inability to double the fee. His Worship supposed that a man he had seen that day with fifteen greyhounds following him would be the next applicant. The Australasian says :— " There is no evidence that Sir George Grey had ever given any thought or attention to the financial position of the country. As his ends were wholly factious ones, and as no political capital of the kind he sought was to be made by grappling with the difficult subject of the finances, Sir George Grey just allowed them to ' slide.' And the result was that they did side a long way. Ever since his retirement from office, when Sir George Grey has spoken on the subject, it has been only to show that he was either utterly indifferent or ignorant with regard to the question. There seems to be an impression with him and his supporters that it is, after all, only a matter of figures, and that, as one Greyite member observed in the budget debate, the Treasurer could have shown a surplus as easily' as a deficit had he wished to do so. It ie easy to see how our demagogic party in these colonies, when called to power, always either breaks down on finance or leaves a legacy of difliculty to those who come after. In financial matters they have to deal with realities which gassy rhetoric cannot at all alter. They have never learned business of this sort ; they fail, and the country calls in abler men. It is fortunate for New Zealand— bad, indeed, as the case is at present — that the country was wise in time, and did not, by giving Sir i George Grey a new lease of power, prepare ! the financial catastrophe which nothing could have averted. 1 ' The various Royal Commissions (remarks the Dunedin Star) are arranging their business with the evident intention of making a good thing last as long as possible. Mr Edward Wakefield, for instance, the Chairman of the Local Industries Committee, has no idea of laying down his dignity when the House meets, but means running another recess on the same ticket. The post office* actually groan under the loads of circulars issued by this gentleman, who seems anxious to collect information hy the ton, regardless, comparatively, of the quality of the article. The Railway .Commission are wandering about the country in a sort of helpless manner, receiving deputations by tho dozen, and being, as a matter of course " cornered " by the local projectors and demagogues. Their short-hand reporter is to be sincerely commiserated if he has to take down half the stuff they bave to listen to. It certainly seems odd to the inexperienced mind that tbree or four gentlemen can form a judgment upon the economies of railway construction and management by rushing through the country in trains and buggies and listening to the rubbish talked by village quid nuncs. At the District Court (reports Tuesday's Oamaru Matl), Mr O'Meagher said he wished to call his Honor's attention to the matter in connection with bankruptcy business affecting the profession as a whole. It appeared that there were some persons in the town, nofc duly qualified legal piactitioners, who were in the habit of preparing documents for bankrupts and receiving fees for so doing. This was unfair to the profession, and we would a9k his Honor, when a bankrupt appeared before him whose papers had not been' prepared by a solicitor, to make inquiries as to who had prepared the papers and what had been paid for them, in order that these persons who were guilty of breaches of the Law Practitioners Act might be detected and punished. His Honor said thaf the detection and punishment of the offenders properly developed upon the Law Society. At the same time he would give every assistance iv the putting down of the practice, and would in future, when a bankrupt came before him with paperß not prepared by a solicitor, put the question to the bankrupt as to who had prepared the papers and what had been paid for preparing them. It was perfectly astonishing what an amount of entanglement of the affairs of bankrupts was occasioned by the preparation of papers by non-professional men. Mr O'Meagher remarked that in many cases all the papers were prepared by non-professional men and paid for uutii it- came to the final affidavit when tbey were floored, and the bankrupt forced to seek the assistance of a solicitor. It was difficult to detect these persons, but with Hia Honor's assistance they might be brought to book. It was intended to write to the Law Society with reference to the matter, and urge the vigorous prosecution of the offenders. In Italy, during the first nine months of 1879, there were 2900 murders and attempts at murder—an average of a little over ten a day— and 1900 cases of highway robbery, or about seven a day.