NELSON.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 802, 25 May 1865, Page 3

NELSON.

ISk .*PRESE3SrTMENT BT THE PETIT JTTEY. |||\A jury engaged in hearing some of the j||pff« during the late session of the Supreme < ICoTirt at Nelson, seem rather to have scanJustice Johnston, by expecting to be paid for their trouble. The Examiner '■ [•Mi? the following report: — Sljxir. "Wastney, a juror, said, before we i ISave the jury box we wish, your Honour, to litate that we think that petit jurors ought to for their attendance. A large porISaof the cases now tried did not belong province, and we wish to express the ' of the jurors that such a state of iijpßgs causes great loss of time to poor men ljS£lJ___a province unneceissariry. There are . itpfltty-poor working men here to whom so < llong an attendance without pay ia a serious, 1 platter. J Judge : This is an unusual course. I llnll- however, note your remarks. If you ( l*k my opinion, I will Bay that, as jurors, < llfOTuare bound to do your duty, and that i -without a question as to province. To sit as j even the labourers whom you have Mentioned should not grudge their attend- . 3»nce. At .Dunedin, some petit jurors were ] Jy&aiiied lbr six weeks, and they never made < f||pch a representation as you have. The Ipaw, however, was altered in consequence of i long detention, and now, jurors are ■ iinot obliged to serve for more than six days. Jr3foar representation as to the necessity for « ipwfment of jurors shall be forwarded to tho ■ I Attorney-General, yet I must tell you that < value their privileges as British Jurors should act accerdingly. To offer reto a juror fbr his especial ser-l&Sm-wmjm part of his country's jurisprudence . iiweald, I should think, be an insult. The : here ia paid twice as much as he is : ; m_*aany other parts of the colonies, yet his i are equal with the highest among would surely much let the jury down Jcthj laying them ; it might be wise to make . far the expense incurred by the ; ' travelling, yet every juryman in -Bngbuid has to attend the assises without and I never heard a suggestion made they should be paid. Tour representa>ctiott»entttelyiiTegtt : lie made through your parliamentary repre--sentatives- I will, however, direct the Begistrar to inform the Attorney-General of -wfcftyoa have mentioned. l&K uok T. W. Aotilt.. Esq.—The - fuaeralof this lamented gentleman, who was i; removed firom us so so suddenly, took place •_.*- on Saturday last. His remains were followed to tiie new cemetery by a very large ,: coneororße of friends. During the few years Mil Ahtfll lived with us liis conduct as Manager of tiie Union Bank of Australia won for him general esteem, and his activity m4hoae public affairs in which he could - ~j«***per.y take part, made him a highly use- , ill member of our community. — Examiner, The Weathek.—During the last few days ...-. tha weather has been unusually stormy, aud , tins i» t_be more noticeable as the month of May is usually dry and fine in Nelson. The barometer has been unusually low since the 4th of the month, never at any time rctvching 30de&, and has been below *29deg. _ Captain FitzKoy states, in hia work on x Meteorology, tiiat the longer the time be- j tween the aagn of, and the change foretold

| by the barometer, the longer will foal weather past when it comes. On Monday, the 15th, ■the gale set in from the N.E., accompanied by heavy rain, and the register .at the Observatory gave a force of 680 to the square inch, and a rainfall of 103. On the next day, the force of the wind rose to 960 lbs. to the square inch, and there fell in the 24 hours the enormous amount of 6*35 inches of rain. The weather then moderated somewhat, and for yesterday the greatest force of wind registered was 5-10 lbs., arid a rainfall of 110 inches. This storm has also been accompanied by more thunder and lightning than was ever before witnessed in Nelson ; on Tuesday night in particular the heavens were illuminated unceasingly by vivid flashes of lightning for several successive hours. The thunder storm was at some distance from us, and appeared to travel along the hills on the eastern side ofthe town, but there were also frequent flashes of lightning seen to the westward, though very distant. Altogether, we never remember witnessing such weather beforein Nelson. The barometer still remains low, and, accordingto Capt. .Fitzßoy's theory, we are not to look for a return of fine weather for a few days.— lbid. The Pa.sa.wxu Coai. Mi-te.—The depuof the committee appointed .by the subscribers to the fund for having the shaft at Pakawau completed, in order effectually to test the existence there of coal fit for steam and other commercial purposes, have returned from visiting the mine, and we are able to state that they report everything to be in a satisfactory position. They found that all the statements made by Mr. "Wisenhavern with respect to the shaft were fully borne out. The shaft is now sunk to a depth of 39 feet 6 inches, and the water therein, as measured by one of the committee, was 7 feet deep. The j pump recently taken over by Mr. Cockram was put to work in the presence of the deputation, and raised water at the very satisfactory rate of 4800 gallons per hour, or, allowing for intervals of rest, 3000 gallons per hour, and the men at the pump were enabled, while at work, to reduce the depth of water at the | rate of one inch per minute. So far then, |at present, the prospect of sinking the shaft without' meeting with any very great difficulty seems assured. The gradient of the country on which to lay down a tramway for conveying the coal for shipment appears to be most favorable. The deputation who visited the mine consisted of Dr. Irvine, Messrs. Hornby, "Webb, Burn, and Barlow. — Ibid.