Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 19 December 1893, Page 3

Notes and Events.

«, The second of this month made the seventy-eight day of the trial of Bpeight v. Synie, a libel action in which the plaintiff seeks £25,000 damages, now being heard in Melbourne, and the. case for the plaintiff is not even finished. The proceedings are not so dry as they might be thought. Some of the witnesses appear to have a very good opinion of themselves. One, who had joined as chairman in 1885 and in 1891 was made assistant-engineer in charge of construction of a line, asserted that he didn't know that he had learnt much on the Victorian railways and having mentioned the names of his superiors he was asked if he would have been prepared to have taken their positions, and he said he might have been. This rather endorses "Max O'Rsll's " opinion of the young colonists. A storekeeper was examined and came out rather the worse for wear. In detailing and valueing some stores he made out that 45 rolls of 40 yards of carpeting at 4s 8d per yard came to £90, and had to make a calculation in Court showing that it came to £882 10s. He had to adroit that no stook was taken of iron between 1884 and 1893. The unfortunate witness was asked, " Do you transpose dates and generally keep your accounts in a muddled fashion ?" Of couise he declared he didn't, but remembered he had produced a letter book at the Allison Smith inquiry in which letters written in 1898 were put before letters written in 1892. Being asked what had beoome of some missing leaves he replied "I do not remember ; but I would not be surprised, because some of the boys -" "Oh yes, these boys," broke in the Counsel "it is terrible what they do! — and it was such nice soft paper, too." A Civil Engineer under examination was asked about a light line of railway, he said he knew it and had heard it described as " two streaks of nut and a right of way." The Counsell wanted to get, from the witness an acknowledgement that much money had been wasted, and so asked, " Supposing you were to put a station in a wilderness, where, with even a pair of spectacles, you could not see a tree 10 miles off, would you put two platforms there and two metalled approach roads ?" The witness would not have metalled the roads in a dry country. "If I took you down the Great Southern line* and showed you 20 stations having 40 approach roads metalled and covered with thistles, would you say that was economy ?" The witness did not know that he should. " Supposing you put an occupation gate into a paddock where there is nothing to be seen on the horizon but a miserable bullock that could hardly carry its bones along, would you metal the approach to that gate fr6ni the railway, and carry the metalling through the fence ?" He would have done so. Counsell wanted to know if witness would hav_e purchased 28 acres for a station in a swamp "the dampest plaoe I was ever at in my lite." The witness wanted to be sure ot the spot so these were the directions given " If ycu were to swim up the drain, turn to the. right and dive under • the culvert, you would get! into the station. Now no you know where it is V- Answer—" I think I do." WATER FLOWS WHEBE' GBAVITATK)N ATTR ACTS :—You reoognise the flntfaot ; the second is as true when water flaw* upwards; ; people will. not trouble w£mai)dw|aftt,t^y; buy, but ontil then Conrowor it -w the best. . ■ ... UNCLE SAM'S ROLLED OATS, the *9tt **&*•*« bMkUrtta—h -

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