SUPREME COURT.—Criminal Sittings.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 527, 18 September 1871, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.—Criminal Sittings.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18.

[Before His Honor Sir Ch A. Aruey, Knight, Chief Justice, arid a Special Jury.]

His Hokok took his scat on the bench at 10 o'clock.

JJavkl Hustle, a minor, wis arraigned upon au indictment charging him with stealing specimens, the property of tho Tokatca Gold Mining Company. There were three points in tho indictment. The first charged the prisoner with feloniously steajhtc- and taking away 2 ozs. of gold ore ; the serond With stealing the sauic weight of gold ; uud the thin! with itealing two ounces of "auriferous quartz." —The following gentlemen were culled to servo as special jurors: —G. M. Milford (foreman), G. 11. Pierce, J. Kdinonda; W. tfrahum, ll.' Shem, J. M. Ilainlin,: ,J. P. Dv Mouliu, J. Lycll, I. B. Vialou, it.' Ellis. E. E. Jones, L. A. Nathan.—Mr. Brook* field prosecuted for tho Crown.".. Mr. Joy nppcarcd for the prisoner.—When tho special jury list was being culled over, Mr. J. C. P rth claimed exemption from serving, upon the ground that the oase hrid already been before him as a grand juror, and ha had in that capacity prejudged the case. — His Honor told Mr. Firth that if v full jfii-y could bo obtained'without him, ho would'not ask Mr. Firth to serve. Messrs. DuMoulin,1 Eoberfc Wynyard, Joseph Howard, W. Graham, and a number of grand jurymen made a similar claim to exemption,.— Hia Honor said the point was an important one. Jt had arisen before, baton that occasion a full jury was obtained, and consequently the question was not argued. Lord Chief' Justice Abbot had given a decision upon the question. There the point arose with respect to " challenge," but the whole subject came under review. Tho lw on the subject appeared to bo that "no 0»e who sat on the Grand Jury shiill sit as a juryman upon any inquest for the deliverance of the indictee if pballenge 1 by him who is indicted." The prisoner, therefore, had the right of challenging any of,the gentlemen who might have sat on the-Grand Jury. —Mr. Jcy waived his right of challenge, nnd the case was proceeded with.-r-Mr. William Home, manager of the Tokatea Gol 1 Mining Company, proved the rights of the company to the ground.—Mr. Vincent ltice,,cierk in' the Superintendent's Office, proved the lenso from, the Provincial Government to the company.— Robert Kelly, mining manager to the company', deposed, that on. the 20th. of July lust, he found the specimen produced on the tip of a slab along the roof of one.of the stopes. Thu'alab did not touch the roof at the spot where the witness found tho stone. The stone wus not visible to any person p:issiug along the stope. Deceived information about the stone froni a man named Kncx. It was the duty of miners •when fcpeoiinens wore found to haud them over to tho foreman of the shift, if present, if the foreman were not presentthe minpr should haud over the specimens the ijrst moment ho saw him. There was1 no person working in this stope on the 20th of July. Hags wero supplied to tho foreman to carry tho specimens. The slab was not a proper place to put a specimen upon*; : Tho spot was about 80 feet from the nearest " face" where the men were working. It was not a place where Ilia miners would have to pass. They might make it n passage. Tho last work in that etopd was done on tho 19th, and the prisoner had be.n working there for a considerable Ihue previous to the 19th. Oa the 21st, heard from Prazer, the foreman of the niglil. shift, of the atone being removed. Gave information to the police, and then went to the mine. The prisoner was taken

into custody. Prisoner said he was sorry the witness " suspected him," and the witness replied, " That he was sorry to bs obliged to do so." The prisoner said lie found the specimen " upou a slab at the Bide of the stope." The witness said the value of the stone produced was about £4.—ln crossexamination, the witness said th it he knew the stone produced by the peculiarity of. its shape. . It was rather a remarkable piece of stone. There were many marks by which he could identify it. 11 o did not think that the romoviug a piece of stone from one place to another was an act. unlawful in itself. But it was very unusual to put a pie '0 of valuable stone or specimen in a drive that was not being worked. He thought removing stone to such a place was not proper. If ineu had been working in the stope, the prisoner being one of them, the spot might be a convenient place to deposit the stone. Would not have thought it improper to place the stone there if the prisoner had been working there, or near there. There could be no rule made with respect to discovering specimens in desert Jd drives. By " deserted" he meant drives that had been left for the time being. That drive had been worked out. The last work done iv it was on Wednesday, the 19th. Witness had known the prisoner for eight or nine years, and knew nothing against his honesty all thnt time. The foreman of shifts had been appointed about a week. The prisoner might'have'found the specimen upon the spot if it hid bern; placed there by "another person.—John Cameron EYaz^r, a miner in the employment of the Tokatea Gold Mining Company, and foreman of the shift, also identified fcho stove. Ho had seen the stonu on the 18th, 19Lli, and 20th of July. Noticed the stone particularly, as lie hud been instructed by the manager to see whether that and other specimens were removed. The nearest point where any man was working was about 80 feet from the placa whore the specimen was. —This witness corroborated the evidence of the last witness in most of the material pnrticulars.