AUCKLAND NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 12626, 4 October 1905, Page 5

AUCKLAND NOTES

[Special to nut Stas.] October 4. —Support of a Wife.— A somewhat rare application was made by Mr W. J. Napier to Mr Oyer, S.M., at the Police Court yesterday. Taking advantage of the provisions of ihc Ikvstitula Persons Act, he applied ft>r an order from the magistrate for tho sale of a piece of suburban land at Oannevirte, so ihat the proceeds should be applied towards satis tying an order for the maintenance ot hi.wife which one White had neglected to obey. The husband had left the colony. Mr Napier called Ann White, for whow maintenance the proceeds of the land wore proposed to be applied. She stattd that her husband had given her the kind, though ho did not hand over the deeds. Coder the belief that she oimcd the land, she hid sold ft for £4O, but subsequently found that she had not a title to it. Hi:. Worship made the necessary order for the sale, and directed the clerk of the court to supervise the matter aud make payments of 10s per week to Mrs White out of the proceeds. —A Clerk's Strange Freak.— A remarkable story ur.s told to the Auckland Harbor Board yesterday afternoon by Mr U. O. Young. He applied for a reduction of rtoraga on a consign ii ent oi chaff. He stated that 1,000 sacks of chaff were shipped by his principals (Geo. Q. Stead and Co.) from Lyttelton to Bond and Bell, of Auckland. Tho consignees, however, refused to accept delivery on the grou ad that the chair was not up *o ({utility. He obtained from Mr Stead by wire instructions to sell elsewhere, and. hs sold to Wheeler. lie wired several times to Mr Stead to instruct the Union Bank to hand over the bill of lading to Wheeler, but neither ho nor the Bank received any reply till he wired to it mutual friend in Christchurch to advise Mr Stead to comply with his request. Instructions were then immediately forwarded to the Bank, and the bill of lading banded over. “Then only," continued the writer. ‘ did I find out to my horror that ny office assistant had been altering many if ray wires so that th»y were meaningless, md suppressing altogether the bulk of .hem. I agreed to pay half of tho storige charges, but they wrote me suggesting liat T should place the matter before you. •\ petition had already been presented to the Postmaster-General asking that receipts should be given for telegrams when desired. This petition was .signed by many of the leading firms there. Had a system of giving receipts been in operation, this mishap would never have occurred.” When the matter came on for discussion by the Harbor Board the chairman said tii"- communication curtain]/ contained a matter which would be an eyeopener to the business people of Auckland, but the Board conld not break their iu!c in regard to storage charges. He accordingly moved that tho application bo refused, which was carried. —O’Connor's Fan.

T. B. O'Connor some months ago invented a patent tell-talo contrivance for checking the practice of pulling horsey in laces. It was a fan which How open as ioou as the reins were drawn in. He was so confident of its success that he decided to get it patented all over the world, but naif way tlirouifh ho dunged bis patent agent (Mr G. Basley, the partner of Mr A. J. Park, Dunedin) for another, whom, no doubt, be thought would do better for bira. But certain charges were inenrred, and for these Mr Basley sued O'Connor, the amount being £3l, expenses for taking out patents in various eountiica. The defence contendjd that the contract with respect to the United States, Australia, Germany, and New Zealand had nut. been fully carried out. Defendant said that when he made arrangements with B.islev he thought bo should certainly obtain patents. Tn connection with Basley it was practically agreed that in the event of any patent t.ot being secured a refund should be made, and he held back £3O when he discovered that n, jutent was not forthcoming. He particularly wanted the patent legistered in America, as. patent 3 seemed to be more valuable there and sold better. Basley tcld him that care would have to be exercised in applying for the Arnerienn paten*. He admitted in cross-examination tbat he had no eornT.laurt respecting the cfmrgo n-ade, his only fear YK-on tbat the. delay occasioned might have resulted ii sr-meono 'jumping" his patent in America. 'I he magistrate said that it seemed to be rerfeetlv clear that plaintifr had done everything agreed upon. Tit applying for the patent he did not guarantee to obtain what wai applied for. Judgment was liven for the amount claimed, which is to fee paid into court and held for a period to illow of an arrangement being arrived at by the principal parties. Spread Is bag of " Rockland " mannro over voor little garden, and youl! be delighted with the results.—jAdvt.]