TRIAL OF REAPERS & BINDERS.

Patea Mail, 27 January 1882, Page 3

TRIAL OF REAPERS & BINDERS.

At the recent trial of reapers and binders in Canterbury, the judges being farmers and mechanics, the following awards were made : STRING BINDERS. First prize and gold medal, awarded by Association—W. A. Wood machine (entered by Messrs Wood, Shand & Co.) with 124 points. Second prize—McCormick machine (entered by Messrs Morrow, Bassett, & Co.) with 121 points ; also recommended for award of a silver medal. Very highly commended—W. A. Wood machine No. 8 (entered by Wood, Shand, & Co.) with 120 points. Highly commended—Howard’s simplex machine (entered by Twentyman & Cousin) with 116 points. WIRE BINDERS. First prize and gold medal awarded by Association—McCormick machine (entered by Messrs Morrow, Bassett & Co.) with 104 points. Second prize and certificate of merit— Aultman machine (entered by Messrs Twentyman & Cousin) with 100 points. The McCormick machine obtained most marks for quality of work done, the figures being—-47 for McCormick, 42 Wood, and 41 Deering. The Wood machine was held to bo simpler in construction, and of greater durability ; and the marks given for those qualities put it in the first position.

Patea P.M. Court. This Day, before Mr C. A. Wray, R.M.

Fraser v. Duke was a surve3'or’s claim for £1 3s 2d. Judgment for amount and costs.

Palmer v. Clague was a claim for £1 3s. The defendant denied part of the debt, and put in a set-off which exceeded the debt. The account was complicated. The defendant had occupied Mr Palmer’s house and some land at £1 a week, and also did some work for plaintiff. A settlement was supposed to be made in May last* When Mr Palmer claimed for items since that date, the defendant alleged a set-off which had not been covered by the previous settlement. After a lengthy hearing Mr Palmer obtained judgment for the amount claimed, and costs. During the hearing, Mr Palmer put in a set-off against the defendant’s set-off. Mr Hamcrton, for the defendant, objected to this. Mr Palmer said : You advised rne yourself to do this. You said the best way would be not to put the old set-off in the bill, but to produce it in Court.—Mr Hamerton said : Ah, that is your version. —Mr Palmer : I came to you for advice, and you heard all my story before you told me you were retained for the other side.

A settler’s wife in the Waikato took up her husband’s breech-loading carbine to shoot a hawk, put in a cartridge, but neglected to properly close the chamber. When she fired, the cover of the chamber flew open, and an escape of powder struck her in the eye. A farm of 788 acres near Cambridge, in the Waikato district, was recently cut up into allotments, and on being sold by auction averaged £8 6s Bd. Two lots sold privately, including 124 acres to the Cambridge Jockey Club, brings the average to £ll 16s per acre, or £2 10s more than the vendor paid per acre. Mr J. Sheehan, M.H.R., was married at Auckland on the 14th, in the Catholic Church, by the Rev. Walter Macdonald, to Miss Young, a young lady from Coromandel.