The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Fuceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4.

Southland Times, Issue 3418, 4 June 1879, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Fuceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY , JUNE 4.

Vital Statistics. — The following are the vital statistics of Invercargill for the month of May.':— B_ , 'ths~,'~"_o';" deaths, 14; marriages, 6. iINVERCARGILL Rieles, — The belts and forage caps for tbe rifles corps have arrived, and will be ready for distribution this evening. Waihopai School Committee. — The _ leuabeis pi; this Committee have resolved to, bring -under the ' notice of' the' Education ' Board the present crowded state of the temporary school in that district. They complain that unnecess^ry;delay::has<pccurred in ''the erection of the school building. Licensing Court.— The annual licensing . meeting will be held . to-morrow. Beyond the renewals and transfers, but little business has to be transacted. John Fisher will apply for a bottle license for his premises in Kelvin street, J. M. Brown for a similar license for his store in Dee street, and George Duthie for one in Georgetown. Presentation to Mr Daley. — Auumber of the leading gas consumers having evidenced a desire to recognise, in a befitting manner, the courtesy displayed by Mr Daley in the discharge of his duty as gas engineer, a subscription list was sect round, with the result tha£a sufficientjsurn has been obtained'to purchase a'very handsome solid silver salver. A suitable inscription has been engraved thereupon, and the presentation will be made in the Albion Hotel at £ o'clock this afternoon, when subscribers are invited to attend • /The piece of plate will be on view in the window of Mr Chapman Jacobs during the Ath_n_3Um:;— Oh Monday evening the usual fortnightly meeting' of the Athenaeum Committee was. held; in the; Library. There were present :r-Mr Willpnghby (inthe chair), and Messrs Harniitoni..Ste\yart, i Searle, Pratt, and Flemington.V It 1 was resolved that a small journal, which was stated to be theorgan.of the Rechabites, and which had been sent gratuitously, should.be allowed to lie on the table. A similar privilege was withheld from "the Christian Record, it being considered a denominational journal/ oh the same footing as the. Tabletj which! had also been .refused. -With , ; regard to . the non-: execution of the lease of the post office corner to Mr McCaughan, and' the non-payment of rent for it, a statement was made that Mr McCaughan was not much to blame but that his solicitors had had the draft lease for perusal in their office, for some weeks, and had done nothing with it. It was resolved to request the Athenaeum's solicitor to press for a speedy execution of this lease, The Secretary read the assessment of the Athenaeum's endowments- for land tax. It was agreed that the Secretary be requested to object to the assessment of the post office corner at £2680, and the Waikiwi reserve at £i per acre, both valuations being considered excessive. The committee then adjourned. . The Bankruptcy Laws.— That the propositions advanced by- Mr J. L. McDonald, and accepted by the.Chamber, of Commerce, for amending the existing ' bankruptcy laws, were pertinent,, and not introduced an hour too soon-is becoming every day more patent. The facilities afforded at. present for shuffling out of legitimate liabilities are inducing downright rascally fraud on the part of small debtors.. Some time back.; we, published a letter froni a friend on the increasing number of laborers who were taking advantage of the Act to relieve themselves of trifling indebtedness, and we, are how, ; more than then, inclined'to regard his remarks as very much to the purpose. A case that occurred the other week not a hundred miles out of Southland, has been brought under our notice, and certainly reveals a great deal of turpitude. 1 ■ The party was indebted in a sum of less than £70, and cast about, for means /to>emde payment. They were hot far to seek for the bankruptcy laws provided them, and a friend of the would-be bankrupt described how to apply them. He had just become insolvent, and told his fellow-rogue "now easy the process was. " All you want old man, is a " tenner," to pay expenses, and • you're right. Acting ou the suggestion the less than £70 debtor posted to the nearest abode, of bankruptcy justice, taking with him a sufficiency of the needful — some £20. His wife remonstrated with him. " Don't care" said he, ,; I won't pay. one of my creditors when I Can get out of it this way ! The woman having a sense of honorj posted affer-hiniio 7 tnertowhbe was. . going to, and interviewed both the Clerk of the Court and the solicitor '£6.' ;whom Cthe man . had applied. It was too late, however, for he had filed, and his^c^eiw-sTdealt viath in the usual way ; he was not worth looking after, and although his discharge will not be forthcoming, still, what does that matter to such as he, for :hej j*wH7grapJ^^xorlc.oub;liis^tliree; years, earning 'wages, andthen will "be ii 'free" man — f ree to commence another course of barefaced, swindling^; It t is ; through ; such ■ customers as this that tradesmen come by losses ; _the root <of>, the evil, of -course, being . 'the credit system. It' is time' it was' put an end to, or so materially / modified as tp remove the inducement to' fraud, ' which will also receive a death-blow should; the bankr 'ruptcy laws be amended as suggested by the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce. R.M. Court. — At the Resident Magistrate's 'Court yesterday . forenoon, Mr' j McCulloch delivered judgment in the case of Byrne v McNab, heard last week, iin which, the plaintiff claimed £5 for loss sustained through her non-engagement by ithe jdefendant .by whom he had been engaged through the keeper of a registiy office in Dunedin. His Worship, in delivering judgment fer the ,plaiutiif, with court costs, remarked that the persons s the, -plaintiff if had been^ I engaged t must| be jheld^ to i>e liable, on the; ' ground ' tnat- 5 -t_ey -*were -*t_e 'jA'ineipals.--5 Douglas v. McNeil : Claim, £4 Is sd, on a judgment summons. DefendantT.offcr.ed ? ,jto pay the amount if time were allowed, and an order was made for the payment of instalments at the rate of per month. — Whitaker v. Nelson : Claim, £8 ss, also on a judgment Plaintiff said he had "heard defendant intended to leave the town. This defendant denigd. „J_is Worship, re-„ marked that before helcould^VljudicateJipon a judgment summons it was necessary that r plaintiff should show that defendant was either able to pay or, was about to leave the district. This he had failed to do, and consequently a fresh summons would have to issue before' action- tvould^be taken.— Mathieson -v.. McDonald: Claim,! £2§ >16s. f Mr; .Russell "appeared " for defendant, who paid 10s into /court, but resisted further payment on the ground of failure of consideration. The deI fence; < consisted L of allegations! to /the eflect \ that the* "dray, whicli was 'constructed at a ] cost of £23, was.defectiv.e.y^nd had, injcpn v .'sequence, been "returned to the establishment ,of plaintiff at Wyndhamr~ Plaintiff deposed "that-whatever def ects\ now/existed had; been, caused" through negligenceO ~or. j mismanage-'., "ment on the partof def en.dari.fc: >. His, Worships gave judgment for the amount of the pur- ' chase money for the dray, but disallowed an Xiiem of 6s for repairs. Costs were allowed in the sum of 30s, This, concluded the business,

ijbMESTiO Misery. — Circumstances that happily are rare "in" Invercargill cropped up an ttie Police Court yesterday morning. Shortly before the Court rose, a respectablydressed middle-aged woman appeared) aud informed the Magistrate that she was in -tear of her life iv consequence of the line of conduct adopted by v her dmsbaml. . The woman has a family of nine children. It is probable that, acting on advice received she will apply either- that her husband be ' 'bound "over "to keep "the peace~or that a protection order be granted. ..PoticE -Cases,— At the t Police T Court, yesterday ' morning a man -"hanied 7 Walter Wright was fined 10s for having been drunk and disorderly on the previous; "'evening. John Hardie, who was before the-jbench on the previous day, when he was leniently dealt with, was again brought up on -li charge of drunkenness. It appeared from the evidence of the arresting constable, that he had made himself somewhat troublesome to the occupants ,of a bouse in Clyde street. , His > Worship inflicted a fine of £3, or in default seven days' imprisonment. There' were no other police cases. Mr McCulloch was on the bench. -, -