Important Notice

Observer, Volume II, Issue 44, 16 July 1881, Page 485

Important Notice

Owing to the large and increasing pressure on our advertising columns, we have been compelled to put all paragraphs in similar type this issue. Next Saturday, however, the Observer will again be doubled in size, and contain no less than sixty -four columns of matter. If business should continue equally good it is possible the change may be permanent. Country correspondents and others who have matters of public interest for publication are invited to send in their copy as early as possible.

The result of the Hurst libel case is not knpwn at the time of writing, but we congratulate Wickham on his acquittal in the Eees action, and trust Bubble-you-Burst's may end as satisfactorily. The feeling of the jury with regard to Mr Eees is quite comprehensible. They recognised that the libels were severe, and, had the action been a civil one, would probably have awarded heavy damages. It was, however, quite plain from his own evidence that the Gisborne solicitor had been mixed up in some strange and complicated land transactions, and probably given cause for trenchant comment. This being so, the jury declined to send Wickham to prison, and, there being no alternative in a criminal action between "guilty" and "not guilty," he got off scot free.

It is, we have been informed, quite true that Wickham had an opportunity of escaping the Bees trial by apologising. The facts are these— One day last week Alf Whitaker went to Joe Bennett and said, "Look here, Bennett, Wickham seems certain to get into it over this Eees business. I wish you woiild go and see the plaintiff and square matters for an apology." "Well,"said Bennett, "I don't mind trying, but I have done this sort of thing before, and then been stultified, so that ere I move in the matter, I should like Wickham to give me a paper saving he really will apologise." " Oh," repliod Mr Whtiaker, "that will be allright, I'll answer for it, Wickhain will be only too glad to sign anything." Well, Joe Bennett went and had a long interview with Kees and Tyler. He appealed to the former on behalf of Wickham' s family, spoke eloquently of the man's trouble, and at length induced the Gisborne solicitor to say he would accept the amende honorable. On this Tyler drew out an apology,of quite a mild character. It merely confessed (1) that the defendant (Wickham) had been misinformed, (2) th at the statements in the article were untrue, and ($) that he regretted they had been published. Both Whitaker and Bennett were astonished at tho mildness of

tlie phraseology, and the former went triumphantly to Wickhain and said, " Come on, old man, sign this and everything will be right." To his astonishment, Wickham asked for ten minutes to consult a friend (said to he Mr "Watt of the Bank of New Zealand, but of that we are not certain.) Naturally, Mr Whitaker felt ninch hurt. As Wickham's lawyer and his intimate friend, he thought he ought to accept his advice and when at the end of ten minutes the editor of the Lance came back and said he couldn't sign the apology, both Bennett and Whitaker were very angry. At the time we couldn't conceive what were the " wheels within wheels " which compelled Wickhain, to throw up a certainty of safety like this, but it is now very evident that his backers had excellent reasons for wishing to bring the case into Court.

Mr J. S. Wilson (whose portrait appears above) is a partner in the firm of "Wilsons and Horton, and one of the proprietors of the Herald and Weekly Ncu-s. He is a very sedate man, and takes only a secondary part in political and social matters ; but us a "shining light " of the Wesleyan Church he does much good in a quiet unostentatious manner.

A marriage, under most amusing circumstances has been consummated in Auckland within a very recent period. The bridegroom is a very youthful individual, indeed it is questionable whether he is out of his teens, moreover he is also mi exceedingly diminutive specimen of humanity. This worthy, soino time ago, popped the question to a young lady almost twice ns tall ns himself, and was duly accepted. But the course of true love did not rim smoothly, and the gay youth and his lady love quarrelled over some trivial matter. On the following Sunday lny gentleman's dignity wns too ruffled to permit him to call upon his offended lady - love to take her out for the accustomed ramble. He therefore indulged in a solitary stroll, but during the course of his wanderings he met the sister of his inamorata with her beau. Of course the melancholy youth stopped for a few moments conversation, and the other "fellow" looked on jealously from a distance. The girl had been unaware of the quarrel, but when informed of it she sympathised with the youth, and told him, moreover, in trembling accents, that it would grieve her greatly to see the marriage fall through, and therefore, if he had no objection " she would become the bride herself." He accepted the offered hand and heart without a moment's delay, and the date of the marriage was determined iipon before leaving the spot. The loyer who had been patiently waiting for his girl all this time wns astounded by the information that he " could go now, he wasn't wanted any longer ;" and the pair who had been betrothed under such peculiar circumstances spent the remainder of that afternoon in discussing plans f° r the projected nuptials. They went to the Thames immediately afterwards, and the bridegroom borrowed the wherewithal to recompense a clergyman for uniting them in the bonds of matrimony. The scarcity of cash compelled them to curtail the proverbial delights of the honeymoon, and they had not even sufficient money to pay their passages to Auckland. The worthy skipper of the steamer was, however, satisfied with the reference, to a well-known firm, aud brought them up to town. They have now commenced housekeeping, and we trust they will have no reason to regret their extremely short courtship.

But this will probably not be the last that the public will hear of the matter. It is said that the elder girl had not returned the ring, nor had she given any intimation to her lover that she did not intend to wed him. Moreover, the mother of the two girls is naturally angry at what has happened, and at the conduct of the younger daughter in taking advantage of a quarrel to marry her sister's lover. An action for breach of promise of marriage is spoken of.

The formation of the French Literary Club lias given rise to one or two rather comic mci-, dents which will bear relation if for no other purpose than to demonstrate how crude are the ideas which some people entertain of Gallic literature, and to show their queer notions of the requirements of the Club. Two or three days ago, a jierson of grave deportment and respectable appearance called upon the chairman and informed him that, having some valuable French works for which he had no further use he was prepared to dispose of them for a very moderate price, knowing that they would be of very great advantage to young students. With, his expectations raised to the highest point by this promising prologue, the chairman engerly requested to be allowed to see the literary treasures referred to, whereupon the would-be vendor sedately produced several copies of Ollendorf s " Mothodes." I will not attempt to picture the Frenchman's disgust. Suffice it to say that no sale took place. The secretary, in his turn, was waited upon by another promoter of French studies, who brought with him a large carpet bag filled, so he declared, with a capital assortment of French literature which he had determined to sacrifice for a matter of a £1 or so, just in order to give the concern a fair start. This exordium finished, he emptied upon the table two or three dozen of Ahn's First and Second Courses, and then, striking a pensive attitude, awaited his meed of thanks. The secretary, thinking that a practical joke was being played, upon him, was at first disposed to kick the fellow out of the house ; but seeing- no vestige of mirth in his face he concluded that he was acting in good faith, and therefore, controlling his anger, he drily remarked that so far Anns (dues, anglice asses) were not admitted to th c Club. The pun, like the patience, was Unfortunately wasted upon the carpet-bagger, however.

Last week some reference was made to what we learn is a very old story about a well-known citizen, who many years ago was made the subject of some gossip re business transactions. It appears this gentleman, whom we will style 8., was at the time an employ^ of a timber merchant named A., who failed. A. managed to pull some money out of the fire, and asked B. to carry on his business for him on salary at £2 10s a-week, which B. did. At the end of 6 months B. found he was making money, and naturally refused to continue to act as paid representative, preferring to go into business on his own account This was arranged, not by B.s seizing the business as suggested, bxit by A. transferring 1 ii> to him on mutually satisfactory terms. B. is ready to stake £50 that he, in no way, took advantage of A.

With the first party of Katikati settlers there came to Auckland three sisters, whom we will call tlio Misses K. By the death of their father, who was a colonel in the English army, they were orphaned and left, comparatively speaking 1 , unprovided for. They had friends who were willing 1 to take them into their homes as members of their own families, but being brave girla of independent spirit, they determined to earn their own

livelihood. Believing that they would have a better opportunity of doing so in a new than in an old country, and as some of their friends were among the Katikati settlers, they came ovit with them in the Lady Jocelyn. Being well educated and intelligent, they did not experience much difficulty in obtaining employment, two of them receiving appointments in the Telegraph Department, and the third obtaining a situation as governess.

Unfortunately, after they had been here some time, one of the sisters showed unmistakable signs of consumption. She held tip bravely and went on with her work as long as possible, but at last had to give in. She was compelled to remain at home, and, before long, was confined to her bed, and her sister who had been employed as a governess left her situation to attend to her. The three sisters were thus dependant on the earnings of only one of their number. Two or three benevolent ladies determined to give them a little assistance, and as they did not wish to hurt the feelings of the Misses X., one of them waited on their landlady, whose charge was £1 per week for each lodger and asked her to tell Miss K. that, in consideration of there being three sisters, she would charge only £2 10s for the board of the three, and the lady undertook to pay the other 10s per week. The landlady, who was a very good church-three-times-a-Sunday woman, rendily agreed to the proposal. The ladies paid the 10s per week regularly, and it was not until long afterwards that they discovered that the religious landlady had charged the Misses K. £3 per week, and that she, and not the Misses K. had benefited by the pnyinent of 10s per week. When taxed with the robbery, for it was nothing less, the good crenture did not attempt to deny it, but excused the meanness by saying that the bother of having an invalid in the house was worth an extra 10s per week.

In spite of the most attentive care of Dr and the tender nursing' of her sister. Miss K. died. As both the surviving sisters were in delicate health, their friends strongly advised them to return to England. Their friends at home would be most happy to receive them nnd give them a home, but could not afford to send them the money. An Auckland lady (of course, she is a. a lady) kindly undertook to obtain subscriptions among her friends for the purpose of paying the Misses X.'s passages home. She applied herself assiduously to her self-imposed task, and with such success that she got together about £50. The money was collected, but what was done with it ? The Misses K. have not received it, nnd their passages home have not been paid with it. Their experience indeed has been very similar to that of a certain man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves.

The half-yearly balance-sheet of the Kaipara Royal Mail S.S. Company has just been placed in the Lands of shareholders— that is, of those shareholders who chose to hold out their hands for it. It appears to have been compiled somewhat on the same lines as the great Yogel used to construct his Financial Statement ; for though the balance-sheet in question does not contain many figures, what there are are very ileep. In the last report the directors took a novel way of swelling out their assets, by an item which was given as " over estimate of values at formation of Company, depreciation, &c, £8,436 4s Id." We congratulated them then upon the novelty of the idea of glorying in this item as an asset ; and we also complimented them upon " that penny," which showed how carefully the " over estimate," "de2)reciation," &c, had been worked out. The " kc." rnther staggered us at the time, but the present balance-sheet throws some light upon it, for wo can discover no item whatever in it this time for depreciation of stock. We can therefore only conclude that either the steamers, office buildings, furniture, punts, and sheds have not depreciated in value during the lost six months, or else that in the former report the desreciation was worked out six montlis in advance. This was no doubt what was intended by the " &c." We are glad to see in this report that the bank overdraft has been reduced, though where the funds came from to pay it is not apparent anywhere in the sheet before us. We recommended, when we six months ago reviewed the last report of this company, that the bank overdraft should be treated similarly to the amount wiped off for over-estimate of vnlue of stock, and that it should be moved bodily over to the assets ; but we candidly admit that our proposition was coarsein the extreme compared to the system now adopted by the company. The idea of leaving the item still as a liability, but dropping a thousand or two from time to time, shows financial ability of a high order. We observe the item of "suspense," which in the last report apijeared amongst the assets, in this one comes gaily up amongst the liabilities. This is only fair. The shareholders have long since been out of suspense, and it is only right and 2>roper that the creditors should as soon as possible be placed on the same footing. There is one item amongst the assets which bothers vs — it is "' insurance," so nmch; but we have come to the conclusion that the chairman of the company must have insured his life with the company before proceeding to Wellington, and this represents his premium. We woiild only hold out one suggestion to the directors of the company for their future consideration, and that is the iuintroduction of an asset " Forbearance " in their next balance-sheet, for certainly the shareholders of the company are a most forbearing set, and if they did not possess this qualification in a marked degree, they would " want to know, yon know," how it is that with such a large traffic as is enjoyed by the company, and with such a noble mail subsidy, not only are there no dividends, but the £5 paid-up shares are, according to the report, only worth £2 10s !

Mr Edwin Hesketh (whose exact likeness " Quiz " Las not quite succeeded in catching} is probably the best " all round advocate north, of "Wellington. He does not possess the bitter telling sarcasm of Tyler, neither is he as brilliantly logical as other bnrristers we could name, but he has a clear perspicacity and an in» stinctive knowledge of what will tell with a jury, which, combined with the " gift of the gab " Did no inconsiderable amount of eloquence, enables him to conduct a large majority of the cases entrusted to him to a successful issue. It is undoubtedly when defending 1 a man for a serious offence that Mr Hesketh shines most. On these occasions, if he can get a hold of a telling point he never leaves it. The jury are brought back to it again ajid again, till at length its importance is immensely magnified. This was particularly noticeable in the Bindons case. Had the jury's verdict been asked after Hesketh's spaech their "Not guilty " would have been almost unanimous, and yet the defence was literally nothing. Mr Hesketh worked it up into something and did his duty by the unfortunate men nobly, but his efforts wei-e all thrown away. A galaxy of the clevei'est barristers in the world couldn't have got them off. Mr Hesketh is tremendously run after and quite overdone with work, but he never undertakes a case without doing full justice to it, and possesses numberless grateful clients. Away from business, Mr Heskcth is an ardent musician ; and to his caie ancl generosity may be ascribed the choral proficience of St. Mark's, Remuera. He devotes much spare time to the improvement of the choir, and tabes a sort of fatherly interest in the parish.

" For ways that are dark and tricks that are vain" the heathen Chinee is said to be peculiar, but this is a base libel on the heathen Chinee, and we are open to wager that the proverbial dark ways and vain tricks of John Chinaman are beautifully moral compared with, the business transactions of some extra-Christianised Britishers. A curious example of this has just transpired in our midst. A gentleman recently called on one of the most prominent supporters of the Coffee Palace scheme, for the purpose of soliciting the post of secretary to the company when formed. This "prominent supporter" is a most distinguished individual, socially, commercially, religiously, and teetotally. On hearing 1 the cause of the visit the latter cross-questioned his visitor as to his knowledge concerning Coffee Palaces. On ascertaining that his visitor was well up in the subject, he suggested that as he could not definitely promise a permanent appointment in the concei'n, that resting with the directors, yet in the meantime his visitor might write out a report showing how a Coffee Palace should be conducted to make it a pecuniary success. To this his visitor responded that he didn't quite see it— that his knowledge had a money value, and he did not exactly see why he should supply such valuable information gratuitously, it being notoriously the fact that not a soul connected with the inception of the Coffee Palace scheme had the remotest idea of what they exactly wanted or how to set about getting it. On being asked what value he would set iipon such a report, the visitor replied that his object was to obtain the secretaryship, but that if unsuccessful in that he should expect £2 for the report, and as much more as the promoters might deem it worth. This arrangement was agreed to, and in due course the report was written and handed in. Also, in due course, the company was formed, and Mr T., the writer of the report, was not appointed secretary. Mr T. then called iipon the "prominent supporter," who is distinguished from ordinary mortals by the name of " Holy Joe," and said that he gathered from the papers that he stood no chance of employment with the company. " Holy Joe" was extremely sorry to have to confirm Mr T.s impression. Mr T. then suggested that a cheque for his report would be thankfully received, but to this " Holy Joe " raised some slight difficulties, and the matter was postponed. Again, and yet again, was payment demanded, and ultimately Mr T. received the following epistle. In order to understand it, and to thoroughly appreciate the particularly dork ways and vain tricks of the Christian Britisher, it must be understood that the report (which, we have ascertained from disinterested persons who saw it, was most able and exhaustive) was the foundation upon which the prospectus of the Coffee Palace Company was based j also in the meantime Mr T. had been compelled to take advantage of the Bankruptcy Court. Here is the letter : — " Insurance Buildings, " 6th July, 1881. " Mr. T.— Sir,— l acknowledge your letter, but do not admit that lam under any liability.. However, I have handed your letter over to Thos. Macffarlane, Esq., Commissioner in Bankruptcy, for his inspection. — I remain, yoius truly, " Holy Joe." If your memory, oh mendacious and mendicant Ananias, was only equal to your vivid and unscrupulous imagination, you would be more of a man and less of a fraud. No one knows better than you do that we never entered your office in our lives, cither "after the men had gone," or at any other time. When the Observer was first started the question of printing arose, and Messrs. Wilsons and Horton (through Mr W. S. Wilson) were asked to undertake it. They refused, because the job woiild interfere with the Weekly Neics, and then it was that meeting you,oh ! double-dyed Judas.in Wayte's shop we asked whether you would quote a price for the work. After putting several questions as to size, number wanted, etc., you said, "What day would the paper have to be worked off ;" and on our replying, "Thursday and Friday," you remarked, " Oh ! I am going to bring out the Free Press on Friday, so my machine will always be engaged at that time." This ended the conversation, and all the rest of your tale — a most improbable one —is pure, or rather exceedingly impure, fiction. As to the mortgaging of the Observer. to which you so delicately and truthfully refer, we beg to remind you that it isn't absolutely necessary to register Bills of Sale, and that it we hadn't wished the notice to appear in tho Trade Circular we should have kept the affair private. Many things, oh ! Ananias, way have obliged us to tako this course. For instance, perhaps we lost all our capital and more than £1000 besides during the first three months, and were compelled to raise £500 by mortgage ; or perhaps we have partners who insist on being secured; or perhaps the £1000 in the Union Bank was only trust money, and not ours at all j or perhaps the paper belongs to somebody else ; or perhaps we did it for fun to mystify people. Any of these "perhaps's," and many more, are quite feasible, and if you or any of our readers think over them long enough, you will, very probably, arrive at the truth.