WARDEN'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

Grey River Argus, Issue 58, 26 May 1866, Page 2

WARDEN'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

■-■-.: Friday, $Tay 24. •'-.:' ; :;' : (Before W. H..Revefl,; Esq., %M.) r -,' Wasting- Water. By Flemming and party v. John Comerford *and party. — The complaint in this case was. that the defendants were permitting the water to run to waste to which the plaintiffs were entitled. Both parties are at work oh Sunday Flat, and the plaintiffs felt aggrieved because the defendants were running off the water which they uspd, and keeping the plaintiffs idla Flemming stated that on Tuesday morning last one of his mates went to the defendant Comerford and asked lain to stop letting the water run to waste, which he refused to do, saying he would chance it. The plaintiffs claimed a right to the water by a certificate dated the 16ti April. -In crossr examination, Flemming admitted that part of his race was cut through old worked ground, but he believed the water would run through it. Stephen Buckley, from an adjoining claim, said he knew that the defendant Comerford was running the water to waste. Part of the race was jnade over sound ground, and part of it over old worked ground. He had the race registered,' and the defendant had no (?^rtih"cate or .any right to it. Th.c defendant Comerford stated that he had no .certificate for the water, but he only used it for mining purposes, and he had been in possession of it for six months, and used it all that time.. He had objected to Buckley and party talcing water from the race, and they agreed to return it back to the place from whence it • came, which they had not done! He denied that he was run.ning any water to waste. Every night he banked the wate* up to such a height that the parties in the claims behind him were complaining that they were being swamped out. Dennis Ryan, who worked in a claim behind the defendant, said that the water Avas flooding him out at its present levels ami if it were raised any higher he could not work. The water was at its proper level just now, and yet none of it was going through Flemming's race. The defendant asked the Warden to visit the ground, and see the state of affairs for himself. The Warden said he would adjourn the case until he visited the ground, which he would probably do next day. .