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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 20, 23 December 1863, Page 2

About half-past 2- o'clock, on Monday morning, the watchful guardian' of the peace,, while walk»g •** hh - lonely Tound," in . Tay , street, was horribly startled by the 'sudden apparition of a woman in white, who apparently emerged from the vacant;. ground attached, to the Boyal Hot»l. The /constable — a more matter-of-fact, than imaginative ■nurtal—^endeavoured at. first to persuade himself that the appearance of the ghost had something in connection with the nightly ghostly deception practised at the neighbouring Princesi' theatre; but as she crossed the road and made towards him , he ' became aware of the fact that the ghost was a reality. On going towards it he discovered it to be composed of substantial flesh and blood.- On making inquiries, the woman — for ths pseu-.10-gHost was of the unprotected class — endeavoured to make the constable comprehend that she had been sleeping at one of the hotels, but that her uneasy sloep had been so unsatisfactory that she rose, and, without "donning her clothes," went into the street. The constable, finding ho could not persuade : the woman to go back- whence, she cameras day was breaking, and as he had a disinclination to be seen holding " sweet council " with a lady whose drapery was more scanty than appropriate for the street, had to n-sorfc to stronger measures, and remove her to her hotel. The following night the ghost made a second appearance, when she was confined within the limits of the camp. Sle will be brought before thu Bench to-day, on a charge of insanity. We understand that Mr. C. R. Thatcher has entered into an engagement with the lessee of the new theatre, in Conon street, which he will open on Saturday night, giving an entertainment comprised of hia own vocalisation and versification o( local event s, and of operatic selections by Madame Vitelli. The peculiar formation of our community am! the various phases of society here, together wilh the incidents— political and social— which are of daily occurrence," will furnish capital materials for Mr Thatcher's muse, so that we anticipate some amusement from his appearance amongst us. In our Otago Correspondent's letter reference is made to another (iiscovery at the Taieri. We need only remind the miners of the highly-colored reports of the Dunedin press relative to the pretended discoveries at that place, and which have sinco turned out what we then predicted they would — " storekeepers' rushes." The Z.yttleton Times has the following chapter of accidents : — " On Friday last one of the mi iers named Ellis, employed on the railway works in the Heathcote Valley was seriously injured in the face and hands in consequence of the discharge of a slow shot in the heading of the tunnel. After lighting the fuze, and allowing sufficient time for the blast to fire, Ellis ventured too close, with the object of finding out the reason of the shot uot earn* off in the usual way, and when near to the spot the powder exploded and seriously injured him as stated above. Happily his eyesight is preserved, and every hope is giv*n of his recovery.— On Sunday afternoon, a man named Patrick Cairns was riding a rather spirited horse on the Sumner Road, and on rounding the sharp curve near to Sticking Point, attempted to pass a cart, when the outrigger caufjht/> the saddle-girths^ and threw the rider off v tho horse. The poor fellow suffered a compound fra"cture of the leg in his full. He was conveyed to the hospital, and received every attention from Dr. Rouse — A little girl, daughter of Mr. David Dimond, Winchester street, whilst playing in one of the cirts used by her father in his business, fe'l over the side and broke hf>r ar-n. — On Sunday evening, a young man, employed a* boots at the Queen's, Lyttleton, w»s returning from Christchurch, on horseback, and, owing to the darkness prevailing, tho horse stumbled over a large stone and pitched the rider head foremost on to his sight shoulder, fracturing the collarbone. A meeting of the Fira Brigade took place, on Monday evening, at the Union Hotel- About twenty members were present ; several now members were enrolled; Mr Henderson was present, anrl having just returned from Melbourne, he gave the Brigade all information respecting the apparatus, etc." ordered from Melbourne. He reported that the whole of the articles ordered were nearly completed when he left, ami might be expected here in about three weeks. Tiie subject of uniform was gone into ; it was resolved, after some discussion, that the Di-ess Uniform be left for future consideration ; and that a sub-committee obtain some red or other distinguishable shirts for immediate use. The officers appointed were as follow :— Ciptain, Mr M'F irlane j Lieutenant, Mr Kingslaml ; Treasurer, Mr Mtcholl, Srcretary,Mr Hatch; Foreman, Mr Tully. The meeting seemed somewhat a spirited one, and as if the members present intended to act now that their appliances were near at hand. Any time during the day, whilst what are termed the Civil Cases are being heard before the Resident Magistrate, a half hour might be badly spent by a person, having nothing else to occupy his time, in listening to the proceedings. We say " badly spent," from the circumstance that we fully believe there are few places where a man could, in the short space of time referred to, hear more falsehoods perpetrated. It is a very common occurrence for persons on each side of an action at law — whether plaintiffs and defendants, or as witnesses for either of those — each to give a somewhat different version of anything they may have to. speak of. This species of discrepancy, however, is widely different to the manner of giving evidence one observes in the Resident Magistrate's Court. To give a more particular instance, we may refer to the evidence which was given iv a case before the Court yesterday, in which the plaintiff and defendant gave such a contra victory history of the main circumstances of the case, that the Resident Magistrate could only resort to his usual determination, and discredit both sides. In the course of the examination , one of the counsel engaged, in commenting on the disregard for truth displayed, remarked that in Resident Magistrates' Court generally, and in the one here particularly, " falsehood seemed to permeate tho witnesses the moment they got into the box." The Resident Magistrate, in giving hi 3 decision, could only, coincide with the opinion of the counsel, adding that a wholesome example in punishing for the crime of perjury would bava a salutary effect. Rather, unfortunately in such cases the Magistrate ia judge and jury rolled into one, and one of the many ovils^ of such a system is, that as there is lebs chance of detection than if a witness was giving his evidence before a larger number, he lies with more impunity. We see that on Boxing day there will be a variety of Sport* at Kibg's Post Office Hotel, Winton Bush, comprising rifle snooting, racing' leaping* &c. . . . . ; -