FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 107, 25 December 1878, Page 2

FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

At the inquest on the body of Maitland, who was killed in the railway accident near Gore on the 14th inst, the following was appended by the'jury to their verdict of accidental death ;—“ The jury consider that it is absolutely necessary foi* the safety of all persons concerned that all ballast trains be provided with brakevans, in order to enable them to be pulled np within a reasonable distance, and that the railway be fenced, to ensure the public, and proper cow-catch er£Wr affixed to the engines.” ■, A Canterbury man is investing L20 ( 000 in Waikato, The settlers of Jackson's Bay b“ing unsuccessful there, have been removed by Government, and taken to New Plymouth. Most of them are Italians, uuconversant with the English tongue. Tenders amounting to L 25,000 have just been accepted for the supply of fifteen thousand tons of Newcastle coal during the coming year for the Christchurch and Otago railways. Two more engines have arrived by the Hurunui for the Christchurch railways ; three more are on the way out by .the Thames and Piako. This will make a total of 75 between Araberly and Invercargill. The race-horse Maritana went north by the Wakatipu on Saturday to fulfil engagements. Large numbers of cattle and sheep have been lost in the Clutha district lately through their eating tutu. A tliick seam of excellent coal has been struck at a depth of 392 feet at Kaitanga-

The ‘ Clntha Leader ’ gives the following account of the construction of bank protection works carried on at Balclutha : — ct Two wire .ropes are fastened round a bag of gravel, which is taken to the edge of the bank by a lorry on a tramway. The bag is slipped over the bank and allowed to get to the bottom. The ends of the rope attached to the bags are secured to posts driven into the ground some distance from the bank. Bundles of scrub weighted with small bags of sand are then placed underneath the wire ropes on the face of the bank. These are firmly pressed down, and are held in position by the ropes from the bags at the 1 bottom. A good many yards have already been completed to a height above. -the present water-mark, and all who have inspected the work are perfectly satisfied it will stop the encroachment in the meantime. An enormous quantity of material will no doubt be required, but it will prove effective. The banks above and below are falling in very rapidly, but where the fascines are placed this is stopped. Mr Barton is put in the wrong box again. The Golqnial Secretary shows him that the insinuation that Judge Richmond was consulted in reference to hia charge, or was ever cognisant of the .decision of Government, is at least .gratuitously insulting to the Cabinet and- the law officers of the Crown, and that it is asuntrue as insulting.

The cartoon in a late number of ‘ Punch ’ represents Russian in the -shape of a locomotive approai.hing the “Afghan Junction.” Danger signals up, and a prospect of a collision. On the front of the engine, placed there to take the first blow, stands, “ Poor Buffer,” the Ameer of Afghanistan, looking very fierce, or very frightened, as you may interpret bis staring eyes and open month. The London Metropolitan Board of Works have purchased Waterloo Bridge for L 475,000, And have abolished the tolls upon it. They have also purchased : the foot-bridge near Charing Cross for j L 98,540, and ope&ed it to the public. Theßishop of Manchester is in favour of politicahpconomy being taught in school; and: instanced tbiie recent strikes in NorthEast Lancashire as showing the necessity of such Jmqwledge amongst our operatives. Instead of curtailing the period of schooling, he thought if parents could afford the delay, twenty-one was not to late a time of life to start in, business. Quality, he ■ added,: rather than quantity, should be the. object of- the teacher - . TheWanganui Herald ’ ha's the follow- . ing, wluch .may afford a precedent to'those „ who .feel annoyance in providing suste- .' ■ care for offspring 'other than 'their : “‘Abbuh the sharpest and - vbest settlement of a legal suit that we - have, ever, heard of occurred in the R.M. Court this morning. A woman who has : for . some .time, been entrusted with the , maintenance of an infant, ; having of late failed to receive the stipulated remuneration for the same, summoned the mother to force her to contribute to the expenses • “of the child, or to re-take possession of it. At 11 o’clock, the mother and nurse with lire baby were in attendance, the former being defended by counsel. The officers of-the Court were awaiting the entrance of ,the E.M., and everything was in readiness for the trial, when the nurse, without a word.of warning or explanation, deposited the baby in its mother’s arms, and left the Court- At this juncture, the R.M. took his seat bn the Bench, and the •position of affairs was explained to him. There was nothing then to be done but dismiss the case. Had it been possible for the plaintiff, who was by this time doubtless at a considerable distance from the Court, seeing that the constable in attendance said that she had ‘rushed off,’ to have witnessed the expression of dismay and disgust on the countenances of her opponents, an additional satisfaction ■ would have been lent to her triumph.” Perverted. A Wesleyan minister, the Rev William Impey, has just resigned his office ns general superintendent of the Wesleyan missions in South Africa. Sometime ago the rev gentleman wrote to the mission secretaries in London, stating that he could no longer enforce on his brethren, or on the Kaffir converts, the “ plain grammatical sense ” of the words in the Methodist standards which required to be taught that “ hell is a dark'and bottomless pit, full of fire and brimstone, in which the wicked will be punished for ever and ever by having their bodies tormented with fire and their souls by a sense of the wrath of God ” At the request of the secretaries he came to London, and as the result of his conference with them, he resigned his position of Wesleyan minister: which he has hold for forty years;. Cool. — A man named Smith was charged before Mr Sergeant Cox- with h ving stolen a half-basket of<■-cherries, .Value Bs, the property’of John Boaz friioinas. At half-past twelve on the afternoon of July 13 a porter in the service of the prosecutor deposited forty-six baskets of fruit in Convent-garden Market, and he saw the prisoner deliberately walk up to the baskets, put one on his head, ami go away with it. The portm followed him 100 yards, when he was Stopped by a constable, to whom the prisoner said it was no business of his, and that he was .taking the cherries home. In cross-examination prisoner elided that the basket was in the pathway. In defence he explained that they came in his way, aud that the porter ought to have stopped him . sooner, and hot havel given him the trouble of carrying them so far. Considerable amusement was caused in Court ,by the prisoner’s odd defence. The jury found Him guilty. It appeared that he bad formerly been for many years a porter in Convent-garden Market, but had lost hia badge owing to a quarrel with the foil collector. He had been earning 14d

a-day as a “ sandwich ” man. Mr Sergeant Cox, as it was his first offence, -allowed to go out on his own recognisances to'- come up for judgment if Called upon. The prisoner was profuse in his thanks, concluding with, “Would your lordship kindly give me a few cop-, pers l I have only 2jd in the world.” Amidst much laughter some of the magistrates, jury, and counsel, made a collection, and handed it to him.—London paper. , River Harbour Works. —The Chairihan of the Hokitika Harbor Board informs the ‘ New Zealand Times’ that the harbor works, the plans of which were approved of by the, Oovenraent, were commenced last week by the contractor, Mr. . W. Smith, who is bound to complete his

section bythe end of next year. The -work consiis. of a close, tramway wall of . piles commencing fro;n:J^>lftwer end of • the present wharf and 'running south with . ; ,a moderate sweep for a distance of twenty chains, when it takes a curve, and runs about twelve chains due west out to sea finishing with a substantial pier-head designed by Mr Blackett. The intention . . of this wall is.to guide the Hokitika River, and fix its erratic course in one direction, thereby securing a permanant channel across the bar. The south spit will be secured by a corresponding wall, leaving a fairway of about 600 ft. wide. The entire cost of the work is estimated at £31,000.

A real “Native difficulty ” crops up in ..dealing with, marriages. Are marriages according to Native custom to be regarded as valid by English law 1 An influential Maori lately brought an nf tractive halfcaste girl to a Registrar s office, and signified to the officer .that they wished to be made one flesh. The Registrar, just in time, received a caveat against the marriage'lodged Try other Natives. The alleged difficulty was a - former marriage. But this was only a matriage according to

Native custom. The Maori was astonished

at-hearing the objection. “ That no marbe said, “me want right marriage • Uke this woman.” He thought this conclusive, but it did not satisfy the Registrar. No. doubt that Maori thinks our Jaw is'rather hard on a fellow. We re-

fuse to give him a plain opinion of his relation to wife No X, which among ourselves would be held no legal relation at all, and yet we prevent him from entering into a legal relation to Miss No 2. There is yet some three years’ more work before the Old Testament Revision Company, but the work of revising the New Testament is approaching completion. Next year, probably, the work will be presented to convocation. Already it is nearly all printed, the two universities having given £20,000 for the privilege of printing.it of which they pay L2OOO yearly.

Gold frames do yery well for paintings, but when it comes to“ frames of mind” the less guilt the better. The following bill was recently seen displayed in the parlour window of a house in a south-western suburb : “To let, a small sitting-room and bed-room, with a superb view of an immense garden, much frequented, planted with large trees, brilliant with flqwers, and decorated with numerous statues, and other works of art.” The garden in question was Bfompton cemetery.