LOCAL AND GENERAL

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 55

LOCAL AND GENERAL

In the Supreme Court on the Ist, Mr Justice Williams granted a rnle nisi for dissolution of marriage in the case of Donald r. Donald, which was a husband's petition, bub his Honor hfcld that the evidence against the parson who was joined as co-respondent in the suit did not amount to more than a suspicion of guilt, and the decree was made only againet the respondent. The balance of the day was occupied with: the hearing of the case of RobertHon and others v. Robertson and others, which was a suit for the interpretation of the will of the late Mr Peter Robertson, of Lawrence. In this o»se, in the course of which one o? tlw counsel engaged remarked that the only thing plain about the will was that something. w&s le# to somebody, his Honor gave his decision on oae branch, of the inquiry only, and reserved it on another, regarding which he expressed the hope that the parties would came to a seiitlement. Major Arthur Pole Penton, of the Royal Artillery, who has been selected as the new Commandant oi the New Zealand Forces at a salary of £600 per annnm, joined the army in 1873) and served in the Afghan war, receiving the Afghan medal. He was promoted to be a capt&in in 1882, and in 1891 became brigademajor Ot the southern district ab Portsmouth. H6 has passed the sdvauced class of the Royal Artillery College, and of late has been employed on, the headquarters staff. The work of- erecting the iron fence around th«v Southern Maiket reserve is being proceeded with. . A number of new shrubs have recently, been phnteoV and, although a great-deal haa ytt to be done, the -reserve will add considerably towards the bsau'y of the , aouthern portion of the city. The patbs in the area have been kid out, but the necessity of their being asphalted is apparent. Doubtless thii work will be proceeded with at an early date. Our Auckland correspondent telegraphs that the ladies have now taken up the matter of the calL to the Rev. Jumes Milne to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. They have held a tnesting, passed resolutions, and cabled to Mr Milne that they have determined to support the ca'l. The whole qtfesticnsjs to be reintroduced in the presbytery next week. The output of coil from the, mines of the "Westporb Coal Company (Limited) for the month of. Juae was 20,526 tons £c*t. Mr John Edip, surveyor, Crookston, has bef n requisitioned by a number of friends to effsr himself as a candidate for the Clutha district at the'eomipg general e'eetioa, and is expected to give & final decision in a short time. "The Libsral party of gpalhlaud" have selected Mr Sinclair as a candidate for the Invercargill *e&t in op£o*ilion to Sir K-.lly. Morobsrs of tha paity Lid id dorm tbac it did nob matter what views a cand'd.i(e ht>d he was to support the present Government, That was all tho faulb they had to find witft tbe present member. ' Their member must support the Government implicitly., The I lVblet announce? that tbe following diocesan 'appointments hive bien made by Biihop Verdon:— Rev. Father Hunb (S>uth Dunedin) hi's been, sppoictsd rector of jpro'mwell; Rev. Father P. Q'Neill (Gore) to succeed Rev. Father Hunt at St; Patrick's, South Dunedin"; Rev. Father Howard, of the- Cathedral, to succeed Rev. Father O'Neill "at Gore. The bishop bai also appointed the Very Rev. Father O'Neill, of Mil. on, one of the consulbor/s of the diooeie. "This is the first time you have blos-o-ned forth as an export?" wis the q-xes'ion wife which Mr Sim opened hit cross-examination of a surveyor, .who was called .as a witoes3 in fae Supreme Cciut on Thursday. The'witness, who had previously stated tlut ho had had eight years' experience in Otago in addioion to cer taiii experience in the North Island, rerJiei ♦h&t, although he was not practising on his own -^count, he was a fully quailed civil eog'neer '■>$& that he h&d appeared in ninny cases, while It Ghapman remaiksd that the witness had been eaUed m the Jutland Flat cape. "He is not a ,hsri3en«d expert," remarked Mr Juetice William*, whose frfqaent o"b«ervat : on ,of the examination cf "hardened" experts in the oource, oE h's lengthy occupation of the judicial bench has probably led him to the conclusion that, like the robtd gentlemen who appear befor/i him in his couit, their viewa are invariably -ftffecUd by a bias towards tbe side by which thtir services have been enlfctad. The Grey Star says :— " It will be pleasing information to a larte number of persons who are interested iv the prosecution and comf pjet r oa of the Midland railway to learn thit legofciations are now proceeding between the. Government and the debenture- holders, ac 4 thab there v a. probability of the latter concluding arrangements with the former for the completion of ,the line* In the mnt of an agreement being arrived a^, tho bondholders witt in aH likelihood again rtsume the control of the constructed portion of the lino, and prcceed energetically with the building of the unfinished parts." ' In coancc'ioh with tte operations now going on near New Plytncuth in boring for po'roltumj a Taranaki paper says:— "lt is stated" that the available funds artrnearly exhausted, and that- there is a probability of Sydney shareholders r.ot laying further cilia, seeing that the gut sfcion ot linding oil in payable quantities has been te3ted at such a greit depth." The Chrißtcb.ur.ch Women's Political Association passed two motions at the last meeting which seem to be somewhat Inconsistent. The first declares thab in view of .the forthcoming general election all true Liberals shoulddetermited'y unite in supporting the prcssnb Government. The second demands thit there should be a searching inquiry by an impartitt tribunal into the affairs of the Bank oi New Zealand from tho date of the coming into power of the Atkinson Ministry. 16 is understood that' the parties in the case of Eobertson and others v. Roberfcroa and others, which came before Mr Justice Williams in the Supreme Court on the 1-t inst. in the form of a suife for the interpretation of a will, have accepted the suggestion then, made by his Honor jn the course of h's decision upon one branch of .the case, and have agreed to a settlement of the whole matter in dispute. Among the civil- cases at tbe Wellington S.M,Court on Thursday was tbat of Mis Felton v. the Hons. R. J. Seddon and J. G. Ward. Plaintiff is the owner of the paper Bay brf air, which sho alleges she agreed with defendants lo oenduct as a Government paper, on condition tbat sic received sufficient advertisements to cover tho cost of printing and publishing. The price paid was insufficient to do this, and she claimed £50 from each defendant,, with danwges, and some sum by way of indemnity. Mr Je'.licoe, who had been actiDg for Mrs Felton, said she had instructed him not to go on with- the case, so "he had* been, compelled to withdraw the action, "Counsel said plaintiff assured him aha had been pestered oat of her life daring the last few

days by Government officials to stop the case. Mr Gully, for the defendants, characterised the whole thing as a deliberate attempt at blackmail, for no counsel would have advised a client to bring an action which lay against the Crown against two members of the Government personally. He claimed and" obtained costs (£2 Us). A conference between the City Council and the Taieri Comity Council was held at the Town Hall on Thursday afternoon with the object of arriving at some amicable arrangement with regard to a site for the city abattoir. Deputations representing the otcck and station agents, the butchers, and the Dunedin Sanitary Institute were also present by invitation. After considerable discussion the following resolution was carried :— •• Thab in the opinion of this conference the site known as No. 1 is most suitable for the purpose of a public abattoir, and therefore respestfaUy solicit; the Taieri .Council to give their sanction to the erection on such site of the proposed abattoir." Mr O. Samson wr.s the only member of the conference who voted against the motion. .Ab Alexandra South on Thursday Jameß Leonard Rooney was committed to take his trial ab the • iminal sessions of the Supreme Court, DuiediD, on a charge of false pretences. Accused was liberated on bail. It' 13 recognised tbat it is a delicate, if not au - indiscreet, thing to inquire a lady's age, however desirable ib may bo under certain circurnftmffes to acquire the information. In the Supreme Gmib yesterday Mr Chapman got rather tea-tly gv« the .difficulty, of putting a, dueeb question as to her age to a witness, a young lady whose brother had been called previously and had stated his age. "Are you older o: younger than your brother ? " was tha periphrastic manner in .which Mr Chspman couched his question, and when the witness gave her answer he drily remarked that " that would ba tear enough." The death it announced of Mr Herbert Stanhope Bimes, the editor and one of the principal propri' t jrs of the Leeds Mercury. He had taken a sea vo>age for the benefit of his health, and when off- tho Gold Coast died from the ttt-xbi of fae climate, on board the Binin. Mr Baine?, who w*s only 23 years of age, had been editor of the payer, with which his family have been connected for generations, for about two years. He was a powerful wiiter, a good spe-iker, »nd one oi the hopes of the Radical party in Ljeds, where his unassuming manner made h'm very popular. At the !asb general elect ica he contested the North Division of Leeda in opposition to Mr W. L Jackson. M P., - Tae recent death of Dr Reynold Salmon afc the great ag< of 106 bstvi out the truth of Dr SAUymM.ii'a statistics regarding the increasing longevity among members of ihe medical profess'oo. From the archives of his province, Dr Salt.iin-ua shows tha"; whereas the average durat on of lifn ataoag doctors in the sixteenth century was 36 years and five months, in the seven-e<y.th century it had risen to 4-5 years and eight months, and ab the present time had reached 56 j ears and seven months. This-in-creased longevity is attributed to our greater kcQwledga of preventive medicine, and particularly to the diminution o f . enteiio and.oihfcr ferers. ,Ib seems a pity that docbors oannot communicate tao recipe, of a long life to their patients. i A writer in ths M Youth's Companion " rf calls a story that illustrate*- Btsmarck's magnanimity" in his earlie: dvys. Cjunt Keehberg called on him once to show him a despatch from his Goveirurnent, instructing the Count to vote with Ptu;s!& at tbe next meeting of the Diet. Bismarck read the document and returned ib to the Ci uut, saying : •' This is evidently a mistake.' Reohberg, in bi3 turn, looked at tha shett and changed cplour. Instead of tha official latter, he had, by mistake, handed to Bi&irurck tha secret instructions he had receiwjd concurrently, calling upon him, while openly countenancing Prussia, to use his utmost endeavours to cause the other Germ&n states to vuta agaicsb the measure. Fur a moment both statesmen locked ab each other in sihn'e. Then Bsaaarck said : *• Don't be upset. You- never intended giving me the letter. Ergo, you never gave it to me ; ergo, I know nothing aboub the whole matter." . The Walsall Observer 1 of the 25th April reports the death of Antonio Albino Mountsoy, a naval vctsrati, wbo hal reached the great age of IC9 ydarj. The old veteran wai of French cxtract'cn, having been born at Bardeiux oa January 6, 1787. In his boyhood te was taken prisoner by the English along wbh his father during the" French war, and brought to England when hs was nine years of age. His father soon returned to Fiance, bnt the lad remained in England and joined the Navy, and worked a quarter-deck gm on the Qut en Charlotte ab the siege of Algiers in 1816, wfcen he was severely wounded. Aflcrlc.aviug.the Navy he served on a wbaler. A curicus circumstance is that he had recently grown a second crop of hair, which wan plentiful, and brown in' colour. In his talkative iivH rational moments he was fond pf speaking of " Kirg Billy," as ha oalled William IV, and he would explain to visitors how " lie koowed Bill w hen he got ilia back smacked." This is essentially a Bur-aa year, and a correspondent calls to mind' the immense change in the attitude of tae clergy to the life and wrrks of the post since the poet'B times. Every student of Burns knows what an influence for the worse the persecution and iutolcrauce of the " auld lichts " of his own time had on the poet's life and writings. " Within 20 years of his death" (writes a correspondent) "my father heard tbe R;v. William An de won in a GSa«go\v pulpit, lifting up the Bible, s~ty that ' as Bute as that book. was the Word of God the Houl of Robert Burns was in hell fire'— jet he Jived to hear tbe Rev. George Gilfillan call the poet 'a God's gentleman.' I recently heard a clergyman in tbe Fulham Congregational Church pass an almost unqualified enlogium on the poet's woiks/' It would be a curious study to endeavour to find out how far the keen satire of the poet himself on the clergy of his day has effected, or affected, this wonderful change. The annual report of tbe Transvaal Register of Deeds shows that three-quarters of the total farms in the Republic are owned by origidal burghers and the Government, and the remaining fouith'by the Uiblnnders. Ifc appears that there are 11,04-5 surveyed and inspected complete farms in the country. Of these, 5575 belong to original burghers, 664 to foreigners or non-residenta, whose present domiciles are in .the Free State, the Cape Colony, Natal, or abroad, 527 to Uitlanders resident in the Republic, some of whom sra naturalised burghers ; j 758 are h-.ld by local companies, registered in terms of law of 1874- ; 1087 are held and have been floated by foreign companies; and 2436 belong to the Government. To the latter must be added 1200 un«urveyed farms in the Zoubpansbstg and Lydenburg districts. Mr Justice Williams, sitting in Chanib9rg, on Friday nude an order for the delivery to the attorney for Messrs Cooper and Nephew, manufacturer! of sheep-dipping powder, of some 600 oases of powder ia the possession of the. pro* ' visional liquidator of the J. G. Ward' Farmers' ■Association,' ' There was no dispute that tae

sheep dip in question was forwarded to the association on consignment, and that it did not form an asset of the association. Mr H. F. Mooney, railway sfcationmaster at Cavcrabam, has been promoted to a similar position at Penrose Junction, Auckland. The New Zealand Brass Bands Association is unable to see its way to hold the annual contesb in Wellington during the Exhibition season. On Monday evening (says the New Zealand Times) a shark sft 3in in length was ought in the Wellington Harbour. A baby'o Bhoe and a piece of stocking were found in the gullet. There was also a hairpin attached to the shoe, which had evidently been used for the purpose of fastening it. Great preparations are being made all over the world to commemorate, on July 21, the centenary of the death of Robert Burns. A great gathering of the poet's admirers will be held in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin, under the auspices of the Burns Club, for which occasion a good programme has been prepared. The Hon. Thomas Fergus— himself a lad o' Kyle— has kindly consented to give the address* of the evening. It is understood that arrangements for special trains will be made for the beaeSb of country visitors. Mr W. Goodlet, assistant for many years at the chemistry laboratory at the University of Otago, and well kaown throughout this province and on the West Coast, was the recipient on Wednesday night of a cheque from the university students on the cccarion ot! his forthcoming | wedding. The presentation was made by Mr ; F. H. Campbell, as president of tbe < Students' Association, and was acknowledged in suitable terms by Mr Goodlet, who subs: quently entertained the company with a couple of songs, one of which wa? retfemanded. The police force throughout the colony arc raising & fund for putting a memorial atone over the grave of the late Inspector Thompson, of New Pij mouth. A new industry— the manufacture of glass bottles— is about to be established iv Wellington by Mr Sanderson, of Sydney, who has acquirtd an acre of land in R9vaos street, on which he intends to erect a large factory. The case of James Tabora v. Alexander Brydie, in which the plaintiff claimed damsg< t for injuiici aPeged to have b3en caused to hie land by the defendant's interference with a creek tbat runs through tha properties of bobh parties, was continued in the Supivrna Court, before Mr Justice Willianu, on Saturday, when the taking of evidence for the defence was continued, and John Eiie (tmrreyor), Alexander Nelson (inspector of works for the Bruce County Council), Henry Clark (chairman of iha B-uce County. Counci l), and Walter Miller (who, formerly a farmer, now described himself as one of the unemployed) were called. The plaintiff was subsequently recalled. The addresses oflearned counsel were deferred till some future opportunity. Whilst Sergeant Conn and Constable Toomey were conveying to the lock-up, aboub 9 o'clock cbl Situcday nigbt, two men who had' been fighting ia a hotel in Maclagg&n street, a large crowd who' followed closely behind behaved ia a' mosb disgraceful manner. The prisoners, whose names are- Kelly and Nelson, offered a (Jesperate resistance, and Kelly (who was in the custody o? the sergeant) was particularly violent— in fact, he was almost unmanugeable. The hoodlums and- larrikins, whose numbers quickly swelled till they reached very large dimensions, incited the prisoners to resist, and, growing bolder, an attempt was subsequently made to rescue them from fcteofficers. Thelatter, however, never lost their grip, although they were severely handled. Sergeant Conn wai badly kicked by the prisoner he had in hand, while later on he was stru k in tb,e face by a etone thrown by someone in the crowd. At the bottom of Rattcay sbreeb Constable Toomey caught hold of another man nam d Wood, who was seriously obstracling him. The constable got both prisoner! past Georgeson's flsh .shop, but here some of Wood's friends succeeded in effecting his rescue. Several other polic:-nien soon after arrived on the scene, and tbe two men were then got to the tfcition, while Wood was subsequently arrested in a hotel in Maclaggan street. The Gore Schoolhouse was burnt to the ground early on Saturday morning. It was Valued at £700, and was uninsured. The origin cf the fire is unknown. Mr Jam's W. Thomson intends being a candidate for the Ciutha seat at the coming general election. The Rev. W. C. Oliver, chairman of the Otago District of the Wesleyan Church, camo from lavercargill to preside at the quarterly meeting, held on Friday evening, at which eabisfactory reports were priseutad as to the wcrk of the church: It was decided to have evangelistic services at Trinity Church, commencing next week. A trial took place on Saturday forenoon at Messrs Sconlar Bros., Cumberland street, of an entirely new hydraulic lift, constructed by Mr Joseph Sparrow, engineer, &c, Rattray 6t:eet', and 7 fitted with his patent life-saviug safety catch. One ton was placed en the lift, and the cage released, and the safety catch acted admirably. The trial look place in the presence of Me Wetheralt (Government ii^eoicr of machinery), Mr Scoular, Mr Taylor, and several other gentlemen, who expressed themselves highly satisfied with the very effective manner in which the life catch acted. A private letter received from Johannesburg states that (telegraphs our Auckland correspondent) things are very unsettled at tha Transvaal, the writer thinking that they would not be much better until the Home GovernmeDt used a very strong hand. The Liberal Government in 1884- patched up the treaty so badly that the feeling now is that it would be a hard matter for the present Government to put th'iKgs right. The correspondent goes on to say that he really did not know what the English speaking people in the Transvaal would do if the Boers had their way. As to miniug matters, things looked very bad for the shareholders. Constable Oliphant, of Auckland, who some time ago jumped into the harbour there and saved a~ woman from drowning has been granted a reward of £5 for-rescuing the woman, and £3 to replace his clothes. The hospital returns for the past week are as follow .—Patients remaining from the previous week 103, admitted during last we_ek 16, and discharged for the same period 18. WilliamClose and Ann Miller died in the institution, and tha total number of patients remaining is 101. ' - - . • . » In connection with the testimonial to Mr J. G. Ward from- the officers of the Postal and Telegraph department, we understand the movement originated in Dunedin, and that all the .Under-secretary had to do with it was to sanction, when requested, the transmission of a service telegram. . The affair is, entirely without' political colour. The officers who took the matter in band, felt that after all Mr Ward had

dono in placing the service on a better footing and redressing .grievances which were a serious hardship to many officers, they would like to show their gratitude on the occasion of his retirement from office, and this is made clear on the subscription lists. [ The Ljttelton Times, which support* the | present Government, referring to the Banking Committee, says :—": — " The resolution of tho Government caucus not to allow the nomination of Mr Dathie to the committee was, we admit, unjustified, and derogatory to the House. Parliament ought to have asserted its dignity by insisting upon the bar being withdrawn; but we cannot see that the blundering insult offered by tho caucus formed any ground .for the whole of the Opposition refusing to act upon the committee. We presume the committee must carry out the reference entrusted it; bat; it is quite within its discretion to decline all inquiry into long, past events connected with Che accounts of individual clients of the bank. It -would be better still, if there is a way to stop the present proceedings, to begin de novo by asking Parliameut to nominate and elect a committee in its own w&y without Cabinet or caucus suggestion or dictation. It that cannot be done, then it would be well to discharge the cprnmifctea and have no inquiry whatever.* Only evil conseqnences can be expected to fallow from the meddling and mnddling of an incompetent and partisan body with matters of great delicacy and difficulty."

The Wyudham paper records the death of Mr Henry Adams, a brother of the chief surveyor of Otago. Much sympathy is felfc i for- the widow and family. >