FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 137, 16 April 1879, Page 2

FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

As will be seen from our shipping reports, says the 'Otago Daily Times,' the steamer Scad Haarlem has come and gone. That she lias not entered the Port of Otago is to be greatly deplored, but there is ver} 7 little doubt that had she remained a few more hours she could very easily have entered the port, and have come up to the anchorage. Captain Thomson, the lnu-bor-master, naturally declined to guarantee bringing her in this morning, still there was every probability that she might have crossed the bar on the early tide. It may suit the Lytteltoa people to learn that the steamer lias proceeded round there without coming into Port Chalmers, but it is most certain that with fine weather and a smooth sea she could very easily on her draught of water, only 18ft. Gin., have come and gone with perfect s-ifety. [lt is to be regretted that the first steamer direct from England to New Zealand, with some 650 immigrants too, should arrive at so inopportune a time. Everyone knows, howevei', that it only wants a little effort on the part of the local bodies to secure an entrance for vessels drawing far greater depth of water than the Stad Haarlem, which only draws 19 -'feet. Instead of rejoicing over this mishap we only regret that such a good and safe port is for a time spoiled through local jealousy.] A most anmsing scene occurred last week in the Supreme Court, Wellington, when the jury had retired to consider their verdict in the case of Connell and Shaw. It appears that a marked threepenny piece played ah important part in the case, and after the jury had been in their room for a few minutes they sent down a request 'that his Honor should send the coin in question up to them. But it appeared that tho " threepenny" had vanished. At any rate, it was not to be found. Thereupon a search took place. Tho Crown Prosecutor, several lawyers, tho crier, and a number of policemen went to work to find it. It reminded one of the story of the Biblical gentleman who went about eating grass on all fours. Various legal functionaries were to be seen crawling about the floor in search of the lost threepenny bit. One of the most conspicuous figures was that of a stalwart sergeant of police, who crawled about the judge's chair in a manner that was truly alarming. At last it was discovered that the sheriff was the last person who had possession of the lost coin, and as he could not account for its miraculous disappearance, the search was abandoned, and the jury had to come to a decision without seeing it. His Honor Mr Justice Richmond w r as somewhat severe on the lawyers and the public of Wellington l-ecently. His Honor was asked whether he could not allow the waiting jurors to go away until the trial of Thomas Williams for embezzlement might be concluded ; but his Honor said he could not see his way to doing this, as a glance at the indictment assured him that the case might at any moment come to a close on a legal technicality. It was not set forth in the indictment that Court

Robin Hood was a registered society, and there was too much uncertainty about the time which the case might or might Dot occupy to enable him t> let the waiting' jurors leave the products of the Court. In his opinion one-half of the uncertainty of the law was due to the stupidity of the lawyers and the other half to the stupidity of the public. Mr Izard assured his Honor that the lawyers were not to blame in this instance, because the members of the friendly society in question had not availed themselves of the provisions cf the Friendly Societies Act, and registered. His Honor said that being the case, the whole of the uncertainty was due to the stupidity of the public. The Crown Prosecutor felt that by his explanation of the circumstances he had saved his legal brethren from an unmerited reproach, and at once proceeded to state the case for the prosecution to the jury.. Under the heading of •" Another Lost Gainsborough," the ' Lyltelton Times' has the following paragraph :—"ln reading the minutes of the City Council last evening, an item of business came to light which had escaped the reporters. It appearsd that at the previous meeting of the Council, after being in Committee, the following resolution was recorded : 'That the picture of Councillor Wilson be removed from the present hidingplace, and replaced on the walls of the Council Chamber.' On this being read last night, Councillor Wilson denied having used them. It transpired that the words were used in the course of conversation, aud that the Town Clerk inadvertently embodied them in. the resolution. The lost portrait once mpre smiles down upon the assembled Councillors, but in the meantime two other portraits of distinguished past Councillors and Mayors have disappeared. Where is their hidingplace V A very large number of people assembled to meet the express from Christchurch on Friday. Amongst the passengers was the Hon Robert Stout, whose friends, as well as the general public, will be pleased to learn that he has suffered no ill effects from the journey, but on the contrary, is much better. The disorder is not dysentery, and we are informed that Wellington is not to be blamed for it, as 4 he hon. gentleman was suffering more or less before he left Dunedin. There is every expectation that a few days' rest will put him right. Holloway's Pills.—Stomach, Liver, and Bowels.—There is nothing hurtful in the composition of those purifying Pills — nothing that can injure the most delicate constitutions. They improve the appetite, quicken the energies of the stomach and liver, and regulate the bowels. They thus become the surest safeguards against indigestion, and the safest promoters of the body's growth and the mind's development. Holloway's Pills exert a wholesome alterative and tonic action on every internal organ, and they regulate every disordered or debilitated function. They are natural, and therefore efficient purifiers and correctives. Few unhealthy conditions of the stomach or digestive apparatus can withstand the accumulative healthy influence obtained ovar the whole frame when these pills are judiciously and perseveringly taken by invalids.