WELLINGTON.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3198, 20 May 1879, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

This flay. Tbe question of paying tho members of tho Wharf Committee an honorarium will be again debated by the City Council, tho legality of the practice being still disputed. Letters received from Mr Barton, M.ILH., now travelling in America, state his health is much restored, and he expects to be back in New Zealand by the 7f!i of July next.

The Times says some members of the police force lately taken on are a disgrace to the force, and says that one constable, supposed to be on duty on Saturday in one of the principal thoroughfares, was quite intoxicated, and that on Sunday morning two other members of the police, in plain clothes, were under the influence of liquor, and behaved themselves in a most abusive manner to several passersby in Manners street. A notice of motion has been given in the City Council that the Corporation keep a list of all contractors who fail to carry out their contracts, as a guide, to the Corporation in deciding future tenders. Sir Julius Vogsl on Colonial Matters. The New Zealand Times this morning notices an article headed "John Bull asks advice/ written by Sir Julius Vogel for the first number of Times, a new English magazine. The object of Sir Julius Vogel's article appears to be to impress upon the Imperial Government* the wisdom of guaranteeing all colonial losr.s, and demands that vliis shall be recognised and declared., He says to the Imperial Government, " If you make this declaration the colonies will be enormously benefited, while you cannot be injured, and you will be undertaking no ne'v liability, beeaus3 you will only need to do what it :s assumed you do at all times, to see that the Governors you appoint perform their duty." He points out also that according to Colonial law,, no revenue can be employed for any oilier purpose, so long as there is unpaid interest on a loan, or the repayment of the principal is .due. „•-. "'. . - ,' ■ ; 77 7. , 7 :■':. The case against Kinross, of papier, has been postponed till. Tuegday next, at nine o'clock in the morning, it being intended to nuke an .effort to get through the case in one day. The Anderson-JJasby assault case has been adjourned for a fortr'glit in consequence of the absence from town of one witness.. ' .' V ''■/':'.'' y. Thos. JVartin, barman at the Post Office Hotel, charged with stealing twenty-six pounds, the property of H. W. Monk, the proprieler, vas fu'ly committed for trial. Sever? 1 minor charges of a similar nature we:e dropped on the prisoner's committal. Next Saturday wi]l not be observed as & holiday at the following Post-offices :— r TimarUj Christchurch, Hcton, Blenheim,? Newplymouth, and Napier, in- consequence of the 'Frisco mail closing on that day, and in all thess offices Monday- will be observed as a holiday instead of Saturday.; ..-■■■ Monday. In the Divorce Court to-day, David Henderson, a'Thames miner,'applied, for a rule nisi for dissolution, of his marriage with Elizabeth Griffin. The leading facts ware that petitioner married the respondent at the Whau, When he Was a boy, between 14 and 15 years of age, living with his parents at their hotel. The respondent, Elizabeth Griffin, was 21 j years of age; when he became intimate* with her, and soon after she declared she was enciente, and asked petitioner to marry her. He did not consent at first, but ultimately he was persuaded to do so by the girl's aunt, and was married in September, 1867, at her aunt's house, by theßev. W. Davis. The petitioner did not get the certificate, nor sign any paper, but the clergyman's registrar, ihidge Johnstorie said the Registrar should not have granted a certificate unless the husband was ovei'. 21 years of age. After marrirga the petitioner only stopped a night aid a day with his wife and went bask home to go to school., About three months after this, or eight months rfie: 1 the;r ini/imacy began, a child was born, bat by that time he believed the child was not his, and that he bad been inre'gled :nto> marriage: He stayed with his parents till 1889, and then went to the Thames; In 1872, when able to support a wife, he wrote to the respondent, and sereial letters passed between them, ai he did not then know she had misconducted herself. In the last' letler he received from her, respondent said she had ta'ien a solemn oath never to live with him, and that he was welcome to marry any one else, as she would never, interfere with him, aid bade him farewell for ever. He first heard of, her being intimate with Flynn in ]8"3,, and afterwards that she passed as his wife, and had three children by him. A decree nisi was granted, and ordered to be inacle absolute in three mouths. - , . .•. .. To-night's Pest says :—" Regarding probable fiscal measures, the plan we have reason to believe will be proposed, and, it is rumoured, is now under the consideration of the Cabinet, is—(l) to impose a"n income tax, and (2) to extend the present land tax by a graduated system, so as to reach large land owners rather than smaller proprietors. The extended and graduated land tax would touch all classes of real property, while ewery other description of property could be got at by a judiciously devised system of income tax. That some such prop o& .1 as this will be made in the coming session is almost certain. i The charge of alleged perjury against Mr Kinross, of Napier, is to come on to-morrow, though the Chronicle hears it is likely to drop through. A meeting of creditors in the estate of McCredie, ironmonger, was he*d to-day. The following new insolvents are declared :— Walter Mitchell, bootmaker; Karl. Moeller (Masterton), carpenter; John Disher (Taueru), storekeeper. ■ G. McPortland, an old Cartertoh settier, died on Saturday night. Deceased was 63 years of age. A young lad named Edmund Holt, 12, years of age, has been missing since Friday. The relieving officar of the.Benevolent.. Society has laid an information, against three more of the Maxted family for declining to contribute to the support of their aged and decrepit parents. ■ -■•.;■;,:. A detachment of Armed Constabulary left for Patea this evening. Several persons are being proceeded against for driving round rothevs at a pace faster than a walk. Complaints are still made of the annoying delays experienced by suitors in the R.M. Court, in consequence of the too great pressure of work.. r „ ;i