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New Zealand Mail, Issue 209, 11 September 1875, Page 16

“ Owing- to the scarcity of bark for tanning purposes in England,” says the A vara Free Press, “ the past season, has been a very prosperous one for wattle bark strippers. The price paid at the Portli-Eastern railway stations, in the neighborhood of Seymour, has been as much as four guineas per ton. A landed proprietor in the Mount Gambia- district lias refused an offer of £-1000 for the privilege of barking the wattle trees on liis estate. Another offer of a royalty of £4 per ton for all that was stripped was also declined. At the Supreme Court at Perth, West Australia, during the hearing of a charge of murder against the aboriginal Bandang, the Attorney-General produced a dying declaration of the female native Jenny. The Chief Justice remarked that it would be a point to consider in the reception of such a declaration whether the woman was acquainted with a future state. Such was admissible when made by a person vrlio apprehended that lie or she would shortly be called before their Maker to give an account of themselves ; but this was not the case with one who had no idea of future awards and punishments. In the case of infants of tender years he would rather give credence to their evidence than to that of many of a more advanced age—for they would be more likely to tell the truth than many old sinners—but still in such a case it was always for the Court to judge whether witnesses were of such a tender age as not to be acquainted with the nature of their obligations. He thought that the case of a child was strictly analogous to that of a native who had no knowledge of a future state, and that therefore any dying declaration was not admissible.