Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Tuesday 18 February 1879, page 3


Petty Debts Court.

Monday, February 17.

Before the police-magistrate and Messrs. R. Bulcock and T. Illidge, JJ.P.

A R. Wettenhall v. J. S. Williams.-Claim £30. Mr. Sheridan appeared for the plaintiff. The sum claimed was for the value of furniture held by the defendant. It was admitted that, under an order made by his Honor Mr. Justice Lilley, the furniture was the property of the plaintiff, but the defendant had refused to give it up until the plaintiff delivered to him certain promissory-notes of his which he held. The plaintiff, however, claimed a right to hold these promissory-notes as security for another debt. The case was adjourned till the following (this) afternoon, when the decision of the bench will be given.

John Crate v. H. L. Davis.-£11 2s., money paid. Mr. Markwell appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Bunton for the defendant. The amount claimed was for money paid by the plaintiff in the repair of a goa generating machine, which, it was alleged, the defendant purchased and instructed the plaintiff to have put in proper order. The defendant stated that he did not purchase the machine, but that the plaintiff promised to supply it for about £5, promising that it should be delivered by the following Monday. The machine was not ready for five or six weeks afterwards, when the plaintiff stated that he had been compelled to leave the premises which he had previously occupied, and that he had then no use for the machine. The bench gave a verdict for a nonsuit, with two guineas professional costs.

The Smithfield Club Show of fat stock was held on December 10. The show was the best

for many years, particularly in the Devon classes, which are always in great force at Smithfield. On this occasion the Scotch polls and the crossbreds were completely left behind, the finest animal in the yard being a shorthorn heifer, which carried off the championship easily and without a murmur of dissent from a single

visitor."

The importation of fresh meat to England from South and North America seems now to have become a settled feature of her commerce. A Liverpool paper of the 7th December states that "the Warren line steamship Brazilian delivered a large importation of cattle at Birken-head on the previous Tuesday morning, without having lost a single one on the voyage. There were shipped at Boston 253 head, amongst them being cows in calf ; also about 40 prize cattle, each weighing over 2000ft. One cow calved during the passage. The calf was landed alive and well There were also landed about 2000 sheep." In the same journal appears the following notice of importations from North America : -"Judging from the extraordinary size and character of the cattle now being imported from Canada and the States, English breeders will find it very difficult to compete successfully with their transatlantic rivals in the various Christmas cattle shows. As an illustration of the interest taken in these importations, we may mention that a large crowd of persons assembled to witness the landing of 100 oxen, of immense size, at the Wallasey Dock, from the Dominion line steamer Ontario. These beasts were intended for the English Christmas market, having been fed specially by the well-known Stock-raiser, Mr. J. D. Gillett, of Elkhart, Morgan county, Illinois, and imported into this country by Mr. William Montgomery."

Business would appear to be flourishing in the Sandwich Islands, and manhood suffrage not being in force there," the Government organ-the Hawaiian Gazette Bays as follows :-" It cannot be denied that the rate of wages paid to day laborers at these islands is advancing beyond what may be considered as justifiable. It is not uncommon to pay laborers here a dollar and a half and even two dollars per day, for nine and

even eight hours' work on the wharves and on some plantations we hear that one dollar a day is paid, though the customary rate is 50 to 60 cents a day. Compare the wages paid here with what they are in the old country, as given in an exchange :-' In Dublin, skilled mechanics are getting but 2152 per day, while unskilled labor receives but as a week. In the district about Dublin farm hands receive from 9s. 2d. to 2s. 6d. a day. At Cork farm hands receive 48 cents a day ; coathangers, machinists, gasfitters, and bakers, $1.09 ; masons, shoemakers, painters, and joiners, $1.21. Laborers on public works get from 48 to 60 cents a day. Railroad engineers receive from 81.21 to 170 a day, and conductors from $4.38 to $7.29 a week. In Scotland day laborers are paid from 48 to 72 cents a day. Passenger conductors receive $6.48 a week ; freight conductors, $7.20 ; porters, $5.04. Shoemakers, paid by the piece, earn $1 a day. Printers on night work make from $11 to $18 a week. It is estimated that the general average of increase of wages in America above those paid in Great Britain is 20 per cent. The only way to check the rapid increase in the wages of unskilled laborers is to introduce a larger number, and this we trust the Board of Immigra-1 tion will accomplish."