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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4983, 13 March 1877, Page 2

His Honor Mr. Justice Richmond will hold la sitting in bankruptcy at 11 a.m. to-day. The Court sits in banco on Wednesday, the 14th.

• ' Mr. A. S. Allan, Registrar of the Supreme Court, has been appointed Registrar of the ■Vice-Admiralty Court in New Zealand, and Mr. J. 0. Crawford,' Sheriff ,of the Supreme Court, Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court. . . The principal facta in one of our leading articles of yesterday morning were contradicted last night by the customary people, and with the customary virulence and vulgarity. It is needless to say that the facts were as stated by:'us literally accurate, and no amount of mere violent assertion in contradiction will puffice, to s disprove them./ i We understand .that s the promoters of the Wellington Tramways Company have by last Jnail sent final instructions- for steam car engines to Messrs. Merry weather and Sons, engineers, London ; and the first will be out in sufficient time for ballasting purposes. The rails ordered about six months ago are expected in Wellington shortly. It is well enough known then that the tramways must be in full working order-by the end of this year; but when the rails arid ‘ engines are here, the time occupied in laying down the whole line need not be more than three- mouths. The contractor, Mr. Brown, is already making extensive" preparations for the station buildings, ■ Adelaide-road, and doubtless has completed his arrangements for sleepers, metal, &c. i At an inquest, held yesterday afternoon at the Morgue concerning the death of Andrew Illassamburn, George Perdrieu, third officer on board the telegraph steamer Agnes, stated that jleceased was an A.B. on board the Agues"; a Frenchman by birth, and about 26 years of age. Deceased had shipped on board the, Agnes at- Sydney about five months ago. When landing the cable on Sunday in Lyell Bay, there was a heavy surf on, but no wind. Witness and deceased and four others were in a lifepoat, underrunning the cable, when one of the slings broke. The ooat turned broadside on to the sea and capsized. Witness' saw all his men safe excepting deceased, who was not found for a quarter of an . hour ; he was then quite dead. Dr. Lemon tided the effect of galvanism, but without avail. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, ,

; The Resident Magistrate was occupied during the greater part of yesterday in rehearing the case of-Roberts v. the Star Boating Club committee; the claim -being £6O odd, balance of amount due fer tile - performance of certain work for the Star-Club under contract. When the case originally came before' the Court, his Worship, recorded a nonsuit in consequence of there being. au informality in the summons—that is, the plaintiff.-had neglected to summon all the committee men. Yesterday an application was made by Mr. Barton, for the plaintiff, for a rehearing, which the Bench granted, the summons being amended. As the nonsuit was first recorded ion a technical law point, no evidence: was then-taken as to the merits of the <|ispute between "the parties, the defendants Contending i that they were , not : liable to .pay the! amount claimed in addition to what the; plaintiff had already received from them, on; the' ground that plaintiff’s work oh the building-.was inefficient.,,, Oh this point, therefore,, the Court took evidence. A number of. witnesses for the plaintiff (on beljalf of whom Mr. Ollivier appeared) gave evidence, 'and the evidence for the defence had .hot concluded when, the case was adjourned till Monday next. : . ■ / - .

! There was a 'moderate' attendance at the Theatre BoyaMast when the sensational drama “ Old Fidelity” w»s played., To lovers of startling scenes in connection with dramatic representation and to admirers of the horrible and sanguinary, last night’s performance would have been highly satisfactory,-and some of those, present 1 testified ' their appreciation Roundly. The piece was very well performed, and certain mechanical effects necessary to its correct representation’ were exceedingly well managed.- Like many'Other productions of the-kind, about which there is a certain aniount of,absurdity, this piece;has the merit of engaging the attention by the momentary anticipation of seeing some unexpected piece of bloodshed. It was very well received by the audience last 1 night, .The same programme will be repeated this evening. i The Chicago Minstrels drew a good house last night, and went through a heavy programme very creditably. ; We would draw special attention to the fact that the minstrels will positively appear for the last time in Wellington on Wednesday (to-morrow), when Air. Charles" Wallace will take a benefit.

Charles Dunfoy, of Wellington, bottler, yesterday filed a declaration of his inability to meet his engagements with his creditors. The regular meeting of Lodge Waterloo will be held this evening in the hall, Boulcottstreet. It is announced that the autumn exhibition of the Wellington Horticultural Society will be held in the Odd Fellows’ Hall on the 22nd instant. A deputation from the Chamber of Commerce will wait upon the Commissioner of Customs, by appointment, to-morrow at the Government Buildings,: at 12 noon. It is notified in ' bur advertising columns that a meeting of the creditors in the estate of L. Parrant, will be held at the office of the trustee (Mr. S. Carroll, Lambton-quay), on Friday next, at 2.30 p.m. The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times has given Mr. Hutchison rank in a very opposite direction to that which he would be likely to pursue. In a recent letter the correspondent writes of “ The Major.” A cricket match will be played on the Basin Reserve on Thursday next between an eleven chosen from the Public Works Department and a team selected from officers in the various other departments of the Government. We would remind ■ our athletic readers that entries for the handicaps for St. Patrick’s Day sports will close to-morrow evening at eight o’clock at the Commercial Hotel. Tenders will be received for booths, gate, and cards at the same hour. A meeting of the creditors of Charles Spearing, of Sandon, was held yesterday, for the purpose of assenting to a complete deed of arrangement made for the benefit of the creditors. A resolution was passed assenting to the deed, and an application will be made to the Court to-day for a declaration of complete execution.

The customary serenity of the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston South was disturbed on the 2nd inst., when the local gentlemen of the long robe had a stormy passage-at-arms. A question asked one of the witnesses in a sheep-worrying case by Mr. Catamore having been objected to ■by Mr. Fraser, the following dialogue is reported by the local Times as having resulted :—“ Mr. Catamore : What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander—presuming my learned friend to be the goose. Mr. Fraser : Your learned friend, sir, will not take any of your sauce, at any rate. You are only an advocate in this court, sir, the same as myself, so please to remember your position. Mr. Catamore : Of course, your -Worship ; and I am prepared to take your Worship’s judgment for three sheep. The other damage done is not known, and you therefore cannot state it. Mr. Fraser : Really, this is perfectly monstrous for you to dictate to the Bench in this manner ; it is disgraceful to come here and attempt to prostitute justice as you are attempting to do. Mr. Catamore : Keep cool, my friend ; keep cool. Mr. Fraser : Keep cool! lam as cool as a cucumber, sir, to use an ordinary phrase. Mr. Catamore : Well, I am prepared to take your Worship’s judgment for the three Mr, Fraser : Then, sir, you may take with it my judgment upon you, which you have already got.” A little before ,-Mr. Fraser had called Sir. Catamore “impertinent.”

Mr. Travers delivered au address at the Foresters’ Arms Hotel, -Ghuznee-street, last evening. There was a good attendance, the room being-filled, and Mr, J, Martin occupying - the chair. Mr. Travers spoke at •onsiderable length, although he did -not touch upon several of the subjects to which he referred in his address at St. George's Hall. In regard to the position occupied by a candidate for the suffrages of the people, he made a few remarks, and alluded to the “ Intelligent Vagrant,” saying- that a facetious writer in the New Zealand Times had taken it into his head to make him (Mr. Travers) the subject of certain jokes, in which statements wanting in truth had appeared ; and that gentleman clothed his fibs in a thin miserable film easily seen- through. His witticisms (continued Mr. Travers) nobody -cared to object to. They were, sometimes such as; might be read or listened to by refined minds ; whilst they were at times sufficiently vulgar to justify their exclusion from any place but one, Mr. Travers then delivered a little essay .on criticism ■ of public .men, and spoke of the impropriety of the sanctity of private life being, ipyaded except ip . cases where the persons referred to had by their career shown s themselves, to be quite unfit to hold public trust. He requested his hearers and the: public not to be led away by the statements made regarding him, and remarked that if all that was laid to his chargi by certain of Mr. Hutchison’s, snpprters were true, he was not only unworthy the confidence of the electors, but deserved to be hanged. On the motion of Mr. Tringham, seconded by Mr, Smith, a vote of , confidence in Mi. Travers was carried .unanimously. Captain Russell, M.H.R., has written the following letter to the Hawke's Bay Herald, explaining the causes of his ’ departure for England, and' expressing his intention to return in time for next session Sir, —I have been sorry to observe in some, copies of . the Daily Telegraph which have been forwarded to me, paragraphs commenting adversely on my departure from the colony before the close of the last session of the Assembly. : I desire to avail myself of your columns to place before my constituents the actual-facts: I remained in Wellington until the close of the session was deemed so near that Monday was made a sitting day. All possibility of turning out the Ministry was past ; nothing but the completion of what was already commenced remained to be done. The other representatives for Hawke’s Bay agreed -with me that my absence could not be productive of harm, and so l ‘ paired’ on every question of importance with an opponent of the Government, and left for England. Under these circumstances I am justified in saying no single interest of my constituents was jeopardised. It is true that the session still lasted some weeks) but the work might have been concluded, as was expected when I left, in a few days. I regret very much that any section of the constituency should have thought I would have neglected their interests, and I feel I have not done so. Many of you are aware that Mrs. Russell and my family had gone to England before the session, with the hope of benefiting her health. My present visit to England is simply to bring my family back to New Zealand, and I left immediately the chief business of the session was over, in order that I might ensure returning to the colony in time to attend in my place in the next session of Parliament. I feel sure that when I have the opportunity of meeting yon, and explaining more fully than I can by letter the whole circumstances of the case, you will feel that I have done nothing to cause any diminution in that kindly feeling I hope my friends 1 have towards me. Faithfully yours, W. R. Russell. Naval and Military Club, London, January 13,1877.” , The Otago Daily Times of a late date says : —We yesterday examined samples of paper from the Mataura Paper Mills. The paper was of two descriptions, one sort being a coarse wrapping paper, very tough and thick, and of a whitey-brown color ; the other was a little finer in texture, and intended to be used for making paper bags. As first productions we have seen paper of better qualities turned out in these colonies, but the Mataura specimens were not specially intended for exhibition, and inay not be a fair criterion of what the average qualities of the manufacturers’ produce will be. 1 The Minister of Justice in France seems to exercise a despotic power over the Bar of that country in matters with which no interference Would be tolerated in any English community, as may be judged from the following paragraph in the Law Times Although the Paris students may fairly‘claim to be more free and disorderly than those of London or Berlin, it is quite clear that the Paris Bar is under as strict a discipline as that of any city in the world. An edict has gone forth to the effect that moustaches are at once and irrevocably -to disappear from the upper lips of all advocates in the .Palais do Justice. Of late years the dread authorities of the “ Faculty de Droit ” had connived at the wearing of these unprofessional ornaments, and grave professors had

even carried into the lecture-room the forbidden embellishments. But the Minister of Justice has interfered to correct the scandal, and the learned counsel will no longer be permitted to dispense with their razors. The incident has given occasion not only to a great deal of grumbling on the part of these gentlemen, but to some considerable amount of discussion in the public press as to the history of moustaches.