ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5009, 13 April 1877, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

An important case has been before the Supreme Court of Judicature. It was an action , brought by the plaintiff, a physician and sur- I geon, practising at Knutsford, in Cheshire, against the defendants, Messrs. Sowler and Sons, for a libel published in their newspaper, the Manchester Courier. It appeared that at a meeting of the board of guardians of the Altrincham Union some serious imputations were made on the plaintiff, who was its medical officer, who was charged with gross'neglect of some of the sick inmates. A report, admittedly bona fide, of the discussion appeared in the defendants' newspaper,_ and formed the subject of the alleged libei. The charges against the plaintiff were afterwards investigated, and he was acquitted by a majority of the guardians. At the trial the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for 405., and leave was reserved to the defendants to move to set aside the verdict on the ground that the publication was privileged. The Common Pleas Division held it was not, and directed that the verdict Bhould stand. This decision was now appealed from by the defendants. The Supreme Court of Judicature was of opinion that the judgment of the Court below must be affirmed, as the publication was not privileged, and when such serious charges were made against an individual the guardians should have held their meeting in camera, and the reporter of the nowspaper should have exercised his discretion and not have published an ex parle statement made behind the plaintiff's back. The appeal was accordingly dismissed, with costs. A Bill has been proposed to the American Congress for the equipment of several Arctic expeditions. Two hundred and fifty tubs of "butter," imported from Hamburg, have just been condemned in London because their contents were found to be composed of a mixture of rancid oil, tallow, salt, and peameal. Tokio, the capital of Japan, has been visited by a fire of terrible proportions. An area of the city extending over something like two miles and a half was cleared by the flames, I and upwards of 70 streets, composed of over ' 8000 houses, were destroyed. According to the Russian newspapers, a Mutual Assurance Company has been founded at Berlin for the puspose of insuring the lives of soldiers in the Russian army, in view of a war between Turkey and Russia. It will commence with a capital of £750,000 sterling. Several of the large railway companies are about to adopt a new system of warming their carriages. Pipes passing beneath the floors of the carriages of every class will be connected with the engine, and heated vapor passed into them.

Great activity now prevails in all departments of the temperance cause. Meetings of an important character are being held all over the country. The army doctors are being stirred up with a vengeance, -scores of them being sent off to India and the colonies. A new fort,' making thirteen, is to be added to the fortifications of Strasburg. It will completely command the Rhine from the north. The steamer LofUis has left New York for Constantinople with a cargo of arms and ammunition to the value of 1,750,000 dollars. A Constantinople letter in the Cologne Gazelle states that the employes of the various Turkish Ministries are being taught shorthand, in order to report the debates of the projected ParhaAnewKuKsianDomestic Loan of 100,000,000 or 200,000,000 roubles will probably be soon announced. The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths have given a donation of £IOO in aid of the funds of the Iloyal Albert Orphan Asylum. The mixed committee of Wesleyan ministers and laymen have resolved that the numbers of members of the mixed conference should be '220 ministers and 220 laymen, and that the deliberations of the representative conference should be confined to its members. The Scotch Order of Freemasons are hard pushed just now. There are over £13,000 of arrears to L be met, which is bad enough ; but the brethren are not dwelling together in unity, which is much worse. The Khan of Khiva is preparing to give up the remaining remnant of his territory, to leave his native country, and become a subject of the Czar. His people are said to be glad to get rid of him. The five persons accused of having conspired together to obtain £IO,OOO from the Countess dc Uoueourt by false representations

respecting certain turf transactions, have been, after several remands, committed for trial. The St. Osyth has , been trying the relative merits of English and Australian coal. It appears that of English on'the outward voyage she consumed 33J tons per twenty-four hours, and homeward 34 tons per twenty-four hours. This vessel does her work well. On her return voyage she was fifty-one days out until she ax-rived in the Downs, which time included her detention at Cape de Verde for coaling, her actual steaming time being under fortynine days.