HALCOMBE.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 760, 22 December 1908, Page 2

HALCOMBE.

loan OWN CGRRBSPONDENT.] One* more the welcome Ohratmai season is upon us, of which fact our villagers are made aware by the increased railway traffic, about all which makes the holiday season different to any other time here. We shall have tlhe unusual sight of two mail trains in our local station to-day. On Saturday Mr Leslie Burcham, son of Mr A. O. Burcham, returned home from South Africa, after an absence of six years . While I am writing these lines, bovine sounds from the public highway reach my ears, proclaiming the emancipation of cows from their paddocks. The question jhas been the cause of a good deal of feeling between the Town Board and some local resident*. However, now let us hope lor universal peace and good will as Halcombe cows, etc., can now enjoy their dinner on Christmas Day anywhere they choose. The Halcombe School concert intended to be held on December 21 lias been postponed until the middle of February. The headmaster deemed it advisable to adopt this course owing to tho very ijhort time for preparation. To-day's New Zealand Times announces the death of Mrs Johnson, of Island Bay, Wellington. Deceased leaves two daughters in this district to mourn their loss. They are Mesdantfes J. Mac Donald and D. Quarrie, to whom the sympathy of their many friends is extended. Our Literary and Debating Society held the second of its series of mock Supreme Court trials on Wednesday evening. The case set down for hearing was a charge of bigamy preferred by i)he Crown against Mr Lawrence Seigal, a well-known Halcombe identity. This gentleman was accused of having three wives living. Mr 'Ebenezer' Mac Donald, X.0., assisted by. Mr David McLachlan, LL D., prosecuted on behalf of the Crown, while Mr 'Cole' Mac Donald, F.E.S., assisted by Mr William McLennan, M.R.C. V.S., undertook the defence. Messrs S. .Cuff, G. Kruger and W. Williams made three very interesting, if peculiar looking, "wives." The role of Judge was capitally performed by Mr Len. Pleasante. . Mr Don McLennan made and efficient Court Crier, and Mr Dooley foreman of the jury. The jury was composed of Messrs Henry Peterson, Alf. Purkiss, Wai. Cirantham, James Lukashefski and Albert Rasmussen. 'Constable' Frank Willcocks, with his "Soilence in the Counsel for the prosecution having blackened and villified the character of Mr Lawrence Seigal by means of damaging testimonials, forged documents, and perjured witnesses and wives, sat down to make way for the defence. Thereupon counsel for the defence sprung a surprise upon the Court by unearthing a long-lost twin brother of Mr Laurie Seigal's (in the person of Mr Fred Mitchell), who, years before, had married two of the wives in Salt Lake City. Utah, according to the rites of tlhe Mormon Church. Consequently, the arrest of Mr Lawrence Seigal was held to be a grievous blunder on the part of the Crown. A "Confesison," backed up by heaps of documentary evidence, so impressed the jury, that they brought in a verdict of not guilty, after a retirement of two minutes ■and a half. Upon the verdict being delivered, two of the wives fainted, and the curtain fell upon Constable Willcocks and Foreman Dooley rushing to tiheir assistance with a kerosene tin fuil of water.