NELSON.

Otago Witness, Issue 902, 13 March 1869, Page 7

NELSON.

(from our own correspondent. ) February 28th.

A public meeting was held the other week, to take steps for the formation of a committee on whom would rest the duty of making preparations for the reception and entertainment of the Duke of Edinburgh, on his arrival and during his stay in Nelson. There is a general feeling among what old Cobbett would have termed the "thinking people," that in the present state of the province — which is decidedly somewhat hard- up — and of the colony — which is admittedly financially worse, and is, besides, mourning over her children so cruelly slain — it is not advisable to expend money on mci c display, or in an attempt to ape the triumphant receptions which the Duke is no doubt tired of witnessing. His Honour the Superintendent, who presided on the occasion, stated that he believed about £GOO would suffice for expenses, and so that sum has been placed at the disposal of the Reception Committee by the Executive. The committee includes his Honour the Superintendent, the members of the Executive, Sir David Monro, the Hon. Dr Renwick, his Honour Judge Richmond, Mr Edwards, M.H.R., and a few other citizens. Panama House has been taken for a residence for the Duke and the Governor and their respective suites. A vote of £1 50 has been made to the committee of the Jockey Club, to aid them in providing some additional racing inducements to distant owners of horses, as of course there will be a race meeting, which will be followed by a ball ; and there is also some talk of giving his Royal Highness a day's shooting on the Rabbit Island. Expectations are indulged here that the Galatea will bring the Prince, which I should suppose is the likely and proper thing, and that an opportunity for inspecting this fine specimen of England's iron bulwarks will be allowed — a sight which all who see it will remember for life.

In former letters I made mention of certain Bankruptcy Court proceedings, and the evil influence of systematic accommodation bills. Subsequent examinations of the bankrupt in the special case (Sutcliffe's) referred to, have brought out some very \igly facts, which show a system of banking complicity with, to put it mildly, extraordinary bill dealings — the exposure of which has created a great sensation amongst all business men in this place. A long series of accomodation bills extending over two years was carried on. If they were not commenced by the suggestion of the banker, as the bankrupt swore they were, they were regularly paid, not by the accommodating acceptor, but by the bankrupt, and as regularly debited to him in the bank pass book. The men, for the most part, who were giving their names to these bills, were men whose " paper" no ordinary money dealer would have looked at for a moment. Two cases especially called for the Judge's notice : one was that of a sawyer, who could neither read nor write, bat whose "kites" perambulated the circuit for years, going from the bankrupt to the bank, and from

the bank to the bankrupt again, aa they reached maturity. The bankrupt's daughter used to sign the name of this sawyer, who was called Rose, but certainly his name smells not sweetly here. Sometimes they were even signed in blank, in the presence of the acceptor ; and with reference to one bill, this illiterate billdealer (whom any banker, with a shadow of attention, could have found out in a day's time) deposed in Court that he never authorised his name to be attached to it. Another man, a village butcher, who "can read a little," but " cannot read writing," also did two bills, one of which he believed was a bill for Ll3, which he had borrowed for two days, but which turned out to be a bill for L6B 9s 4d. (These bills, by the way, were always made out for odd sums.) He paid the Ll3 he had borrowed, but the bill was duly "melted" in the bank crucible. This man, whose .name was Boyes, has a brother, who is a policeman in the little village, and this policeman for years had " accommodated " Sutcliffe. As with the two Antipholuses of Syracuse, the Court was like to get confused in the affiliation of the paper children of these two queer boys. The observations of Judge Richmond in the Court, respecting the position of ,the Bank of New Zealand in the case, 1 quote without further comment : — " At last Bitting of the Court in this case I said something respecting the fact of the accommodation bills being all made out for odd sums, and that that fact led to the inference that they were so made out in order to deceive the bank, and enable them to pass as trade bills. I have changed my opinion on that subject since T had an opportunity of examining the bills and the entries in the tank passbook. 1 observe the bank is not nere, and 1 should have supposed, had the bills been passed as trade bills, the bank would have had good grounds to complain. But it is pretty clear to me that the manager of the bank must have known for at least twelve months before the failure, — I do not go farther back than that, although the pass-book shows the same round of names for a long time before then, — for the last twelve months the banker must have known perfectly well the true character of these bills. If he did not know that, then I can only say I shall be very much astonished. The bank, however, is I not here to complain, and whoever else may complain as to the condition of the estate, most certainly the bank ought not to complain. The bank, as I have said, is not represented, and I am not astonished that it is not represented. The petty deceit of making the bills for odd shillings and pence was a device which, as the bank book testifies, could take nobody in, and in fact it did take nobody in." On Friday last the bankrupt came up for discharge. The Judge, on that occasion, said that the fact of a man who believed he had property to cover all his debts and something over, obtaining the name 3of friends to bills, getting them to lend him money in this fashion, was not necessarily a trading delinquency ; but he condemned the manner in which some of the bills were obtained, and particularised those of Boyes and Rose as very wrong — in fact, approaching almost as near as possible to placing bankrupt within the grasp of the criminal law. In one of Rose's bills, both he and his daughter were on the verge of a precipice — on the verge of a crime against the law. With the conduct of the bank, which knew perfectly well that the bills were accommodation bills, he had in that Cotirt nothing to do : he was not there to consider whether the bank was acting in accordance with the principles of banking or not, nor whether it was acting in accordance with sound trading practice and commercial morals. That was the bank's own affair, and he wa3 not sitting in judgment on the bank, bat to consider what should be done with the application of the bankrupt ; and while not disposed to deal harshly in a case where a good dividend of ab@ut 10s in the pound was paid, yet it was necessary to mark disapproval of the bankrupt's conduct in regard to these bills, and therefore the discharge would not be granted for six months.

This is not the last case of very strange bill arrangements which the present term will witness, and perhaps the commercial air will be purified, after these storms in bankruptcy. Judgment was given in the Supreme Court the other day on a question of some importance, regarding insolvents as lessees. Before the Magistrate's Court at Hokitika, Greer sued Alfred and Daniel Cleve for rent, under a lease dated 2nd December, 18G7. On 3rd August last, Alfred Cleve filed a deed of assignment under the Act of 18C7, and pleaded in Court that that deed released him from all liability after the date of filing ; which was denied by Greer, who contended that such filing did not release a lessee from the expressed or implied conditions of his lease. The Resident Magistrate adopted the view of the defendant, Alfred Cleve, and gave judgment against him for rent down to date of deed of assignment only.

and against Daniel Cleve (who appears to be non est, or not deemed gooa for the amount by the plaintiff), for the sum claimed. Against this judgment plaintiff appealed, and the Judge overturned the decision of the Court below, giving judgment against Alfred Cleve for the full sum, on the ground that though deeds of arrangement, duly assented to by the creditors, and duly executed, bind nonassenting creditors, and are to ' c taken as substitutes for bankruptcy, yet it does not follow that the one mode of proceeding is for all purposes the equivalent of the other. Tiie Judge concluded an elaborate judgment thus :—: — " In argument, the respondent's (Ci eve's) counsel, placed his chief reliance upon the terms of Sections 269, 270, 271, and 280. It seems to me that none of these sections gives to the deed any additional efficacy as against third persons. They merely provide that the administration and distribution of the assets under the trusts of the deed shall be carried on and effected under the superintendence of the Court, in a manner analogous to the practice in bankruptcy. They do not extend the effect of the deed as a discharge. The judgment of this Court is, therefore, for the appellant."

Clerical unity is sometimes too rare. Here the unanimity of the different bodies is wonderful, and you find clergymen of all denominations on the same platform in public matters, and even in private and congregational affairs a sensible Catholic charity isnot wanting ; the Church assists dissent at its congregational meetings, and dissent concurs with theJChurch in its Christian objects, and they act together. At a meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society here, various clergymen were present, including the Bishop of Nelson. The Rev. Mr Watkins, of Taranaki, made an able speech, tracing the history of the Wesleyan Methodist Mission down to the present tune from its formation, just 100 years ago, when the Rev. J. Wesley asked his brethren in the British Conference the question — " Who will go to America 1" to -\\i"ch the Revs. Broadman and Pilmor responded and went. He then touchinely rtfmred to the murders at the White Cliffs, Where his late colleague had suffered death by the hands of the Maori. He did not believe that they knew their 'victim. His Lordship the Bishop followed, and spoke of the advantage of united labour of all sects in this great enterprise, and levnvd to the Polynesian Mission, and to tiie work it was accomplishing. Poor Gascoigne, who was murdered at

White Clifl's, h.is relatives in this neighbourhood, and I observe that photographs of the late Mr Whiteley, Lieutenant Gascoigne, and Mrs Gascoigne and family, taken some time since by Mr F. Jones, and now belonging to Mr C. Gill, photographer, are exhibited in the town.

A very sad accident, which occurred on Thursday, illustrates the occasional callousness of young children. A boy named Bradshaw, aoout six or se\ i-u years old, was playing with another, aged about eight, named Bremner, on the rm>r banks near Collingwood Bridge. The river was in flood by heavy rains, and Sradshaw fell in and was drowned. His companion went home, had tea, and went to bed without saying a word. The parents of the lost toy enquired about him, and Bremner was awakened and questioned if he knew where the boy was. " Yes," was the reply, " he'd drowned — he fell into the river." The body of the child was found in a deep place where he fell, his little hands grasping some flax he had ineffectually seized. Verdict, accidental death.

There was on Friday some capital steeple chasing at Upper Wakefield, about eighteen or twenty miles up the country. Large crowds were attracted, and the Waimea Jockey Club deserve credit for the spirited manner in which they arranged and carried out their pr^iamme.

Some very, creditable pictures of native flowers have been sent to the Ot.igo Exhibition, t y the daughters of Mr Harris, artist, Nile street. They have been very highiy spoken of by the Press here.