TELEGRAMS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 50417, 19 April 1878, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

CABLE TELEGRAMS.

(Reuter's Telegrams to thb Press Agency.) SYDNEY, April 18. Case brandy, 32s ; all other quotations unchanged. The Government of Queensland have asked for a postponement of the cable conference for a fortnight. ' The Board of Enquiry in the case of the Chimborazo have suspended Captain Vine Hall's certificate for six months. The case of the third mate is postponed for a week. [From thb Press Aa_Ncn*. | AUCKLAND, April 18. A fire to-day destroyed Cotter's cabinetmaking shop, High-street. The loss is estimated at £200 ; uninsured. After discussion, the City Council agreed to invite tenders for the city bank account for three years. Shh,re market : Bank of New Zealand, buyers, £24 ; National Bank, 765 ; Colonial, 52s 6d ; South British Insurance, 745 ; New Zealand, 90s ; Loan and Mercantile Agency, £6 ss. CHRISTCHURCH, April 18. Trump Card was scratched last night for the Grand Autumn Handicap, and, having gone lame, he is not likely to start for any event at the autumn meeting. The following are the weights for the Free Handicap : — Templeton. 9st Blbs ; Ariel, 9st 41bs ; Trump Card, Bst 61bs ; Bribery, Bst 41bs ; Titania, Bst 21bs ; Foul Play, 7st 81bs ; Jangler. 7st 81bs ; Longlands, 7st 51bs ; Bide-a-wee, 7st 31bs ; Maritana, 7st ; Randolf , 7st ; Mufti, 7st ; Standard Bearer, 7st ; John Stofel, 6st 121bs ; Oberon, 6st 81bs ; Luna, 6st 31bs ; Ratcatcher, 6st ; Mousetrap, 6st ; Ivanhoe, 6st ; Eclipse, 6st ; Undine, 6st. DUNEDIN, April 18. A writ for £2000 damages was yesterday served on the proprietors of the Daily Times at the instance of E. 0. Haughton, for an alleged libel. The matters complained of, it is stated, were contained in a leading article in the Daily Times of the 15th March, and in a letter signed " Morality " which appeared in last Tuesday's issue of the same journal. M'Laren, the leader of the Working Men's demonstration, was charged yesterday with riotous behaviour and drunkenness. He was released on bail, on a promise to clear out to Victoria. GREYMOUTH, April 18. New quartz reefs have been discovered in both the Moonlight and Blackball districts, and several claims have been applied for. The stone shows good gold. TIMARU, April 18. A man named William Somers, employed as a baker at Pleasant Point, was burnt to death last night. He set a batch of obread at 8 p.m., and went to bed. The bakery was a detached building, and was found on fire and burnt to the ground. The charred remains of Somers were found, but no clue as to the cause of the fire. WELLINGTON, April 18. The Hon. J. Ballance having received an application from Mr Crawford, R.M., and Mr Baker, clerk of the R.M. Court, for an enquiry into the allegations made by Mr Barton against officials of the R.M. Court, Mr Ballance communicated with Mr Barton on the matter. In reply, Mr Barton says : — " In making these charges I carefully abstained from pointing out certain individuals, lest I might hereafter be forced into the position of defending myself before Judges whom I have charged with, fostering in the inferior Courts a state of things of which I complain. I remember too well the Bridges scandal, and - how certain powerful gentlemen dared Mr Bridges to the proof, and in the same breath threatened him with prosecution for perjury if he opened his mouth. I note also that when Mr Jones boldly persisted in charging the At-torney-General with corruption, and when Parliament, at the expense of the taxpayers, directed the prosecution to clear the Attorney-General's character, Judge Williams, with the assistance of Judge Jounston, contrived to exclude all the truth of the proof of Mr Jones' charges, and thus endeavored to reduce the jury to the necessity of finding Jones guilty. I also note that this judicial juggle was perpetrated under cover of a repealed English statute, only capable of being treated as law in New Zealand in case the Judge should consider it 'applicable to the circumstances of the colony 1" Mr Barton then goes on to say : " George Jones only escaped the destruction intended for him because the jury, drawn from the middle class, was bold enough to fling to the winds, the directions of the Judges and acquit Jones of libel. . . . With these beacons before me, I cannot but believe that the intention of Mr Crawford and Mr Baker was not so much to vindicate the R.M. Court as to secure the opportunity of silencing me by civil or criminal proceedings. In Dunedin, in 1866, I had the unfortunate experience of a trial for malicious prosecution before Mr Justice Richmond and an 'assorted jury,' and have no desire to repeat in Wellington a similar trial before the same Judge and an 'assorted jury,' picked from the list of 91 (dead and alive) of the gentlemen whose interest it is to keep things as they are. I beg, therefore, to decline to place myself in the position of a private prosecutor." Mr George Thomas reports the following produce prices : — Flour (colonial), £13 to £13 10s ; Adelaide flour, £18 ; oats, 4s 3d to 4s 6d ; bran, Is Id ; wheat, 4s to 4s 3d ; hams, 9d ; bacon, 8d ; cheese, 7id ; maize, 5s 9d to 6s ; pollard, £7 ; potatoes, £3 15s to £4 ; butter, Is. Tho immigration officer sends home this month nominations for 67 persons, being the largest number for some time back. Telegraph communication is interrupted on tho Port Darwin line at Charlotte Waters, 800 miles from Adelaide.