PREFERENTIAL CLAIMS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7145, 24 April 1885, Page 2

PREFERENTIAL CLAIMS.

A dubious point, illustrating an evident defect iv the Bankruptcy Act, came out in the course of proceedings at a creditors' meeting in Dunedin last week. From the reports in the local papers we gather that a landlord had distrained for 45 or 46 weeks' rent just before bankruptcy, the amount involved being nearly £300. Now, while after bankruptcy, a landlord has only a preferential claim for some 20 weeks' rent, it would appear, from a legal opinion which the Assignee had obtained, that if he distrains before bankruptcy he can claim rent for any period. This may be sound law, but it is not equity. The payment was obtained under pressure, and had anyone but the landlord obtained money under such circumstanoos the transaction would have been void under the Bankruptcy Act, and the creditor would have had to disgorge the money for the benefit of the creditors as a whole. We indeed fail to see why any preferential claim at all should be given for rent. It is a remnant of ancient and bad legislation which should be swept off our Statute-book. What valid reason is there why the owner

of a house in which a bankrupt lives should have a preferential claim for rent over the butcher and the baker and the f urniture.aeller 1 Why should he not take the same risk as other creditors 1 There may ba some profound reason for the precedence given to landlorde, but we have never been able to find ifc. The syatem is bad in principle, as it protects one man at the expense of others, and it is bad in practice, as it enables unprincipled men to make a show of greater means than they really possess, and so to obtain credit. A landlord, knowing that the law specially protects him, and that so long as there ia sufficient furniture in the house to cover his claim he is safe, is naturally prone to let hia houses without due inquiry as to the tenants' means. A man therefore easily rents a large house, renting a large house is a prima facie profession of the possession of a good income, so the fur-niture-seller lets him have furniture for it ; a large house, well furnished, are evidences of respectability which deceive the butcher and the baker. When the smash comes the landlord takes the furniture, whether paid for or not, and the other goods purchased on credit have been consumed, so there is nothing left for anyone else. A law which permits such an unjust preference is a bad law, and should be repealed.

On the fourth page will be found articles entitled " The Jack Tars and their Camels," "Professional Gamblers in Eng'and," and "A Wonderful Horse. " There was no business at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. The advertised list of the balance of the Mount Erin sections appearg in an altered form in this morning's issue, section 11 having been purchased by Messrs Mein and Campbell at £26 per acre. There was quite a procession of drays into Napier last evening. The vehicles, which were reported to have come from the Tahoraite district, brought into town a quantity of plant to bo used in connection with the breakwater railway contract. A whale was thrown up on the Pefarie beach early this week. The animal belonged to a very rare species known as the goose-back whale, its skin being spotted in the most peculiar manner. Efforts are being made to secure the head, to form a specimen for the Philosophical Institute's museum. Mr A. W. L. Oottrell, the well-known hairdresser, has presented to the Ha wke's Bay Rugby Football Union a silver lever watch, to be competed for during the ensuing season in " first fifteen " matches. The watch will become the property of the player who scores the most points throughout the season's play. Some shopkeepers have a bad habit of obstructing the footpaths. Yesterday, outside Messrs Hannah and Co.'s boot shop, six or seven very large cases re- . mained on the footpath for a long time, while their contents were being carried into the shop, A large trade is doubtless very pleasing to the firm, but their goods look better in the shop windows than in cases sprawling over 20 or 30 feet of the footpath. Our Waipawa correspondent writes as follows under . yesterday's date : — " A man named Brown was lodged in the lock-up last evening, charged with being drunk while in charge of a horse. He was released on bail, this being forfeited this morning, as defendant failed to appear. It is said that Brown had £77 upon him when arrested. — A meeting of creditors in the estate of .Robert Sporle is to be held this afternoon, and a lively time is anticipated." The usual meeting of the Clive-square Mutual Improvement Association was held last evening. The room was crowded with members and visitors. The business of the evening was the debate on the question "la the Nationalisation of the Land desirable?" The affirmative side was opened by Mr Geo. White, and the negative by Mr J. S. Welsman. A lively discussion ensued, Messrs B. Hill andß. A. Haggen taking part in it as visitors. After the openers had replied, and the president had summed up, the vote of the members on the subject was taken, resulting in the affirmative side winning by a large majority. The Hastings and Heretaunga Football Clubs will play a match on the Hastings ground to-morrow. All football players in the district are requested to attend, as the game will not be limited to members. The following, in conjunction with other players who may care to attend, will constitute the Hastings team : —St. Hill, Thorpe, Beamish, King. Harden, Coates, Faulknor, Bruce, Gordon, Beck, Chambers (2), Williams, Gregory, Dowley, Cuthbert, Ireland, M'Ewan, and Reynolds. Full practices are held at Hastings every Wednesday, and as the cup matches will shortly commence it is advisable for all players to go in for some good preparatory work. A special general meeting of the members of the Napier Rowing Club was held at the Criterion Hotel yesterday evening at 8 o'clock, the deputy-captain, Mr Alexander F. Kennedy, in the chair. The secrotary read the revised rules as drafted by the committee. Mr Thomas Sidey moved the adoption of the rules aa revised, provided that a more definite rule of the road for boats while on the river should be incorporated, and more liberal regulations as affecting the taking ont of the sailing-boat Flirt. These amendments, after considerable disenssion, were agreed to, and the rules as revised were passed unanimously. Mr Allan T. Little tendered his resignation as hon. secretary, but ultimately was persuaded to withdraw it. There was no other business, the meeting closing with a vote of thanks to the chairman. A correspondent at Takapau propounds the following query .— " In which part of the world, town or country, is the best English spoken ?" We presume that our correspondent wishes to know, not in which part of the world the most grammatical construction of spoken sentences is to be found, but which is the district where English is spoken most in conformity with the acknowledged standards of accent and pronunciation. If so, this honor is claimed for several parts of the United Kingdom, notably for Dublin, but many persons claim that correct English is more generally spoken in Invernessshire, Scotland, than in any other part of Her Majesty's dominions. We are inclined to believe that the Australasian colonies can claim the palm, but the question is? one that can never be settled till a standard of correctness is universally agreed to. For instance, many philologists maintain that the Noah Webster's dictionary, the recognised American standard, is the best lexicon of the language extant, and yet no Englishman is willing- to admit that Americans speak English correctly. To take one word — which is right, the ' Dubliner's accent in the word " engine " (prounced "injin") or the educated American's pronunciation of " enjine,'' with the "i " long and the accent upon the last syllable ? The next Royal book will come from the pens of the two sons of the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward and Prince George. It will be in two large volumes of 500 pages each, and will be profusely illustrated with pictures and maps. During their voyage round the world (in the coarse of which they visited Australia and Fiji) each of the young princes kept his diary up to date most religiously, and upon these daily entries, written on board, on horseback, in tents, the two volumes will be based. The Rev. J. N. Dalton, who accompanied the princes as their governor, has made important additions from his own diary, and has revised

the sheets himself. The two volumes ; will probably be ready in April. It is stated that a proiect is on the tapis of taking over from Holland large quantities of fresh milk in special steamers for use in London. It appears that it is possible to keep milk sweet by the use of electricity. Mr Andrew Crosse, in his laboratory at Fyne Court, is stated to have made experiments in subjecting milled to electric action, whereby it was kept sweet for weeks together. In the " Memorials of Andrew Crosse," the verysimple arrangement is described : — "Two cylinders of sheet zinc and sheet iron are severally placed in two porous earthenware tubes, open at the top, closed at the bottom, the same being filled with water . . . . and connected at the top by a coper riband The earthenware vessels are placed in the fluid (milk or other), and the electrical action immediately commences, and the fluid becomes antiseptic in a few hours." " Milk has been kept sweefc for three weeks by thia process in the middle of summer." It will be interesting to learn whether this effect of electricity is unfailing, and experiments will doubtless be made in this direction. London litterateurs are somewhat jealous that lecturing is so much more profitable nowadays than literature. Charles Dickens appears to have.acquired £33,000 by his two last courses of lectures, a fact whicl) induced Mr Gr. A. Sala. at a club dinner just before he sailed to the Antipodes, to humorously affirm that he anticipated making a larger pile in his tour in Australia than he had succeeded in doing during the last decade in the' practice of his profession. Mr Archibald Forbes, too, acquired more money by two years' lecturing than he made during a dozen as a war correspondent. Unfortunately he has lost it all in mining speculations and iv Egyptian stocks. Mr Sala will deliver lectures in the principal cities of the Union while passing towards San Francisco, whence he will sail for Australia, to continue the course in Sydney, Melbourne, and the chief Antipodean towns. The subject matter of Mr Sala's addresses will be derived from his experiences as a journalist and special correspondent, prominence being given to the pageants and great processions which it has been his fortune to witness in all parts of the world during the last twenty-five years. A prosperous manufacturer of artificial flowers, named Robert, having a shop on the Boulevard St. Martin, Paris, and a country house at Noisy le Sec, has been arrested on a charge of poisoning hig wife, with whom he had led a happy iife for thirteen years, and had two daugSjers. His wife became jealous of one of the shop girls. In March last she died almost suddenly, and was buried, on a medical certificate, not given without some hesitation. Only a week after he became engaged to the shop girl, and was married to her in July. It has lately been discovered that shortly before the death of the first wife he asked a Paris chemist for colchiline, a compound essence of colchicum, a deadly poison, but was refused without a medical pre« scription. Subsequently he presented a forged prescription to a chemist in the country, who, seeing an extraordinary quantity, refused to make it up. It is supposed that he afterwards got the poison elsewhere. The exhumation of the deceased's body has been ordered, but it is doubtful whether at this distance of time traces of vegetable poison would be perceptible. The prisoner says he wanted the colchiline to dye flowers, but the Judge of Instruction stated that he had abundance of necessary material in the shop. A prominent Southern newspaper recently won the Miss Stakes Handicap in. a canter. It published a glowing article on the renowned beautiful ' sisters, the Ladies Seymour. After dilating on their countless personal charms, it goes on as follows : — These sisters were as accomplished in mind as they were beautiful in. person. They were famous, we are told, for their learning even in an age when young ladies were not ashamed to studyi • the classical writers of antiquity, and ttf** imitate their style in prose and verse. Thus we are told by Mr Q. Ballard, in his " Memoirs " : —The only remnant of the countless thousands that once thronged the north-west are a few hundred scattered a m the vicinity of Woody Mountain, across the line in British Manitoba. Last year a herd of about seventyfive thousand were corralled in the forks of the Little Missouri, on the south side of the Yellowstone Eiver ; but they were rounded up by the Gros Ventres and Crows, who attempted to drive them on their reservations before the white hunters could get a shot afc them. Why the white hunters should want to shoot the Misses Seymour we don't know, and we can only regret that they were successful in destroying so many of them. .Nevertheless, those truly " happy hunting grounds" should still afford consolation to daring bachelors.

New colors in plush and silk velvet, black silk velvet and broclie silk very choice, suitable for mantle-making, at Neal and Close's.