CONTRACTORS DEBTS ACT.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 229, 28 October 1873, Page 2

CONTRACTORS DEBTS ACT.

A Taranaki contemporary explains the provisions of tlier above Act as follows :—: — , Experience has shown— hot exactly in this province, but in other parts of the colony — that* contracts and subcontracts are sometimes taken by men' possessed of little means and at such ridiculously low rates that when bankruptcy has- resulted, which is too often the case} the workmen employed are great sufferers. To remedy this defect as much as possible an Act was passed by the General Assembly in 1871, entitled The Contractor* Debts Act, which enables workmen or persons emplbytd upon worln in which* a lieu over the thing worked on cannot be acquired and for which their employer has failed to pay them, to obtain payment for the same from moneys due to their employer for the work they have done. Before proceeding to describe the provisions of the Act. we may state that clause ] 3 enacts that a contractor who sub- lets any part of hit work is still liable to the extent provided for by the Act (sixty days) for the wages of the workmen employed by the sub-contractor. Therefore, according to this Act, a workman may' elect to proceed against either the contractor or sub-contractor for the recovery of wages due,the words of the Act being — ' a workman employed by * sub-contractor may proceed against the contractor as in ■ this Act provided, as if he had been directly employed by him/ The first clauses of the Act point out how a workman, by suing a contractor, may obtain a certificate from, . the magistrate for the amount of sixty days woi k. At the time of taking out the summons against the contractor the workman, by leave of the Court, can serve a notice of the action upon the contracted or person to whom the contractor looks for payment. When the contractee receives this notice,, he is bound to attach and hold till the judgment is given in the action any moneys due op accruing due, by him to the contractor or se much thereof- as the Court shall order, unless he bo otherwise directed by the Court or on application made by himself. Leave to serve a notice of this sort on the contractee may be obtained on the exparte application of the workman, but on makingapplication be must piwe on oath to the satisfaction of the Couitthat the sum sued for is due and owing by the contractor. If a workman obtains judgment, he then applies for a certificate setting forth the cause of . the debt , and this certificate for the purposes of the Act is held to be conclusive. Armed with the certificate the workman then serves a notice on the contractee in a form prescribed, to which a copy of the certificate must be attached. When this notice has been duly served, all moneys due or accrue due from the contractee to contractor to the amount of the workman's debt 'shall be deemed to be effectually assigned by the contractor to the workman.' But these same moneys are subject to ' any prior assignment thereof ' under the Act, provided such assignment is binding upon the contractor and contraotee at the time the notice was serred on the latter. Should a number of workmen have claims upon a contractor and follow the course already described, the priority of assignment is to be determined by the order in which the notices havebeen served on the contractor, but all notices served within seven days of the first, in respect of the same contractors in any one year, shall be deemed to be served at the same time. This provision is made witH the view of securing the equal distribution of moneys due to the contractor amongst all the workmen serving the notice rateably in proportion to the amount of their respective debts until payment of all in full is made. A contractee is-> prohibited from paying any one workman* debt until thisperiod of seven days has expired, thus giving time for all to substantiate and send in their claims against a contractor. We have briefly reviewed this A«t, believing that its provisions are not perfectly known in the province.

Mixed Eelatiusship. — ' What's the matter, Bob ? ' ' Sam, who ami?' • Why, you are yourself, Bob Harrison, ain't you ? ' ' No, far from it.' l Why, what's the matter ?'* ' Well, sir, I am so mixed up that I don't know who I am.' 'Well, sir, what's tho matter? 1 'Why, I'm married.' 'Married? Ha! ha! ha! Why, sir, you should be happy.' ' Yes, but I ain't.' ' Why, all married men are supposed to be happy.' « Well, Sam, I'll tell you how it ii. You tee I married a widder, and this widder had a daughter.' 'Oh,, yes — I see how it is. You have been making lotc to this daughter.' ' No ; worse than that. You see my father was • a widower, and he married this daughter, so that makes bit father my son-in-law, don't it ? Well, don't you see how I'm mixed up?' ' Well, is that all ?' 'Noj I only wish it was. Don't you see, my step-daughter i* my step-mother,, ain't she? Well, then, her mother is my grandmother,-. , ain't she ? Well, I'm married to her, ain't I ? So that makes me my own grandfather, doesn't it. r Giving Away a Bbide.— The etiquette connected with, the " giving away " of a bride elect is of a somewhat mysterious kind, and difficult questione sometimes arise as to - the proper person to perform this duty. Without venturing to decide on the contending claims of persons standing in* various degrees of relationship to the bride, it may at least be confidently affirmed that under no circumstances could the lady's present husband properly undertake the task in^. question. Robert Earle, a labourer, wbo appeared the other day before Baron Oleasby, at Norwich, has been guilty of this specimen, and haa been punished for it By two months' imprisonment with hard labour. It appeared that on the 18th September list a bridal party, consisting of Mr and Mrs Earle and Mr Farrow, assembled before the registrar at' Norwich to solemnize the bigamous union of Mrs Earle and Mr Farrow. The marriage ceremony was duly performed, Mr Earle " giving Mrs Earle away"" What passed at thewedding breakfast will never be known, though, no doubt,, the peculiarity of the circumstance must have afforded both to Mr Earle and Mr Farrow opportunities for substituting much novel eloquence for the usual " inexpressive nuptial* •peech." Mr Farrow, however, "abscond©' almost immediately after," and the wife, who was charged with thebigamy and liberated on bail, appears to have gone and joined him. At any rate she did not now appear on her bail, and Mr Earle, on being asked what he had to say, replied that " he and his wife did not get on very well together, and had a fow words, so he gave her away." Mr Barle'smode of dealing with matrimonial " incompatibility " hastlie merit of simplicity, and is, moreover, more humane than that often adopted by others of his class. It is better, nodoubt, to " give away " a wife with whom one does not agree than to dance upon her in hobnailed boots. But we are not quite prepared for such liberty of divorce as Mr Earle has ventured to anticipate, and he mint, suffer likeothers for being in advance of his age. — Pall Mall Gazette. Flirtation I understand to be the attempt to amuse and be amusing to tome other individual of the opposite »ex,. irrespective of any real feeling 'on either side ; for once real' feeling come into play, with either the one or the other of the party, whichever it is that experiences it, tbat one ceasesto flirt, and more or less forces the other to discontinue, also. The other one may endeavour to keep it up longer, nnd'raay for a time succeed, but infallibly, sooner or later, will mako mistakes, either from being frighteasd into taking too much interest, or from being frightened into taking too little, and the game is spoiled. Sham feeling there may be to any amount, or even perhaps real interest. Sham feting, in some degiee, is necessary to the piquancy of the game, but should be looked oftener than spoken. This is my idea of flirtation pure and simple, without any adulteration or admixture of other emotions. It fs a very amusing game, if well played by two skilful performers. It requires a quick eye, a ready wit, and a good deal of natural talent for acting, but is, I am sorry* to' say,too prone to ohange into its frequent accompaniment^ love-making. If you want to see a game of flirtation well played, watch Mr Slingsby and me the next time he comeshere. As to the other thing, it is a much more serious affair than flirtation, and to my mind, not nearly so pleasant. I' cant work myself up to a corresponding state of feeling'with tho other party in the business, for this is a business, and> not a game ; and I don't care to feel that lam malting a menof the work, and not carrying out tny share of the performance as I should wish to do. Here again, however, the eyes do atmuch if not more than the tongue, which may be permitted' to express the sentiments also ; but I think in this arrangement, particularly if it is not likely to come to a happy termination, sighs play quite as large a part as anything else. It is too serious a matter for me, and I don't go in 'for it. It also permits of all the work being done on on* fide ; and, as an example of that kind of love affair, I may cito Captain* Morton and myself, for it has really got to that state with him, and that's w hy I hate him, and wish h« was out of this. Kathbrinb Kino. It is curious to note by what slender tics we sometimesbind our attachments, and what comparatively small matters will endear home to us. And there are but few rural homes destitute of the means |n hereby such attractions may be created. The meadow, now disfigured by a mudholo where the shallow creek widens and the cows repair in fly timo to cool their feet and dash the muddy water over their flanks, might, by a little labour, be ornamented with a pond j a dam, built at the cost of a few days' work, might be made to overflow the shallow spot, and a pool, bordered with fiesh green turf and shady willows, would add beauty and utHity to the field and tho farm, and next summer them would be ice in the dairy, and ice-creams for the children, thing* almost unknown in funn houses now, where, if anywhere, they should be indigenous ; or the great rock en the hillside, now bare, and devoid of everything but ugliness, if planted around by a few chctnut trees, and furnished with rustic benches, would be a chosen resort of the children, It is sucli simple things as these that make a home, not merely the place where wework, and cat and sleep, but where the happiest moments of our inner hearts live and find their growth. It is around such things that ,ouv associations gather, and the memories of them are held sacred. An untutored spring, wandering dark and dunk through a bod of tangled and noisomo weeds, is the opposite of lovely ; but gathered into a channel, and made to trir-klo musically from one moss-clad rock toanother, and to give life to a bed of forget-me-noU, or a fe.v nosts of 6weet violet?, nnd coolness to a shaded retreat covered with vines or honeysuckle*, wlcre an hour of rest may bo pa-sed in pleasant musing*, is a spot to be love I aud remembered. A home so furnished wilL

not willingly be abandoned, and will be left — when the inevitable time of parting conies— with regret, and with au unquenchable desne to return and renew old and pleasing associations And where suoh a love of the beautiful pievails. it is likel\ *■» pcivade all the business 01 the tanu. Fenee-iows will be eleiml of noxious weeds, dead trees or leafless blanches *ill not cumber the orchard, barn-yards will not reek with filth, lnrns and sheds will not exhibit gwa 1 gaps through which (he wintry wind, with keen tooth, may bite the sin inking, shiveiing sto<k; but the general lo\c of o'tUr will show itself, and the farm will pay. 11, before her nmn.ige, a woman knows that 11 man who 13 to be her hushnnd is addicted to intemperance, how fnr (says the London Telegraph) 13 ahe debarred after marriage from complaining of hi* intoxication ? The question rs very difficult ; but Sir Hew Crawford Pollok, of Pollok, appears to entertain the conviction that prenuptinl intoxication, if known to the wife, 13 a complete answer to her complaints that ho is guilty of post-nuptial excesses It seems that two jears ago Sir Hew, being then 28 rears of ajre, married a Mips Annie Oreen, of Hull, who, when she made the Scotch baronet's acquaintance, served behind a bar at Scarborough. Holding that position. thelad\ hnd doubtless considerable oppoi timiliiM of studying her siuL>»''s tendiMicv to indulge to excess m spntnous liquors Possibly Miss Green imagined that her own charms were the inducement which led the baronrt to \ isit the bar too frequently, and thit as Ladr Po'lok she would br ablr to estrinj" him froii his enps. The lesult proved the )U>tice of the French proveib — " Qui a bit Loire." Sir Hew had drunk as a bachelor, and he drank more as a Benedick According to the evidence, the worthy gentleman used to keeo an nssortment of firearms in his bedroom, and wns in the habit of firing them off when he cumo to bed drunk— an incident which was of daily or nightly occurrence. Lady Pollok got tired of these freaks of her lord and muster, and applied for a separation Thereupon the husband virtually pleaded that, as she knew he was a drunkard when she married him, she had no cause to grumble because he 1 emaincd a sot The Judge of the Court of Sessions decided, however, that this plea could not be sustained, and gave the respondent's wife an alimony of £500 a year — that is, of one-sixth of her husband's income. The reason alleged by the Court for restriding the amount to this moderate sum was Hint there ware " burdens attending the bironet's position which must be kept in view." ;W the burdens apparently consisted in an unlimited supph of wln»kcj toddy, it seems as if the income left to the 'husband of Ci.TOO for his exclusive enjoyment was somewhtb excessive 'it is stated that the Baroness Burden Coutts, and Mr Coulthnrst (senior partner inCoutts's Bank), have each contributed the munificent sum of £15,000 towards the- formation of a widows' and orphans' fund for the benefit of tli.it establishment. Grri\ ltv is more e\ idence of « Udom than a paper collar is of a linen shirt. A Kentucky paper, in reporting a wedding, sajs thit the bride was not particularly handsome, but her father threw in ►even mules, and the husband wns satisfied. A « lttv little Aberdeen boy, suffering from the application nf the birch, smd, "Forty rods are said to be a furlong. I know better ; let anybody get such a plaguy licking as I've hud, he'll find out that one rod makes an arher ! " The Cattle Show bring hrld on November 12th, HrßucfcKind's cattle sale, advertised for that date, will take place on Monday, the 10th