REAL ESTATE DESCENT BILL.

Waikato Times, Volume 355, Issue VII, 22 August 1874, Page 2

REAL ESTATE DESCENT BILL.

Thb Hon Mr Waterhouse, in moving the second reading of this Bill, made the following remarks: — "In the" mother country, almost every person comiiig into or having possession of real property was either acquainted with the laws regulating its descent, or took care to make himself thus acquainted. Here, however, they had a very large class who were in utter ignorance of the laws affecting the descent of real estate, and through this ignorance frequent injustice was wrought. The large amount of small properties, he believed, in tliia colony might be considered rather as family possessions than as the property of individuals. They were acquired through the united labour of the members of the family, who worked without wages in very many instances, looking to the accumulation of the family property from vhich they would ultimately derive benefit. But owing to the effect that the law affecting the descent of real property was not so well known here as in England, and likewise to the fact that there was, on the part of many persons, a decided objection to making wills, founded upon something like a superstitious feeling of abhorence to that proceeding, — owing to these two facts, the intentions of the holders of property were frequently thwarted , and property which had been made by the joint efforts of the various members of the family, Upon the deatli of thie head of one family went to one member only. He had previously mentioned a case which came to his knowledge two years ago, and which he would refer to now, for it was, to his mind, a striking argument in favor of the passage of this bill. It was the case of a property holder possessed of very considerable property, which had accumulated through the family earnings. The owner of the property was aware of the nature of the existing law, and was desirous, in his will, to do justice to the claims of the various members of h.s family. He had, therefore, bis will prepared, but, with that superrticioui feeling of aversion to signing a will, he did not execute it, but systematically carried it about on his person, so that if he were taken suddenly ill he might give legal effect to what had always been his intention. Unfortunately, however, he fell from his horse one day and was killed, leaving the will in his pocket unexecuted, and the intention of himself, and the real intention of his family in collecting together the property were entirely thwarted. Another reason for the measure wu9 that, as lion members were aware, when there w«i a debt upon rc*\ property, the whole of the personality attached 10 an estate was applied first to pay off that debt. If, thei efoiv, a num possossed an estate worth £1000, and having a moitgiige of £500, and if he died— as many persons would — under tlie impression that his personality would go to the other members of the family, he would be entirely mistaken, and his wishes would be frustrated. If the whole of that perionalty must go to pay off a debt upon the reality, which would pass to the heir-at-law, the other members of the family would be deprived even of any interest in the personality of the estate.''

When tlio steamer Parthia arrived at Queenstown on Juno 10, a large and unruly mob had gathered on tho dock awaiting the nppearance of Henri Eochefort. Ai Aochlfcrt passed down the gangway he waa at once recognised by the crowd, who received him with hootings and execrations, and made a rush for him as he landed. The police surrounded Eochefort. who it is feared would have been lynched but foi their protection. The intensely-excited mob pressed forward hooting and yelling, following the Frenchman to the Queen's hotel. From that place 1 the police escorted him te the dep6t, where only passengers were admitted. His arrival at Cork was not expected ; he therefore passed through the city unnoticed, and took the train at 9 p.m. for Dublin, whence he proceeded to London. A Yankeo editor rarely ventures into his compositors room, and w hen obliged to do so arms himself to the teeth, and leaves oa hii desk an obituary notico of himself appropriate to tho event of a sudden death. It is asked why? His handwriting is such as to invite violence- from tho»e by tlie sweft; of whose brows it is deciphered and let up. Once when preaching at Wapping to a congregation composed principally of sea-faring men and fisherwomen, Bowland Hill gieatly astonished his congregation by commencing the sermon with these words : " I come to preach to great sinners, notorious sinners — yea to Wapping sinners !" The Alta California says :— " On general principles, everything that partakes of the character of revenge should be frowned down. A crowd of fanatic husbands have broken loose in Wisconsin, and are crusading the milliners, praying and begging them not to deal out to their wives and daughters the intoxicating Spring bonnet aud the ravishing pork-pie hat on a side-dish." Two of the edible dogs of China are now on exhibition at tie Zoological Gardens in Paris. It is found very easy to acclimatise them, and it is proposed to introduce this new article of food. The dogs in question are small and hairless, and enormously fat. They are fed solely on vegetables, 8 regimen which imparts a rare delicacy to their flesh. Ehode Wand girls are not wanting in the art of gentlj insinuating that, like Barkis, " they're w illin'." It was only recently thnfc a lady, walking one evening under the classic shades of Brown's University, overheard the following conversation between a young lady and gentleman just in front of her :—": — " Charley, did you ever hear it said that if a person found a four-leaved clover and put it in their shoe, the first gentleman or lady the porson walked with would be their husband or wife?" No ; never heard of it before." "Well, I found one and put it in my shoe this morning, and you are the first, one I have walked with. I wonder if it is true ?" There could be but ono answer to this, but the unintentiona evesdropper does not mention it, leaving the public in cruel doubt as to whether the ruse was successful or not. " Loafer in the streeti," in the Press, tells the following good story nbout the hairless horse:— "Caoutchouc was being shown in Nevada, and an individual weariug an old-fashioned coat, with capacious side pockets, came to see him. Tho exhibitor kept his eye on this party. Ho saw at once that he was no common visitor — be saw in the man's eye a gleam of cunwing and speculation. Watching him closely he observed him handling the tail of the horse in a suspicioui manner with his left hand, while in his right he held a bottle. The alarm was quickly given, and the man caught as he wa» rushing out at the door. It was supposed that he had intended disfiguring the horse with some strong acid, and he waa about to be given in charge to a policeman when some one pulled the bottle from his pocket, and it was found labelled ' White Sage Hair Restorer.' The fellow proved to be the agent of this wonderful article. He said all he regretted win thafc he had not just one gill of tbe> hair restorer on the animal's tail. It would have been $10,000 in his pocket, he suid, as in less than a fortnight the horse would have had a tail that would have swept the ground. No man with abollle in his pocket is now allowed to go near the hairless horse. Ho is at once set down as a disguised agent of the greni. hair restorer. Anjone perusing the above narrative will allow that we don't know much about the art of advertising here yet." No description can give an adequate idea of the intense rigour of the six months' winter in Spitsbergen. Stonei crack with the noise of thunder ; in a crowded hut the breath of the ocoupants will fall in flakes of snow j wine and spirits turn to ice ; the snow burns like caustic ; if iron touches tho skin it brings the flesh away with it ; the solei of your stockings may bo burned off your feet before you feel tho slightest w finnth from th» fire ; linen taken out of boiling water instanily stiffens to the consistency of a wooden board; and heated stones will not prevent the sheets of tho bed from freezing. If these are the effects of a climate within an air-tight, fire-warmed, crowded hut, what mint they bo among the dark, storm-lashed peaks outside ? Wildness is a thing which girls cannot afford. Delicacy is a thini; which cannot bo lost and found. No art can ro-tore to tho grapo its bloom. Familiarity without love, wi"iout confidence, without regard, is destructive to all that makes woman exalting and ennobling. " The world is wide, these things are small ; Tliev may be nothing, but they are all." Nothing ? It is the f>st duty of a woman to be a lady. G-ood-biveduig is good ?en»e. Bad manners in woman is iramoranty. Awkwardness may be ineradicable. Basbfulness is constitutional. Ignorance of etiquette is the result of circumstances. All can be condoned, and do not banish man or woman from the amenities of their kind. But selfpossessed, unshrinking and aggressive coarseness of demeanor may be reckoned as a state prison offence, and certainly merits that mild fqrm of restraint called imprisonment for life.. It is a shame for women to be lectured on their manners. It is a bitter shame that they need it. Women aro the umpires of society. It is tbey to whom all moated points should be referred. To be a lady is more than to be a prince. A lady is always in her right inalienably worthy of respect. To a lady, prince and peasant alike bow. Do not be restrained. Do not have impulses that need restraint. Do not wish to dance with the prince unsought ; feel diilerently. Be such that you confer honour. Carry yourselves so loftily that men shall look up to you for reward, not at in rebuke. The natural sentiment of man toward woman i^ reverence. He loses a latgo means of grace when he is obliged to account her a being to be trained into propriety. A man's ideal is not wounded when a woman fails in worldly wisdom ; but if in grace, in tact, in eentimint, in delicacy, in kindness, she should be found wanting, he receives an inward hurt.— Gail Hamilton, Youu^ Austialia is ever ready to seize a favorable opportunity. "Lately, an elderly newspaper seller, who had been in the sun, stn<igerecl against a plate-glass window with a destructive crash. He subsided on tho pavement, and sat fatuously looking ot a, crowd ef small newspaper sellers who! had collected around him. The proprietor of the ofice, natur»lly enraged, sent for a constable. As the officer appvoaelicc'l, one of the little felloe s quite equal to the situation srm j to the inebriate, "Look here, old fellow! here's tho peeler coming- What'll you take for that lot of paper* ? .No use to you ; jou 11 bom the watchhous.o directly."

Prescott, the historian, when at college, was subject to uncontrollable fits of laughter which amounted almost a disease. He once went to the study of the Professor of Rhetoric to receive a private lesson in elocution, no one else being present. Prescott took his attitude as orator, and began the speech he had committed, but after proceeding through a sentence or two something ludicrous suddenly came across him, and it was all over with him at once. The professer-no laughing man-looked grave and tried to check him, in a tone of severe reprimand. 1 his only seemed to aggravate Prescott' parody™, and he tried m vain to bee the professor's pardon, but he could not utter an mtelligiblff,word. At last the ludicrousness of the situation •eized the profeisor himself, his features relaxed, and he began to laugh. The more they looked at each other the more they laughed, each holding his sides, with tears rolling down his cheeks. Of course there was an end of reprimand, and equally an end of declamation. The profesor was the first to recover himself, (saying, " Well, Prescott, you may go, this will do for to-day." A lawyer once attempted to palm himself off as Jtufus Ohoate m a New England town. At the suggestion of a printer who was present the "writing-test" waa applied to him. He wrote a legible sentence, and was promptly kicked out of the company.