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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5018, 26 February 1878, Page 2

We hear that the Cook County Council have received a telegram from the Auckland Waste Lands Board, informing them that the sale of the Potutahi block will take place in Gisborne in six weeks' time. The great majority of eur readers are no doubt familiar with the character of this block. For the benefit of those who are not, we may remark that it is situated about ten miles from the port ; it is something over 50,000 acres in extent ; about 6000 acres of it level, and of the very best quality. Something about a half of this was until recently swampy ; that, however, has been to a great extent remedied by the drainage works undertaken by the Government. About 10,000 acres of the hills are first-rate, the rest are poorer. The block altogether will no doubt realise a very large sum. On the flat a township is laid out, and in its neighborhood sections vary from 40 to 100 acres. They are in first-rate English grass, and no doubt immense prices will be given for them. The establishment of the Potutahi township will give a great stimulus to the prosperity of Gisborne, which is already reported to be in an extraordinary go-a-head condition. It would be terribly tantalising to the people there if the whole block should be mopped up by one or two capitalists. The dread of impending land taxation, however, will probably do something to provent such a catastrophe. We regret to learn that Mrs Johnson, of Wellington, wife of the Hon. John Johnson, died on Friday last, of the malady to which she had long been subject. We learn that the chairman of the Clive Road Board has been instructed by that body to write to the Hon. Colonel Whitmore and request him to resign his seat in the Hawke's Bay County Council for the Clive Riding. Owing to the drought in the Australian colonies the price of grass seed keeps up well this year. It is about 7s Gd a bushel. A paddock in Poverty Bay, 24 acres in extent, belonging to Mr Randall Johnson, ha3 produced 1300 bushels. This, at the rate mentioned, would be a yield of a very high value per acre. We beg to remind our readers that the complimentary entertainment to Mr Eva takes place this evening at the Theatre Royal. There is a probability that, besides the attraction of an excellent programme, the further attraction of the exhibition of some telephonic experiments will be presented. Mr Eva and Mr Carnell have been actively engaged in endeavoring to get a telephone ready for this evening, and if they are successful in completing the necessary arrangements in the course of to-day, it will be exhibited in the interval between the two parts of the concert this evening.

A capitally executed painting of tho well-known racehorse Papapa may be seen at Mr M. R. Miller's office. It is the production of a local artist, Mr Annabell, and is a highly creditable specimen of . his skill as a painter of animals. The only business at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday was a "drunk," who, under the convenient alias of " Smith," Avas fined ss, with the usual alternative of 24 hours' imprisonment. We learn that in consequence of the other entertainments fixed for this week, Miss Leaf's benefit concert is postponed to next week. The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Harbor Board will be held this ingIn London, the Queen's Bench Division lately gave an important decision on the law of libel as applied to criminal prosecutions. The case— the Queen v. Holbrook — was a criminal prosecution for libel brought againss the proprietors of the Portsmouth Times. The defendants pleaded that they did not conduct the newspaper themselves but employed an editor, and the libel was inserted without their consent, knowledge, or authority, thus relying on a section in Lord Campbell's Act respecting the establishing of "a presumptive case of publication," which section has hitherto been looked upon as merely regulating the burden of proof. The Queen's Bench Judges decided, however, by a majority of two to one that the section has substantive meaning, and was intended to prevent the proprietors of newspapers from becoming criminally responsible merely on the ground that they own the newspaper. "The decision," says the Morning Advertiser, "if it hold good in case of appeal, relieves the law of libel from a stigma under which it has long suffered. To make the proprietor of a newspaper responsible in a civil action is reasonable enough, whether he has taken any personal part in the alleged libel or not, because no man has a right to make his capita) the cause of an injury to another without compensating the injured person, however innocent in intention he may be. But the essence of a criminal responsibility is intention, and the rule that a proprietor is criminally responsible for everything printed in his journal is unjust, and would act as a deterrent on newspaper enterprise, as a capitalist would not care to undertake a journal if he were liable to be sent to prison for the indiscretion of a contributor."

One evening last week (says the Lyttelton Times, of Feb. 18), just before a special train arrived at Ash burton, a man was found helplessly drunk and asleep on the southern line of railway, with his head on the rails. He was discovered by the station-guard, and was immediately handed over to the police, who took care of him for the night. A few minutes later and he must have been decapitated by the train. We lately received an unintelligible cable dispatch, dated London, Feb. Ist, to the effect that Russia had been informed that " England must be held as a final settlement of the Eastern question." The message should have read — "England must be heard at the final settlement of the Eastern question." — Auckland Star. Considerable interest has been attracted in England towards the case Williamson v. Barbour Brothers, the former being Calcutta merchants, the latter commission merchants at Manchester. The Economist, of December Ist, commenting on the trial and its results, says : — "lt was asserted, and it was virtually not denied, that the defendants had habitually received discounts for which they did not account to their principals ; and that, moreover, they had in a variety of ways overcharged Messrs Williamson ; and the latter, estimating at £100,000 the amount of which they had been defrauded during the twenty-four years through which the connection subsisted, asked that the accounts should be re-opened and reviewed." The defendants claimed that they had only carried out the usages of the trade in Manchester and Glasgow, and proved this by men supposed to be above the suspicion of doing anything dishonourable ; but Sir George Jessel, Master of the Rolls, stopped that line of defence by informing them that " a custom to cheat is not in law a custom of trade," and ordered the accounts to be reopened and reviewed. He held, and rightly so, that an agent who appropriates discounts or any other profits arising out of the business of his principal, is guilty of fraud, unless doing so with the sanction of the latter.

In a report which has been prepared by Dr Hector, some interesting information is given regarding the coal seams of Otago, New Zealand. The Green Island district is estimated to have an area of eight square miles, containing coal of workable quality, and the Kaitangata coalfield is believed to extend over 40 square miles. It is calculated that, by working 61t. only from the centre of the Green Island seam, the available yield will be 20,000,000 tons, and this will leave 46,500,000 tons still unworked. There are six coal mines in operation. The average amount of coal won per day per man in the Green Island district is the least of any of the working collieries in New Zealand, and the cost of getting the same is higher here than at any other mine. Of the Kaitangata mine Dr Hector reports : " This is the third mine which has been opened in this important coalfield, which extends over 40 square miles, and is estimated to contain 100,000,000 tons of coal." — London Telegraph. A small English colony, according to the Zacht, a Russian paper, exists near Archangel, which at the present time enjoys perfect independence. This colony was formed gradually by emigrants drawn there by the establishment by an English company of some important saw-mills. The colonists have raised a town, the existence of which is, so to speak, unknown, as it neither figures on maps nor upon official records of real property, nor in the rate-books. The inhabitants of this happy place, whose numbers are not mentioned, are therefore free from rates, taxes, and all other burdens such as weigh so heavily on British householders. They are, moreover, independent of all local authority, and, indeed, of authority of any description. This strange colony is, it is stated, not the first of the kind which has sprung up m those quarters. Not long ago an American town, established under somewhat similnr conditions, was discovered in the neighborhood of the Bay of Morton, Kamschatka. A correct list of these independent little colonies, with information as to the readiest means of reaching them, would doubtless be a boon to a large and important classfof Her Majesty's subjects. Osman Pasha ai'rived at Bucharest on 26th December. He occupies a suite of three rooms on the first floor of the Grand Hotel Brofft. He is accompanied by his surgeon, who acts as interpreter, since Osman himself speaksnothing but Turkish. He has also several Ottoman attendants, besides the Russian Staff officer who has charge of the captive hero. A guard of honor paces \ip and down the corridor opening on Osman's apartments. No demonstrations were made on the arrival of the party in Bucharest. The hour and minute of Osman's arrival here had been mentioned so often during the past week that people had ceased to credit the many announcements, and, therefore, the general public knew nothing of the arrival until the distinguished guest was quietly ensconced in his apartments. When Osman reached the landing of the hotel, a little Roumanian girl stepped forward and presented him with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The tiny donor was lifted up by the physician of the Marshal, and the defender of Plevna bestowed a hearty kiss upon the lips of the little lady. Osman appeared greatly touched by this incident.