NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 March 1907, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A bank dishonours a cheque at its own risk, according to the Chief Justice of New South Wales, who, in delivering judgement, whereby an appeal of the Bank of Australasia was refused, indicated what that risk may be In the action in the court below plaintiff, George Bailey, stated that he dealt with the Liverpoolstreet branch of the bank in Sydney, and that while he was in the town of Young he deposited dertain moneys there to be transferred to the Liverpool street branch, but later on a cheque drawn by him against the branch was dishonoured. The following day the cheque was paid. Mr Ralston argued on behalf of the bank in appealing against the verdict of the jury awarding plaintiff £IOO that there was not the slightest evidence that any of the outside public /had heard of the incident, and that accordingly there was no proof that Bailey had suffered any special damage outside the mere dishonouring of ■the cheque, but the Cheif Justice stated that if the cheque were dishonoured for a day, or even for a few hours, it was impossible to calculate what damage might be done in the meantime to a man’s credit. “If there are no assets forthcoming,” said the Chief Justice, “the banks are perfectly right in dishonouring a cheque, but they ought to be very careful before dishonouring a tradesman’s cheque, particularly for a small amount.” His opinion was that the

jury in this case had taken a very proper view, and tliat the damages were not at all excessive. Other

judges concurred, and the appeal wa not sustained.

In the course of a short lecture at the meeting of the Otago Institute, Dr. P. Marshall described the exp I oral ions made in the almost unknown Sounds district by himself and a party. He had hoped, he said, that Mr Grave, who had penetrated parts cf Otago unknown to any other man, would have been present at that meeting. It was very 'humilating that within 200 miles of Dunedin there were large unexplored areas of land. Mr Grave had penetrated the fastnesses of valleys unknown to any ether man, and had found lakes and other natural features in large numbers. One lake in particular, to which his name had been given, was seven miles in length and two miles in width. He had accompanied Mr Crave and others through a valley lying between Clinton and Milford Sound offering an alternative route lj the ono now taken by tourists. There were good" an sufficient reasons for the lack of enterprise in the way of exploration in this district at present. Supplies of food were difficult to obtain ; the weather was very wet, the rainfall exceeding 250 inches in the course of a year; and the vegetation was very dense. Dr Marshall’s remarks on his tour were illustrated with lantern photographic views. The scenery was wild and rugged, but beautiful and imposing. There were many tarns and avalanches, precipices and abysses.

To-morrow, being Good Friday, the Greymouth Evening Star will not be published.

St. John’s Choir meets to-night for practice at 7.30. A full attendance requested.—Advt.

The Edinburgh University offers the Hon. A. Deakin (Premier of the Commonwealth) a Doctorship of Laws. It is understood that the vacancy caused by the death of Mr W. Gray, Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department, will be filled by Mr G. Robertson, Chief Clerk.

Mr Kenrick will hold sittings of the Magistrate’s and Warden’s Courts during the month of April as under:—Greymouth, Bth, 22nd, 29th and 30th; Westport, 9th, 10th, 23rd and 24th; Charleston, 25th, lleefton sth and 19th, Ahaura 18th. Justices of the Peace will hold sittings at Brunner on the sth and 19th just.

•The first briquettes made by the Government briquetting plant at Westport were turned out on Tuesday. The machinery worked without a hitch, and a very good sample of briquette was turned out, each weighing 4jlbs. The management, of course, require some little time to get the best results from the works. The plant js capable of dealing with 200 tons a day of eight hours. Dialect is a curious thing. A workman, after long self-denial, was able to build his own house, and inscribed it “Mile and Tile Cottage”—a designation, which puzzled passers-by not a little. One of these had the curiosity to enquire of the owner as to the allusion. “I should think that would be plain enough” said (lie freeholder. “For years I had to mile and tile for it.” And then the enquirer saw the point. Mr W. B. Warner, of Smithfield, has compiled statistics for last year of the immense imports of frozen rabbits from Australasia. The imports from the five sources—New South Wales, South Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania — reached the huge total of 1,039,371 crates, or approximately twenty-seven million rabbits, being an excess of 288,000 crates, or seven and a-half million rabbits in excess of the preceding year. The Easier Festival at Holy Trinity Church will be observed as follows Tomorrow, being Good Friday, Divine services will be held (D.V.) at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. On Saturday the Church will bo decorated, and on Sunday (Easter Day) there will be celebrations of the Holy Communion of 8 and 11 a.m., children's service at 2.30 p.m., and evening service at 7 p.m. Special sermons will be preached by the Archdeacon, and appropriate music will bo rendered by the choir. We regret to have to record the death of Mrs Taylor (Lizzie), daughter of Mr and Mrs H. Budge, of Reofton, which look place at Christchurch yesterday. Mrs Taylor underwent an operation about a week ago, and, although she soon afterwards showed serious symptoms affording but little hope of her recovery, later news was more encouraging. The young lady was a native of Reefton, and numberless friends will sympathise with the family in their affliction.

To those in search of a day’s outing, we would recommend a visit to the Kumara races on Easter Monday. Everything points to a very successful gathering, and judging by the splendid acceptances received by the club we have no doubt that their highest anticipations will be realised, socially and from a financial and sporting standpoint. We learn that the club have secured their position in such a way as to give them the -ower to exclude bookmakers, and this they inteml.doing.:.

I The massive machinery and large buildings erected by the Government at Westport for the work of conversion of Seddonville soft coal into briquettes are now completely finished, and brick makling commenced on Monday. Mr Woodfhead, the expert in charge, calculated that by the time the day’s work was finished ho would have twenty-five tons .of briquettes manufactured. He com- ' menced with five bricks of different sorts of coal, with which ho intends to experi■mont as to the best for briquette making. —Westport Times. Eugenia Stowe, a middle-aged woman, who surrendered to the Salford police, confessed that it was she who caused the great fire in the arches under the Exchange Station, Manchester, the previous day, which resulted in the burning of twenty-eight horses. She is the wile of the owner of five of the horses stabled there, and her story is that she went to the stables to sleep. She lighted a fire to keep herself warm, and the flames set fire to the wagon sheet. The police formally charged her with arson.

Some little time ago a number of incipient fires occurred in north Revell Street, Hokitika, on different occasions, which clearly pointed to incendiarism. The person responsible for the dastardly attempts to deliberately burn down various buildings has apparently desisted from the vile practice, but another undesirable character is evidently at large in the same locality. We understand that Mr J.-Holme’s vinery was broken into on Tuesday evening, and a large quantity of grapes stolen. We learn that considerable damage was done to the vines as a result of the depredation. It is to be hoped the miscreant will be brought to justice and made an example of. Reporting for last week, the master of the New Trafalgar dredge stated that he had a most satisfactory run during the week, the dredge continuing working up to seven o’clock on Saturday morning, and putting in 130 hours. , At the beginning of the week the screen had to be strapped, and then a line of plates required to be put in at the end in order to run the week'out. The feed pump also gave a good deal of trouble, and refused to act altogether during the Inst few shifts The ground deepened, again o from 35 feet to 39 feet, and showed good wash right across the cut, which would average about 30oz. The face was 380 feet wide. There was no wash-up lost week owing to repairs being effected.

For the West Coast tennis tournament to be held at Westport during the Easter holidays, the record number of 128 entries have been received, 41 being for championships and 77 for handicaps. The meeting will be thoroughly representative of West Coast tennis. On Sunday the remains of Mr Patrick Walshe, an old and esteemed resident and miner of Charleston, were interred in the Reef ton cemetery. A goodly number of the deceased’s late friends attended the funeral. The burial service was conducted by the Rev. Father Bergan. The mission in connection with the Catholic Church has been largely attended during the past fortnight, and at times the seating accommodation of St. Patrick’s Church has been severely taxed to hold the crowd that attended. Both Father Lohinan and Father Bannan have proved themselves very earnest and eloquent in their addresses. To-morrow (Good Friday) there will be only one Mass tt 9 a.m., and on Easter Sunday High Mass will be celebrated at ton o’clock with a special musical service by the choir.