MAGISTERIAL.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9986, 16 March 1898, Page 6

MAGISTERIAL.

CHRIS rCHORCFT. Toksdat, March 15. (Before R. Beetham, Esq., S.M.) Drunkenness, &c. — For being found drunk John Healey was fined 10s or forlyeight hours' imprisonment; a man not before convicted, 5s or twenty-four n° u j? •? Edward Adams was cautioned and discharged. W. H. Carlyle, against whom there is a prohibition order, for being found on licensed premises, was fined £1. Prohibition Order.—An order, on his own application, was made concerning Thomas Henry Moore, to take effect in Christchurch and suburbs for one year. Alleged Larceny.—George Stiles, for whom Mr Westou appeared, was charged with having, on January 31st, 1898, stolen cheques for £145 6s lid and £100, the property, of. the New Zealand Farmers' CoOperative Association, Christchurch. Ser-geant-Major Ramsay applied for a remand, which was granted till March 22nd, bail being allowed, the prisoner in £200, and two sureties each in £200.—Charles McLelland was charged with stealing a cheque for £3 19s, the property of Jos. Stuttridge. The parties had been mates, and the magistrate saying the evidence was not conclusive as to a robbery discharged the accused.—Eliza Burnley was charged with stealing a spade, valued at 2s 6d, the property of W. de Weston. It appeared that the article had been taken in mistake, and the accused was discharged. Alleged Breaches of thk Bankruptcy

Act.—Andrew Scott, a bankrupt, was charged with having failed to keep proper books of account, and that his bankruptcy was attributable to rash and hazardous speculations and gambling. Mr Stringer appeared for the Official Assignee, Mr Weston for the accused. The evidence disclosed facts which have been fully before the public in the report of the bankrupt's public examination. Briefly, he had been about eighteen months in business as a hairdresser and tobacconist, but was also a bookmaker. He contracted debts amounting to £272, while his assets realised £99. He admitted that he had lost £200 in bets. T. B. Craig, accountant, deposed that it was impossible to make out a balance sheet from the bankrupt's books ; they did not sufficiently set forth his business transactions nor disclose his financial position. The accused reserved his defence, and he was committed for trial. Bail was

fixed, himself in £100, and two sureties in £75 each. Infants' Protection Act.—Marian de Weston, «a person licensed under the Act, was charged with allowing an* infant to be removed from her charge, and Jane Carritti was charged with the removal of the infant without the permission of the police. They pleaded ignorance of the Act, and were convicted and discharged. Maintenance.—Joseph Germano applied for the cancellation of an order to pay his wife 12s 6d per week. Mr Donnelly appeared for him ; Mr Cress well,' for Mrs Germano, opposed the application. His Worship declined to cancel but varied the order, reducing it to 10s per week.—Wra. Line, in arrears 11s with his contribution to the snpport of his father, was ordered to pay up, or to be imprisoned for one week. DINNER-TABLE DECORATIONS. » The Prince»t. Tasteful decoration adds very much to the charm of a dinner-table, and diminishes the prosaic notion of sitting down to eat together by making the very sight of the hospitable board pretty. In the days of dinner a la Russe, when all the dishea were handed round and the table bore only fruit and flowers and ornaments, it was'very easy to spend a large sum of money on it, and almost impossible to obtain anything like a good effect without considerable cost, but the average heads of families have discovered that conversation is more general, and the sense of hospitality more cordial, when most of the dishes are carved on the table, and consequently decoration is less. elaborate, though it need not be any less charming.

Under these circumstances there is simply no room for a table-centre, and so it is no longer in fashion." Tall vases 6r receptacles for flowers /are also banraheS, for they obstruct the, view, and hid*- the ■•■ faces of those seated round the table from one another. WHITK CHINA IS VflBY MVCB CSKD, and the prettiest little low baskets are made of it in imitation wicker-work/.and are not very, expensive. . White pottery, on a white cloth, however, is monotonous, so whatever may be the colour chosen, there should be a suitable mat as background for each basket. Suppose rose-pink to be the tint selected, and nothing looks sweeter; a round or an oblong shape must be out out in satin for each, according to its shape, mounted on something stiff, such as millboard, and edged with a doubled frizzed-out inching, 'made very full indeed, so that the china basket nestles into it, and yet is surrounded by a nice appreciable space of pink on all sides. The flowers can then be either white or pink, put in with plenty of greenery, and just at this season very pretty pink roses are imported from the South of France in such quantities that there really are a great

many to show for a small outlay. Pink carnations run them Very close, and pink camellias, with their dark, giO39y green foliage, are. quite, the flowers of the day. Different kinds of white narcissi and white freesias also come over, and are very graceful, with some of their own spiky leaves and a good deal of maidenhair, though fumitory, which grows like a weed in many greenhouses, serves the same purpose as that light and delicate-looking fern, but must be put in water the instant it is gathered. THE AVERAGE DINNER TABLR, to which eight or ten persons sit down, will be quite sufficiently decorated with one small basket of flowers on its pink stand at each corner, and four in the centre, where four candlesticks can also be placed with pink shades. The low " column " silver or plated candlesticks are quite perfect for the purpose. The silver and glass on the table, with a few

little glass or silver bon-bon dishes, containing pink sweets, will give quite enough colour without extra candles and shades at the corners, where they are so often pushed on one side, and the equilibrium of the shades disturbed, often with disastrous consequences. If there is no central gas or electric-light burner, and in these days some dining-rooms are without them, a couple qf TALTi, SLERDEB LAXPS, with shades to match', look very nice placed in the middle near either end of the table, and give a nice light just where that from this candles does not penetrate. Lamps on the sideboard and ohiraneypieoe also add to the general illumination, but the table itself looks beet with ail light thrown down on it, and comparative darkness above. Pale amber shades and stands need in the same way look well, and flowers in the same tints are already available, and will be downright plentiful in a very few weeks.

The old-fashioned glass troughs or trays, which are made in straight and circular pieces, are used again in Paris, and many ladies still have them in their pantries. It requires practice to make them look nice, but they are thoroughly well suited to small flowers — nothing larger than geranium blossoms should ever be put into them—and they require no background to stand on. THE QLAS3 Of THE MOMENT is a clear, dark, but transparent green, made in many shapes, but particularly in a kind of substantial specimen glass large enough to take three jonquils, daffodils, or rosee. The prettiest things for them to stand on are rounds of looking-glass, which need not be larger than the top of a tmnbler, 3!welye of these placed in groups on their shining stands on the table are very pretty, and each stand should be outlined by smilax, which is purohaseable by the yard if one does not grow it at home, and it is almost hardy. Of course, however, these outlined stands cannot be moved, but must remain where they are put. Carefully selected small-veined ivy-leaves may be used instead of smilax, but ivy becomes rather too odourous in a warm room. A group of four of these green glasses in the centre* of the table, with other groups of-.four considerably nearer the top and bottom, will leave space for two large lamps between the groups, which should also have mirror stands and green borders, but pink or amber shades, according to the colour of the flowers used. Than there is room for small lamps or candlesticks with shades to match at the corners, and flowers are not needed in those positions.