LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 273, 11 August 1908, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The postal authorities advise that tho Maitai, which loft Sydney for Wellington on Saturday last, has on board an Australian mail for Now Zealand, which is duo here to-morrow afternoon. Mr. Justice Chapman will hold a sitting in Chambers at 10.30 this morning. Judgment in tho caso of Ames v. Milsom will probably bo delivered by Mr. Justice Chapman this morning. Livo stock by tho Mamari, which arrived from London yesterday, includes oho bull, one dog, six sheep, and four fowls, all of which are consigned to Messrs. Dalgety and Company, and arrived in good condition. Another of the few remaining sections of land in Lower Cuba Street is being built on. Tho land adjoining the State Coal Department's offices, 30ft. frontage by a depth of 68ft., has been acquired by Mr. James Trevor, who is crecting a substantial warehouse in brick, consisting of three stories and a, basement, which is to be adapted to tho requirements of an up-to-date warehouse, with shop premises on the ground floor. Counsel in a caso at tho Magistrate's Court yesterday was endeavouring in his best stylo to shako a witness in cross-examin-ation, but witness stuck to his guns and refused to bo shaken, whereupon counsel, with tho object of inferring tiiat witness was a good actor, asked him if ho had over been in an amateur theatrical troupe. Defendant denied the soft impeachment, and was left in peace when tho opposing counsel, addressing his opponent, snid quietly: "No; but ray friend has." The shot went homo, and counsel for the prosecution subsided, probably remembering his efforts on the stage a few years ago. Tho sumo defendant was asked by the same prosecuting counsel if he had ever heard tho story, "A woman gavo me of the tree, and I did oat." Defendant whose Biblical knowledge was inferior to his grounding in tho hard facts of the caso boforo tho Court, warmly denied any knowledge of tho story: "No, I never heard tho old woman's story," was tho reply.

Mr. R Barr, a Dunedin pressman, who ■accompanied the British team on its recent tour of the Dominion, is engaged in writing a brief history of the tour. The special meeting of the djrectors of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company was held yesterday. What transpired was not made available for the Press. Tlio work of constructing tlio Oriental Bay training wall has been completed, and only tlio revetment, tlio concrete top to tlio filling 111 material, has yet to be done. Tlio filling in is proceeding steadily. Tlio wall is to bo continued to, tlio To Aro Baths, but this will not bo commenced until the baths retaining wall is finished. In addition to one or two Wellington members who declined tlio trip to Auckland; the number of Parliamentarians loft in Wellington seems to bo reduccd to Mr. Ell (Christchurch), who will remain hero during the week, Mr. Bollard (Auckland), who has not thoroughly recovered from a recent accident, and the lion. C. H. Mills. Olio of the Legislative Councillors is also remaining in the city. Bellamy's, however, is kept open, thougji since legislators only aro allowed within its sacred precincts, the trado that is dono there is not, it may bo imagined, a brisk one.

A meeting of the Law Students' Association was held at tile Supreme Courthouse last night, when the case Erikksen v. Bunting (20 N.Z.L.R. 388) was argued as on appeal. Mr. John O'Shea occupied the Bench and Mr. Fair supported the appeal, Mr. Smart opposing. Messrs. Ostler and Smith also spoke. In summing up, Mr. O'Shea said ho could not depart from the decision in the case in dispute, supported as it was by Cook v. Fenton. Tlio point was an interesting one in mercantile law, and one on which it was stated a decision of the Court of Appeal would be welcome. An interesting discussion took place at the meeting of the Law Students' Association held in the Supreme Courthouse last evening. The question was whether a drawer of a promissory note could obtain, an indorsement before signature by himself,, and by subsequent signature and indorsement make the indorser liable to a holder in due course. Two Now Zealand cases, Cook v. Fenton and Erikksen v. Bunting, supported the validity of such a procedure, and thero were two English cases of a similar nature opposed to that view. After hearing Messrs. Smart and Ostler in support of the New Zealand cases, and Mr. Fair contra, Mr. O'Shea, who occupicd the Bench, gave a. sumr-wv of the law on the point, and decided that ho was bound by the New Zealand cases, although personally he considered it a fit question for the Court of Appeal.

A few weeks ago it was suggested in these columns that it would bo an excellent idea to transform tho lower or northern half of the Kent Terra.ce city rcservo into a playground for the children and a, promenade, the reasons for such a suggestion being tho congestion in that part of Wellington and the lack of open spaces for tho multitudo of children that swarm the streets on the sunny sido of the city. It has been decided by the Reserves Cominitteo of the _ City Council that something of tho sort will be dono with the reserve. The present asphalt path down'the centre will be concreted and the ground oil either side will bo turfed, or sown in grass, on which the children of the neighbourhood can disport themselves to their hearts' content. Tho greon swa-rd will be dotted with seats for the u.v of elder people and those in charge of tho smaller atoms of society. On either side of tho rcservo outside the wire-and-pipe fenco will bo a six-foot flagged footpath, but if the reservo is to be used much as a playground for tho young, it would be wiso to run tho wires close together or use wire netting on tho eastern side, on account of tho close proximity of the tramway track to tho footpath.