GLEANINGS.

Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3900, 12 June 1883, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

TnfiEE ecffiis to be a curious orm*. , : si'on in, flu Justices of the Peace Act (says,the G. !> Argus) and one which i , may. act very pi:«-judicial!y to some •..,, persons.; r-It,! is. provided that Su any criminal summary .proceeding before magistrates, tie defendant and the wife or IjUHbarid of any ; defendant shall be competent witnesses. But this privilege isapparentlv limited to proceedings before m?gi trate^. Where, .. therefore, the case goes to appeal upon the facts as well as the law, the l)i - trict Court has no power to receive such evidence, there beirg noth r>g in the Act to that effect. As Judge Broad pointed out at, the hearing of the appeal case, jßpg na v. Hughes, it seems almos* a mockery to give a rig'it of appeal where the facts are in dis pute, ard at the same time to exclude from tbe consideration of the Court of Appeal a very material portion of the evidence opon which the defendant . depended and had a light to produce in the court below. Eventually his Honor, -althoug'i he said his own opinion was quite decided that such evidence .was not admissible, consented to Biale a case at the utgenl l'equest of the appellant for the opu.ion . of the .Supreme Court. This Aucklaud Acclimatisation S'rcitty having lost £30, out of a *ota] revenue of £480, tbe Society have decided to request the G ivernment to ' pjut a stop to the destruction of rabbity by poison. I'he rabbits have proved -°Buch"a cdHe to" tlie country, Ibnt-they1 have actually caused a falling"off itfthe^ - value of '-exports of over a million] Stirling. They have perceptibly affected the-financial position of the Colony] -and been the ruin'bf many settlers wha "would otherwise have been wealthy.! So alarming was this erii'growing that) the Legislature parsed a series of laws,'

rr„%!) more stringent than the pretedint,' one, for checking or eradicating it. • i > o' o session they, voted no less than £10,000 of public money tor the ilea/ t uttioii"br^rabbits on Crown ljmd, In "every part of the Colony 'vnere- '■! c rabbits lwve ; shown .a disposition t i multiply, they have created : a terror which has ofien proved to be tco Jvell 'O't-riiled.' Wherever they get a fi'tri link- of a district, fhe value of property there noes down fifty per cent or mere, j and there is at least imminent risk, of Mm peelers and their stock being stpptidtly ''starved out. Yet with; all '"these facts well and widely.known,! the \ ucklund Acclimatisation Society Want ; - the Government to-stop the poisoning of rabbits, because their revenue from ''shooting licenses has been reduced by £30. Perish the settlers, perishjtha Colony, but saye 'the i.eorne oflthe Auckland Acclimatisation Society !• I Kumob states that the Budget speech, the Estimate.*, and the Public Works statement will each be placed before the New Zealand Parliament; very early in thj session, andt.hat.it will not be the fault of the Governmentif the sessiuu is a protracted one. i The English Government recently appointed a Koyal Commission -t'> inquire--into the condition of the *• crofters." o> small tenants in ithe Highlands and"tho ITebridfim Islam's, e-pi-cially Hanis, £k)0, s.;id Lewis. Bi>meth\i.g.lik.i famine, is approaching th^re. l'he cr-Iters, always too numerous1 for the poor s »il, bavo p radii_lly b( (( en dep-iytd of their corarhou D.-i.-turayes, which fetch more rent when thn.-wn into the shsep tarnis andsporting '* forests ; " they have suffered from bad crop*1, like their neighbours, and their income' from work olber than agriculture has been reduced in ways not quite understood. They are, tlurefore, in a most miserable condi tion. The ' Post' meutions Mr Edwaid Shaw, M.H.B, and Mr E. J. Lee, M.H.li, as-likely to be the mover and seconder of the Address in h'eply to the Governor's speech, A Yankee witness, being inlerrogated as to his knowledge of the defendant in the case, said he knew him intimately—" he had supped with him, sa'led with him, and horsewhipped him." Brady, who was recently hung for the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish, is according to a London paper, ii member of a somewhat remarkable family. His father and mother are not.yet 60 years old, and their children Lll_ber2s—2osons and five daughters most of whom are living, and in fairly respectab'e situations. Hia father has been lor 40 years in one employ, / and bears a high character, lie says he was entirely ignorant of hjs son's connection witi; secret societies, and his arrest came on him as a shock. Brady's family were we'll aware of his intimacy with tho in'ormer Carey, who, shortly before tho assassination, asked Brady to become godfather to one of his children. Brady was apparently a dcv. ted Koraan Catholic,'and he was so highly' eWemed by the clergy of that Church that he was appointed an office-bearer in AnnsfreetChapel, Dubln . At the door of this chapel for nine years, he was entrusted with the reeponsable duty of making the co'lection, and he discharged hit office throughout to the satisfaction of his clergy. Brady, op to the day of his arrest, was employed ■byihc'Publin Corporation, f.f'.whi'c''. the in'ormer Carey was a member, and the trial it hiss, been discovered that the convict Tr. qnent'ly «nve bi'ri-f-elf a holiday, without reproof, presumably to confer with. Carey and others belonging to the so called !•■■- yinciplee. The French Academy ef Science? have recently, acting on a report made on the subject by M Ferdinand daLessepp, expressly declared that, fully a quarter of a ceutury before the 'first experiments were made by Fulton, tho town of'''Baume''possessed the: fir*t. steamboat, which was navigated on the .Doubt*, and that the important diVcovery of the application of steampower to navigation is due to a-French [fiTant, Claude de Jouffcoy, An associa- | lion, has been formed with a view of erecting a monjment to the latter in his native town of Besancon. M. de ! Lesseps appeals to French seapirt towns, shipbuilders, shipowners/steam ! navigation companies, and others, '* to participate in this act of rehabilitation, of justice, and of patriotism." It is a 'question, it is asserted, "of glorifying in Claude de JoufTroy the memory-of a misrepresented Frenchman,-a martyr of science, and a benefactor of mankind." A cricket match.betveeu an aged bachelor and-, a spinster was recently i^aytd at .New York. It proved an exciting game| and io the delight of ,lv( numerous spectators, the oldmaicl proved victorious.

■•^r -— —■=*. Last month 35,250 tons of stuff were dredged out of" Lytt.eltou bar--boar., . „.,'-,. -„-.. „ ...-■.;] ! v'! 40,000 acres; of Wikato lands are f-ein-ucut up in email blocks to be -.;>ld' to ilfe:r:ding English settlers. * !Wnx a dog's nose is cold is thus »? ■|d^:'/:; • '-'7 _;- :•;/■ .There sprang a leak in Noah's Ark, , i "Andtlien the dog began to hark. '.''-.! '■'"! Noah took its nose to 'stop the hole, " ' Hence a dog's nose is always cold. ■ ; < «■■■■■' :' ■ ■!'■ ' ■ ' . ■ ■' ',' '■' -. 'i: . '