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New Zealand Mail, Issue 765, 29 October 1886, Page 16

The civil sittings of the Supreme Court stand adjourned until Wednesday next. As the Carterton Agricultural Show will take place next Wednesday, Messrs Freeman Jackson and Co.’s fortnightly sale of fat stock will be postponed till Thursday.

The Committee appointed at the recent meeting of shareholders in the New Zealand Shipping Company met on Wednesday, and transmitted to the Directors of the Company the series of resolutions which were passed at the meeting, together with a letter expressing a hope that the Directors would see their way to accede to the reasonable wishes of the shareholders.

His Honor the Chief Justice yesterday committed Samuel Des Forges, lately a butcher at Pahautanui, a bankrupt, to gaol for 14 days for failing to produce satisfactory accounts of his business transactions. Mr Skerrett, who appeared for the bankrupt, pointed out that there was no provision in the Act as to whom such an order should be directed, or for its execution. His Honor said he had nothing to do with that; he simply made the order from the Bench.

The attention of the Education Board has been drawn by the Inspector-General of schools to the fact that there are a number of uncertificated teachers in the service of the Board who are receiving more than £SO per annum. At the meeting of the Education Board on Wednesday, the Chairman remarked that several of those teachers who had failed had had two years’ notice that their salaries would be reduced if they failed in their examination, so that they would have no cause for complaint if their salaries were lowered.,

With reference to the proposal of the Government respecting the outlay on repairs and painting of school buildings, a letter from the Wanganui Board of Education was read at Wednesday’s meeting of the Education Board. The letter stated that it would be absolutely impossible to administer the Act in it 3 present form, unless funds for the repairs and painting of perishable buildings were provided, irrespective of the capitation for salaries and general purposes. The Chairman remarked that the Wanganui Board seemed to lose sight of the fact that the Government were trying to force the maintenance of school buildings upon local bodies. The subject then dropped. A scheme was submitted at the meeting of the Education Board on Wednesday by the Chairman, whereby the scholarships could be increased by reducing the amounts hitherto paid to the successful pupils belonging to the city and suburbs. The scheme was adopted, on the motion of Mr Bunny, seconded by Mr Buchanan. Holders of scholarships in the Wairarapa will in future receive £3O per annum, while those residing in the city and suburbs will be paid £l2 and £2O a year respectively. Hitherto the scholarships have been appropriated as follow .—One cf £3O and one of £2O, open to all children attending Wairarapa schools ; ene of £3O, open to children attending any school in the Wellington country district; four of £2O each, open to any children m the Wellington education district. The date of examination was left in the Chairman’s hands.

At the last meeting of the Land Board, Mr Wardell asked for information concerning the site of the railway line at Pahiatua, as shown by the plans of land sold in that district some time ago. Mr McCaruie s reason for asking for the information was, that at a recent meeting at Pahiatua several settlers had complained of the „ line being shifted from time to time, and they had. said that the line had been used as a decoy-duck to induce people to take up laud. ltti reference to the question, the Chief Commissioner reported, at the meeting of the Board yesterday, that he had read the_ minutes, papers, and advertisements relating to the sale, and could find no mention of the railway line. He also stated that there was no mention of the line on the lithographs of the land sold at the time.

The only criminal case which came before Mr Wardell, R.M., yesterday was one involving a charge of assault, in which the complainant, a respectable-looking woman appeared to prosecute her husband, a man named JEL J. Bassett. As is generally the case in domestic differences of this character, the primary cause was drink. The poor woman,* in trembling accents, stated that her husband, who when sober was a most kind man, had been drinking heavily for some days past the debauch culminating in his beating her on Tuesday last. With true wirely love, however, she begged to be allowed to withdraw her complaint against her husband on condition of his promising not to offend again. The defendant, who said he_ had encountered some little trouble in which a contractor and a house were concerned, willingly gave his word that he wouid not offend again, and on this condition the information was dismissed.

Our Nalive Array in India numbers only 130,000 men out of a population of 200 millions, while the combined forces of the Native princes amount to some 345,000 —this includes police—out of a population of some 50 millions.

A block of capital land adjoining the Longburn Junction is to be thrown open for settlement in small sections very shortly. The land is part of the celebrated Karere block, and is admirably adapted for private residences, market gardens, &e. Yesterday, a woman named Mary Casey was committed to gaol for 14 days for having failed to comply with a Magisterial order calling upon her to contribute towards the support of her child, who is in the Industrial School, Burnham. The following tenders have been received by the Public Works Department for the submarine mining station, Deborah Bay contract: —Accepted, Sutherland and Nelson, Port Chalmers, £2554, Declined — Bauchop and Co., Port Chalmers, £2703 ; R. Martin, Dunedin, £2717 ; A. Bain, Dunedin, £2923 ; W. Ahern, Dunedin, £2987 ; T. Downes, Dunedin, £3387. At the ordinary meeting of the Board of College Governors yesterday the old timevexed question of appointing examiners for the annual examinations of the lads was considered. The matter cropped up in consequence of a letter received from Mr j Joseph Martin on the subject. Mr Mackay, in his communication, suggested that the grouping of subjects, the scale of marks, and the percentage of marks to be earned for the Rhodes and the Moore scholarships be the same as for the New Zealand University Scholarship. That the honor of winning these scholarships be open, as now, to the whole school, but that they be awarded to the best competitors, whose parents shall signify to the Secretary in writing that they wished to keep the successful competitor at College for at least another year. With regard to the Turnbull Scholarship, Mr Mackay suggested that the prize of £ls continue open to the whole school on tho same conditions as heretofore. With regard to the two Levin Scholarships and the Turnbull Prize of £lO, the Principal expressed the opinion that these should l be open to all Forms from the 4th downwards, and that the standard of examination should be the same as for matriculation, subject to the special conditions imposed by the donors. The whole question was referred to a committee.