A CURIOUS LAW-SUIT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5302, 23 March 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CURIOUS LAW-SUIT.

The South Canterbury Times says :—A very grotesquely curious law-suit .was lately set down for hearing in the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Rangiora, which must certainly have given ample food for gossip in that locality and its neighborhood. The plaintiff was a wellknown resident named Captain Brandon, and the defendant no less a personage than the Venerable Archdeacon Dudley, one of the most invulnerable pillars of the church to which belonged ihe old Canterbury pilgrims. Captain Brandon, it must be premised, has a daughter, a Mrs. Currie, who follows the profession of what she terms 11 theologiat,” and among the numerous advertisements published by her, the following appeared some days ago in a local paper : Mrs. Currie, theologist—the revealer of the revelations and mysteries of the Bible —will shortly again repeat the lecture on the “ Birth and Death of Christ,” which explains the Holy Trinity. Mrs. Currie will explain how the knowledge is obtained, aud also a speechless representation of the mystery of the “ Sin of Eve.”

Subsequent to the announcement appearing in the public prints, another was published stating the evening upon which the “ Revealer” would “give a speechless representation of the mystery of the ‘ Sin of Eve.’ ” When, however, the “show”—as theatrical people sometimes call public entertainments—was in full swing, it was found that six people only “ thronged ” the Institute Hall, the entrance money being Is. per head. A day or two afterwards the lecturer discovered that the Ven. Archdeacon Dudley had spoken disparagingly of her entertainment, and obtained proof that he had advised young people not to patronise it. Legal proceedings were at once taken against the venerable gentleman, the bill of particulars attached to the summons served upon him claiming the sum of £ls for special damages “ for his having prevented the public from attending a lecture delivered by Mrs. Currie, at the Institute, Rangiora, the said £ls being computed at 300 persons at Is. each—who would otherwise have patronised the entertainment—less 6s. taken at the door.” The case has not yet come on for hearing, but has been adjourned from day to day. Who will now say that “ there is nothing new under the sun ?”