SUPREME COURT.—Civil Sittings.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 221, 23 September 1870, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.—Civil Sittings.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23,

[Before Sir G. A. Arney, Knight, and a Common Jury.]

His Honoe took his seat on the Bench at 10 o'clock.

ALLAN O'NEILL V. JOHN KELLY.

This interminable case was resumed this morning. As on the previous days, Mr. MacCormick and Mr. Hesketh were counsel for plaintiff; Mr. Whitaker, and Mr. Rees for the defendant. And, as on the pi'evious days, the the whole inquiry was directed to testing the accuracy of surveyor's plans. The evidence was very contradictory. There appeared to be an eccentric tendency isi the angles of engineers, according to the point of starting, and professional persons whose existence depends upon the assimilation of such forms or quantities are sure to disagree with each other. It would appear from the evidence —a demonstrable theorem in practical mathematics —that two surveyors cannot possibly follow out the same straight line in the same plane. The only thing the reporters could hear was the rustle of " double elephant," the crisp friction of tracing-paper, and the rattle of spirit levels, scales, and pencils. Mr. Fairburn was the first witness examine;! this morning. The convolutions of the Waitakerei river appear to have been a puzzle to the engineers. When our reporter left, his Honor the Judge, the bar, the jury, and the surveyors were busily engaged in the bed of tbe river. Mr. Fairburn was under examination for three hours. The case will not, probably, be concluded before a late hour in the evening. [Left sitting ]