DUNEDIN. January 31.

North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2106, 1 February 1879, Page 2

DUNEDIN. January 31.

The Supreme Court is occupied with the case of the Harbor Board v. Proud - foot. The plaintiffs ask that the defendant may be decreed to perform an agreomont relative to the lease of a number of sections of reclaimed land, which he purc'laaed at auction in June last, but sinco declined to pay for. The defendant's case is based on the statute of frauds, and he submits that there is no binding contract between him and the Board which can be specifically enforced. Four hundred Freethinkers attended Mr Charles Bright'* meeting last night. The Attorney-General presided, and the Mayor of Dunedin was present. At the Police Court to-day a man named South, who pretends to be insane, but is declared to be suffering from hard drinking, gave a lively exhibition, jumping and howling, and finally ripping down the front of his shirt. He was sent to gaol for three months for habitual drunkenness. It is understood that the Rtw A. R. Fitchett, lately Wesleyan minister, having been ordained by the Bishop of Melbourne, will proach in St. Paul's Church on Sunday. This morning the Herald severely condemns the Attorney-General for presiding at the soiree given to Mr Bright, the Freethought lecturer. . Mr Conyers is about the same as yesierday. TheDunedin Prices Current announces on reliable authority, that there seems a fair prospect of an arrangement being made between the Banks, whereby the present keen competition for deposits will cease, and that negotiations, as to a general and defined basis upon which banking operations aro to be conducted are being carried on, with an evident desire to arrive at a satisfactory determination. John Thomas, a quArryman, had both legs -broken this afternoon, by a stone falling on him when at work at Anderson's Bay.