LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 327, 22 January 1863, Page 2

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT. Wanganui. Before D. S. Durie Esq. R. M. Jan, 14.—W. Hickmeat was fined ss. for drunkenness. Jan. 15.—Jas Alexander was charged with a breach of the Scab Act by driving scabby sheep along a public highway. Gregor M'Gregoi said : I am sheep inspector for the district of Wanganui. About the 3rd of January defendant applied to me to have some sheep passed, which were at Fordell. I told him I could not accede to it. 'J he sheep were to be shipped from the town of Wanganui. I have tracked the sheep along the highway, viz. No. 2 line, which I supposed to be said sheep, I did not see the sheep being driven. I saw them at the wharf at the Commercial Hotel; saw them shipped ; could swear that the Fordell brand was on some of them. I have pronounced the Fordell brand to be infected. Mr. Alexander told me the sheep were his property,, and Mr. Hume told me they belonged to Mr. Alexander, aud be had nothing to say to them. I had inspected said sheep in October ; were slightly infected at that time. Sheep must be dipped first to be pronounced clean ; these sheep were spotted only. It was really and truly the scab which had broken out at Fordell. I could not allow the Wethers to pass on coming from a diseased flock. By Defendant—l did not give notice, when I examined the sheep in October. Examined them casually. Am sure they had Scab. I have made a mistake before now in saying it was scab when afterwards it proved not to. be scab. You told me you would take the sheep away on your own responsibility. Mr. R Hume and his servant drove the sheep in ; don’t know who told them xo drive them in. Nobody was present when the defendant told me the sheep were his property. J. Loc’ hart ferryman deposed that he crossed the 303 sheepin question, noton account of defendant but for another person. There being no proof that defendant was the ownei*, the case was dismissed.

Jan. 17.—Wirihana was fined ss. for assaulting Aperahama —striking him on the face and breast and tearing his clothes.

Jan. 19.—W. H. Laird v. Rowland Dosset. Debt £lO, rent of d .vellinghouse in Ridgeway St. for four months. Judgmont for plaintiff. G. Wentworth appeared to answer sevei’al summonses for debt ; the cases were given against him : G. &E. Howe, goods

sold, £9 4s. Id.; J. Reynolds, goods sold, £8 9s Id. ; T. Lambes, for two bullocks, £ll ; J. Hindley, for ahorse, £l4. Before l>. S, Durie Fsq. R. M. and T. Harper Esq. J. P.

Jan. 20.—S. Foi’eman v. Lieut Hasted Debt, £2 145., for beer supplied in January and February last to the house in which defendant, Ensign Manners and Sir R. Douglas lived. Mr. Manners paid his share, £l 16s. Sir R. Douglas denied on defendant’s part, that the beer had been received. He was not in the house in February. Plaintiff proved that he supplied the beer. Judgment for plaintiff. Jas. Neilsou v. G. Wentworth. Debt, £6, for a cow. Judgment confessed Pat. Byrne v. G. Wentworth. Debt, £l2, due on a promissory note. Judgment conlessed.

An Old Acquaintance in Trouble Private Pellatt, so well known here from lus connection with the Theatre and the Flagstaff, was, along with Corporal Usher of the 65 th, tried on Wednesday and Thursday last at Taranaki by Court Martial, for sending a letter to Colonel Wyatt, threatening that, unless the detachment was removed to Auckland, the same fate might be expected for Capt. Gresson as befel Lieut. Alexander. Capt Gresson has lately assumed the command of the detachment of the 65th, at Taranaki, and has been giving them more bother with drills than the men like. Hence the threat. The letter was dated 17th December. It was returned on the 24th, and was read to the men on parade on the 26th. Proceedings were not taken against llie men named till the 3rd Inst. Colonel Warre had summoned the Court to meet with him on Saturday last, not being satisfied it is supposed, with the conclusion arrived at. Tea Meeting, —The Anniversary services in connection with the Wesleyan Sunday School were concluded by a soiree on Tuesday evening, at which addresses on subjects connected with Sabbath School teaching were delivered by Rev. Messrs Hogg and Watkin, aud others At tea, certain ladies presided at tables, which they had furnished profusely with the good things expected on such an occasion, and this style of tea making seemed universally approved of. Medical Appointment —We understand that Dr. Fletcher, recently arrived here, has been appointed Medical officer to the lodge of Oddfellows.

The Drought. —Such a continuation of hot dry weather has not occurred for a long time. Water is getting scarce everywhere." All the crops, except those on swampy ground, it is feared will have a poor yield. Those earlier have been reaped and stacked in fine oraer. Government Land Sales. —A note of these in the province for last month appears in the Gazette of 12th inst. In Wanganui the Campbelltown sales are

given, Sections 1,4, 6,8, and 18, to H. St. Hill ] Section 2, to John Johnston — both of these and Major Durie’s purchases being, paid in scrip. In Rangitikei 45 acres of the Agricultural Reserve are bought by G* A. Norcross. In the province 23,248 acres are sold, and J 54766 received. . Caution to Bathers. —A shark is said to have been seen in the river for two or three days past. Sale of Jewellery. —lt will be observed that Mr. Aaronson, an Auckland jeweller, is at present at the Commercial, with an assortment of watches, rings, &c., and as he will remain only for a few days, those who require such articles should lose no time in inspecting his St °KIAURi Pine. —The cargo per 4 Abeona’ of deals and scantling was sold at 21s. per 100 feet., . * Native News.—A deputation of about eighty of the W aikato tribe had set out to pay a visit to this neighbourhood, but were recalled when they had reached the head of the Wanganui, probably on account of the Governor’s visit. About a dozen, however, continued their journey, and are now visiting the up-river pahs. The River has had rather an animated appearance this week from the arrival oi so many vessels. The ‘ Corio,’ we believe, loads cattle for Dunedin. The Mail which was made up at Dunedin to be sent by the ‘ Corio was, by mistake, put on board the ‘ City of 11 obart for Melbourne. It might be lauded at the Bluff and returned ; more lively it has gone on to Melbourne. Taupo Quay Culverts. —Some dissatisfaction has been expressed at the smallness of these drains. They cost a great deal, and the Board were anxious to make theinno larger than was absolutely needed. The sizes fixed on were based on Mr. Field’s calculations (which were considered within the mark) that the 12 inch culverts can discharge 1 250 gallons, and those 18 inch 3400 gallons of water per minute. If a heavy fall of rain increase the rapidity of the current, the discharge will be increased by the increased velocity given to the current. It is believed that the culverts are of ample size.

DETTERS TO THE EDITOR. January 20, 1863. g IK> —X think the ass in the fable represents a Church, and the old man whose management of him was so generally reprobated stands for some unfortunate parish officer. At all events, no class has greater reason to exclaim, “You lick me if I do, and you lick me if I don’t!”—for while we are censured (and I think justly) if we do not conduct Church business on recognised commercial principles, we are certain to be treated to a storm of popular indignation if we adhere to them. Mr. Townsend’s case affords a good example ; and as he has been allowed to state his view of it in your columns, I must ask space for the opposite. Mr. Townsend professes to be an “ undertaker that is, he undertakes to relieve persons who have the misfortune to lose friends or relatives of all care and worry respecting their interment, and doubtless, like his brethren at home, he gets very handsomely paid for his trouble. It is his business to provide tbe coffin, &c., provide for its conveyance to the cemetery, get the grave dug, secure the minister’s services, arrange the time for the funeral, and even invite friends to attend it. No one else is entitled to interfere, and no one employed by him in connexion with a funeral has the slightest legal claim against any one but him ; indeed, were they to apply for payment to the relatives, they-would be at once referred to him. Now, every Churchman knows that burial fees are charged, and expects them to form an item in the undertaker’s bill. They are in fact an incidental charge, just as necessary to a Churchman’s funeral as the coffin or grave, and just as recoverable at law by the undertaker. They are legally chargeable for paupers’ funerals as well as others, though I believe it is true that clergymen at home generally decline receiving them in such cases, as they would doubtless do here if the Church were on the same footing here as at home, or if these fees were, as in England, their own perquisite. This, however, is not the case; but, like all other surplice fees, they have to be accounted for by the officiating minister to a fund for pensioning superannuated ministers, and the widows and orphans of those who may die leaving families unprovided for. The fees are payable at the time of the funeral; and this rule will in future be enforced here as it is at home ; and undertakers cannot justly complain of this, since not only is it usual for them to receive a payment in advance to cover incidental charges, but the law renders it next to impossible for them to make bad debts, as it gives funeral expences precedence over everything else (even over, rent and taxes) in administering an estate. Had the case of the pauper funeral mentioned by Mr. Townsend been the only one in which a difficulty about the fees had arisen, it might have been regarded as an exceptional one ; but the same has occurred iD respect of other funerals under his management, and I believe there is a second fee o.ving at the present time. We learn, too, that when the sexton applied for the fees, Mr. Townsend bade him “Go to h —l! ! ” and said he “would see p.arson, church, and all belonging to them d—d before he would payand that when spoken to by Mr. Nicholls he'utterly refused to recognize his liability. The question therefore before the Vestry amounted co this—Should we sacrifice a provision for the widows and orphans ?—should we desire our minister to acquiesce in Mr. Townsend’s views and demand payment from the mourners, or require him to engage in a chronic dispute and litigation with Mr. Townsend ?—or leave him to be called to account by the Bishop, and made to pay the fees out of his own pocket after doing the duty ? Or, on the other hand, should we require Mr. Townsend to transact his business with the Church in a regular way, and, if he refused, authorise our minister to act as we ourselves, as private individuals, would do towards a person whom we found irregular in his dealings, a repudiator of his debts, and abusive in his language—viz., decline any further business with him ? It is obvious that in adopting the last alternative the Vestry was bound to give notice of having done so, both in justice to the parishioners, and to prevent unseemly disputes at the church door ; but so far were we from wishing to injure Mr. Townsend that Mr. Hurley and myself both saw him before we posted the notice, and endeavoured to come. to an understanding with him. Equally obvious is it that if the fees were given up at our Church it would be invidious to enforce them at others, and that, as the pension fund would be in this case destroyed altogether, it Was our clear duty to support our minister in insisting on the payments. All we required of Mr. Townsend was, to put the Church fees on the same business footing as coffin materials, carting, or grave-digging.

If be had been willing to do this the notice would never have been issued, and we shall be most happy to withdraw it if he will agree to comply with the Church regulations. Failing this, he has clearly no right to complain if we refuse to have dealings with him, or request parishioners to employ persons who comply with Church rules. Your obdt. servant, H. C. Field. January 19, 1863. Sir, — I find that the Town Board, not content with taking possession of the Mechanics’ Institute,, have also changed the nauie. _ Allow me to ask a few questions about it in your columns. Why do tbe Town Board claim an exclusive right to the building ? Who are the -Trustees ? Were they consulted in the matter ? Yours respectfully, Henry Lyon. [We learn from Mr. Handley, chairman of the Town Board, and also one of the Trustees, that the building -was given over by four of the five remaining Trustees to tbe Town Board for their exclusive use. Nevertheless, the Town Board would have no objection to accommodate the public, did they not see that great inconvenience would be occasioned thereby. They have expended £ls in repairing the house.]