THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1859.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 217, 18 November 1859, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1859.

When a newspaper is short of general news we usually are obliged to hunt out a big gooseberry or an extravagant accident; but of all adventitious matter none is so greedily sought for as a shower of frogs. The English mail not appearing in due course, we are compelled to look around us for some wonderful subject. We have only to study the evidence given in the various cases at the District Court held last Tuesday to furnish one. The shower of frogs may be replaced by a shower of paper; and we can tell the world that there has been a most abnormal display of woody tissue. Small flocculent films seem to have been floating about in the mercantile atmosphere, which have been disseminated amongst us; and bearing their value from, as we should think, the amount of ink with which they are stained; and. they have passed current .as security here. No Israelite that ever rose early to , ? pick the first manna in the wilderness of Sinai ever, showed more anxiety than his modern representative, the collectors of these treasures; they have garnered these precious documents, and the result has been a thawing of such snow-flakes in the warm atmosphere of a District Court. Small oblong papers seem but to want a name to make them available for all purposes of commerce. We do not attempt to deny that great have been offered to trade by the [introduction of bills of exchange by the i Lombard merchants; but the extravagant | use which has been made of their invention has almost been as.noxious to healthy trade as if they had never been used Sir David Brewster wrote a work upon optics, ind it has been received as a standard one. Any Nelson merchant could produce a vokme nearly as valuable upon serostatics, founded upon his own bitter experience. The scie&ee, if we may so call it, of*" kite-flying " has been deeply studied. A bill which has a three-Rionths' string can flutter gaily; and if the boy who plays with it can only recall it in'time to espy its shape, he may begin again with a newer and crisper document. The establishment of the District Court will do away with much of this sort of trading, and and it will make people careful before they attach their signatures to accommodation bills. It is a hard thing to say, but not the less true, that every person whose name is on an accommodation bill knowing it to be such, if not prepared to meet the liability when due, or -net having reasonable expectations of being able to do so, is guilty of a fraud; He lends his name to enable some other person to raise means upon the | strength of it. The plea generally set up, as defence-when an action is. bro^ght,^ .k that tlioy have never received consideration for the bill, did they ever expect to ? It was pak of their original arrangement that they should not. The law now allows this to be taken into consideration in,special instances,^ but they are guilty of a moral fraud if not a legal one. Some person or other has been a sufferer trough, their means," and they are particeps avvMnis. There has: been an outcry here against our new'Court, but it appears to us bnco.f .the most salutary checks to these proceedings" which could have been proposed, the heavy expenses attendant upon the Supreme Court, prevented. many from taking legal proceedings against Barnes on bills which it was well known were Very doubtful," and they submitted, to the loss. ' Through our whole system of trade: has gradually been infiltrated a tincture of this evil, and no/-matter what names appear' upon a bill it is often difficult to^udgeifit be' issued in the regular course !af i.rade, ,or whether it does not bear: a lie,u|>on its ,Face, in the words Rvalue ; received." Peoplemay; apply what] galvor they like to their consciences,, but a lie, palpable apd direct it is, Jo write an autograph ftcjc Q9.s those words knowing,them .to be false. In trade; every bill should be .•merely- the' easily' transmitted worth of actual produce in the

possession of the acceptor, but at that time unpaid for, it is the money which he will ultimately receive in exchange for theni, and they do, or should lie, in a sort of pawn until, that bill is paid. The paper then taken to the discounter is in reality so many bales of unsold merchandize, which ho advances upon," the bill arrives at maturity, the goods in the interim having been sold, the money is paid, and the profit remains to the tradesman. It may so-occur, and no doubt often does, that the goods are not sold by the time of the maturity of the bill, in such a case it is a fair subject ;for rehewal, the property it represents being yet unsold and liable to meet its demand^., Theaccommodation bill is, far different, it is a cheat, professing to represent goods which neverexisted, and by a written .;lie t which they would blush to speak, many, who fancy themselves honorables ihf their dealings, raise assistance. One hears sentences like the following constantly made use of, "to save my name?—to hoiior my acceptance," as* being the inducement: leading to this kiteflying. To pay perhaps what is a genuine bill they have recourse. to a mock, and borrow money upon a jitece of paper which owes its whole value -to thenames upon it. In England dabbling in accommodation bills is generallys{shffi-,-cient to prevent a bankrupt from obtaiisng; 'anything more' than a third {class certi^c|te, ; . and sometimes not., even that, butin^his city persons unblushlngly avow thei^onW; nection with such arrangements.! .-.' : ...^Xy There is one great want .here whiqhf should be remedied, at once^alike beneficial to the creditor as to;the d«tor, and that is^ an Insolvent Court, were establis|ed" here we should not have.ont half the losses; that we suffer. _NoW,fgenially speaking, on the failing of any X person in business/ the most active amongst thi^reditorsgetsjall, and the rest nothing; ther|are«io'i«eans^,of compelling a person to su&eheier: all for the^ benefit of all. The hungriest and most' clamorous get fed first, and there is nothing left for the rest. Again, the honest, debtor has.now no means of relieving himself from his liabilities. There are times, especially in young countries, which severely test the stability of any firm or tradesman, and when once law begins to lay her fingers on him, you have but to watch his gradual downfall, the purse which cannot meet its demands will be the. less so when two lawyers have to be fed, out of it, and the evil day will come at last. Rumor says that we are shortly to have a law for .insolvents. Every month shews the necessity for it more and more. Family arrangements, bills of sale, &c, &c, are of "daily occurrence here, and the 15th of every month brings to light such precious documents. The cant name for the process of curing this infectious habit is "whitewashing.'' It is high time that some here took a lesson in the science, for many transactions have been brought to light lately that will require a very.thick oo'at of whitewash to hide the black hue which covers them at present. - ~..

.- ——■.•■*» ♦ ■— " y yx' The I.R.M. Company's steamer Prince Alfred arrived from Sydney on Wednesday last, having left ori the. night of the 10th instant, bringing • files to that date. The English mail had not arrived up to tlje tirne of her departure, but it was statedthat should it be telegraphed by the 12th,inst. which ie the date for the Airedale's departure for Auckland, that vessel would be detained till it arrived; and we should then receive it by the Lord Ashley's next trip from the latter port.

Sacred Concert.—We hear that in tjhe" ensuing month Mr. Walcot will give a vocal and instrumental Sacred Concert at the Freemason's Hall ; consisting of selections from the Oratorios of the " Creation" and " Messiah." We believe that* praiseworthy exertions are being made to render the first concert of this description a very acceptable one, and the choruses (ot about 25 voices) are in close .practice for the occasion. Mr. Walcot is worthy of praise for what must be a somewhat iarduous task to carry through, and we trust that that it will be ih every way as.successful as it is novel. .__!''

Excursion to . Kai-teri-teri.—-Last Mondaymorning the Tasmanian Maid left the wharf for ihe excursion to Kai-teri-teri, "as previously announced, and although the holidays, and parties of pleasure, may scarcely be said 'to have commenced for the season, we wwe agreeably surprised to find the deck of the " Maid" closely packed "with ex-. cursionists to the number of about 230,. We cannot help thinking, and express it as a hint to caterers for the public amusement while the dull times continue, that the very moderate charge^ has been productive of greater receipts than a higher rate would-have'borne $ny proportion t.o,'besides putting a day's diversion within the grasp of those who must eschew expensive pleasure. '

.Dun Mountain Compaq.—We prej'^foriped that a ' survey, has been made of a new line'for the projected railway which will shorten it by several miles from that" originally "proposed. It is stated that there will / be no'ascent from-the present chrome mine The\ road will run to a point in Brook-street, where.. either:', By. means rpH sheet-or some tackling. fey. lo.weving-th**, iars, the oW will be deposited at anew'starting /point j up thevalle'y, and from there the rails will run. uiiin-' terrupfedly* to; the Albion' Wharf. The Coard' ef Woriis -hawe*given- permission for the rails' being'fi'aid in the. streets. ,an r d in a few months, we may expect to see: active progress'.' -• Awliare isbeing erected for Mr. Ogg, who Svill, we'beheve/ib^e-the management- of the works,' ■ ','.'"' ■'.''.'