TRIAL OF W. W. TAYLOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1434, 20 January 1885, Page 2

TRIAL OF W. W. TAYLOR.

Wellington, Yesterday.

The trial of Waring Taylor was con* tinued to-day, when the defence was a j|hraenced. Mr Cooper, Deputy Begiatrarpf the Court, produced the Judge’s notes, taken at the examination of prisoner before in the Bankruptcy Court.—J. Tr Da’rymplo, son in law of prisoner, dedo ed that at the interview referred to by the witness Jonas Arundel, : prisoner said bis estate would bring 20a in the £. Witness was a creditor for over-L3,000. At an interview with prisoner the latter told : witness that he had .used some of the Bank shares in May’s Estate to satisfy a claim on the part of the Rhodes’ Estate. Witness did not nowbelieveprisoner'Baasertion that he was worth 20a in the £, but did believe it at the time it was made. He never bad reason to doubt prisoner's word. This closed the defence.—Mr E. Shaw, leading counsel for the' defendant,' said, before addressing the jury, be had to call attention to what he considered missing links in the evidence for the prosecution, which entitled him.• to ask his Honor to direct the jury that there was not sufficient evidence to oon* viot. The first absence of evidence was that there was no proof of proprietorship of these shares by the late James May ; no proof that when May died he was possessed of these 104 shares; no proof that prisoner was ever proprietor of shares. The books themselves were not evidence of ownership. His Honor considered there was evidence of everything that was necessary to constitute May a, shareholder, and Taylor a transferee. Mr Shaw submitted that there was no evidence of transfer from May to Taylor, or from Taylor to any of the transferees ; neither was there evidence of improper disposal of any of these shares under the will according to the terms of the trust, but at most only of disposal of their pro* ceeds. Then there was no proper evidence of the will. The execution of the will must be proved. The execution of the will could not ba received In evidence in England unless destruction or lose of probate were proved. The probate did not prove the expressed trust under the will. He proceeded to argue with reference to the|question of misappropriation, pointing out that prisoner had power to sell shares, and what became of them after sale was another matter. The Court adjourned until 10 to-morrow morning, when it will probably finish. Wellington, To-day. The Counsel’s addresses in the Waring Taylor case are finished, and the Judge is now summing up.