Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 890, 3 June 1871, Page 2

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, Michael Clifford was fined 10s and costs, for being drunk and disorderly.— S. Rich, a publican, was charged with having committed a breach of the Pawnbrokers Act, in having taken articles of jewelry in pledge. The evidence on the part of the police was that the accused had advanced money on jewelry to two women — Fanny Tapscott and Annie Brown— the assumption being that he had made a charge for the accommodation. Fanny Tapscott deposed that some months ago, Rich advanced her L 2 10s on a pair of earrings and a gold brooch, but denied that any arrangement was made for payment of interest. Annie Brown, to whom the accused had lent L 3 on a gold chain, ring and brooch, similarly denied that she was to pay Rich anything beyond the money she borrowed. As the Pawnbrokers Act-makes it an essential condition that interest must be paid on pledges to constitute pawnbroking, and as it was not proved that the accused had made any charge of the kind, the case was dismissed. — Captain Kitchingham, master of the Dispatch tug boat, was charged by Captain Allardyce, Harbor Master, with having disobeyed his order in reference to the mooring of his vessel ou the 20th May. The information was laid under the 29th Regulation issued under the Marine x\ct, 1567, which is as follows :—" The master of every vessel sball anchor or moor where the Harbor Master or person deputed by him may direct, and he shall not unmoor or quit the anchorage uutil permission be given by the Harbor Master, and any master offending shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding L 5." Capt. Allardyce deposed that on the day in question the Dispatch was coming up the river from the Gothenburg ; that he called out to the captain if he had any cargo on board, and being answered " yep," he ordered the defendant to take the steamer up to the Transit Shed, He (Capt. Allardyce) walked

towards the shed, expectina the steamer was following, but on turning round he saw that she had moored at the wharf lower down. For the defence, it was stated that the order to proceed to the Transit Shed was not heard by Capt. Kitchingham, and Mr Perkins further moved for a nonsuit, on the grounds that by the County of Westland Act the wharf was exempt from the operation of the Marine Act, and was exclusively under the control of the Bor6ugh Council ; that if the regulations under the Marine Act did apply they had not been produced in evidence ; and that if Capt. Allardyce was an officer of the Borough Council it had not been proved. The nonsuit was granted. As the case Borough Council of Greymouth v. D. Maclean and Co., heard in the Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday, is of an important nature, as affecting the wharfage dues collected at the port, we subjoin at length the legal arguments which were used at the hearing : — After the plaintiff 's case was closed, Mr Newton, counsel for the defendants, moved for a nonsuit, on the ground that it had not been shown that the articles in respect of which wharfage dues were sought to be recovered had been landed on any wharf or quay wituin the Borough. He quoted, in the first instance, several authorities showing that the construction to be given to statutes conferring powers of taxation must be most strict. That an equitable construction was never permissable, but that unless the party sought to be taxed could be brought within the strict letter of the law he must go free. He argued from other authorities that where, technical terms, or term? of ait, were contained in any statute that they must be defined by expert witnesses, and that their definition must be accepted by the Bench. In this case the terms "wharf" and " quay" were technical terms, and they had been defined to be in all cases a structure of some kind or other. It was admitted that there was no structure at the place where these articles had been landed ; there could thereto ce, he submitted, be no doubt that they had not been landed upon any wharf or quay, and if it were so the statute conferred no power on the Borough Council to levy dues in respect of them. The mere fact that the parcel of giound on which the articles were landed had been called " Richmond Quay " would not make it a " quay " if it was not one in point of fact Could it be contended that if the wharf on Mawhera Quay were swept away, wharfage dues could still be charged for landing goods where it used to stand ; or if goods were landed within the limits of the Borough, on the river bank, far up the river, would they be so chargeable. Such must be the contention of his learned friend if he argued that the parcel of ground in question was a quay. Mr Perkins in reply, argued that the intention of the Legislature must be looked to rather than the technical meaning of the words used. The parcel of ground in question had been known as Richmond Quay when the Greymouth Quays Act was passed. Ib had been used as a landing place by the defendant, and was therefore a "wharf" within the meaning of the Marine Act, 1867, which specially interpreted the term "wharf" to mean (among other things) " any place used for the landing of goods or passengers." All wharfs or quaysion the River Grey were by the County of Westland Act, 186S, exempted from the operation of the Marine Act, and he contended therefore that the intepretation used in the last-named Act would apply to the present case. He was willing to go the whole length of his argument, and he did contend that even if the wharf on Mawhera Quay were swept away, and goods were landed there, or even high up the river they avouUl still be liable to wharfage dues. Mr Newton, in reply, said that the authorities he had quoted shewed that not the intention of the Legislature, but the words of the Act were to be considered. That even if their intention were to be sought, it would be found by referring to the statutes existing -when the Greymouth Quays 1 Act was passed, and to the recitals of that Art, •when it would be found that the word "quay" was used in conjunction with the words " wharf, pier, or -jetty," and must clearly be intended to bear a similar signification ; that there was no interpretation clause in the Greymouth Quays' Act, and that the fact of the word ' ' wharf " being interpreted as it was in the Marine Act, was the strongest evidence to show that without such interpretation it would not bear the meaning assigned ; that the interpretation clause in one statute could not be imported into another. He jshowed, moreover, that under the Marine Act power was given to proclaim the boundaries of a wharf or quay, which in this case had not been done. That parties could not be expected to pay wharfage rates, except on receiving some kind of equivalent in the shape of accommodation, which wa.3 entirely want' ing in this case. As previously stated, the ' Magistrate reserved his decision until the 6th inst. Notwithstanding the difficulties of the route, we learn that goods were delivered in Reefton on Monday and Tuesday from Greymouth, via the Little GreyjSaddle, on the former day at the rate of £20 a ton, or four pounds less than by the Buller route ; on the latter day, and to a different storekeeper, at £18 a ton, or seven pounds less than the present freight via Wesbporb. These facts speak for themselves, and the sooner some pressure is brought to bear upon the Nelson Government to expend the £1000 voted for the track over the Saddle, the better it will be for the residents in Greymouth. The winter is setting in with great severity iv the interior of Otago. At the Resident Magistrate's Court at Hokitika, on Thursday morning, J. "West was charged with failing to appear to his recognisances at- Greymouth. The prisoner was remanded to appear at Greymouth on the Bth inst. The contractors (M'Gregor and Campbell, of Greymouth) for the Abyssiuian wello now in course of construction for the Westport Fire Brigade have already sunk one opposite to the Court House. A second is now going down at the intersection of Molesworth and Gladstone streets, and the remaining two will be placed at the intersection of Molesworth and Kennedy streets and in Gladstone street south, facing Freeman street. Water was struck in the wells, already sunk, at a depth of eight feet. The merits of this sort of water-supply were to be tested by the brigade during the course of Thursday last. With respeot to the conveyance of the downward mail from England via Nelson, the West Coast Times of yesterday says : - A suggestion was offered and, it is believed, was partially represented to the County Chairman, that some arrangement should be made for its immediate conveyance from Nelson on its arrival there to the West Coast ports. The officer in charge of the postal department here, Mr H. W. Barbor, informed us that the steam service between Nelson and the West Coast was under the consideration of the Acting Postmaster-General, and, no doubt, some subsidy would be granted to the steamer trading between that port and this, for which, when it takes place, we shall be grateful, although large contributors to the postal revenues. It is now some six weeks since Mr S^well visited Hokitika, but no authoritative announcement of any change in the mail service has been received. It is to be hoped the Omeo, which is due here on Monday, next, will bring on the mails, or tbat some private arrangement may beuegot'ated with Messrs Edwards and Co. A human leg was picked up on Saturday Jasfc, at Brighton, on the beach octween Fox's <

Giver and Woodpecker Bay. It had on a new neat Wellington boot, reddish brown cloth trouser, and flannel drawer. The flesh was all stripped off the thigh bone. It was thought that it might have belonged to the man that has been missing from Razorback, but upon enquiries being made, it was found that at the time he was lost he wore a pair of lace-up boots. As the ferry boat at Fox's River has been missed lately, it is surmised that some person, while crossing at night, had been carried, out to sea ; but it is also probable that the remains belong to one of the men who were recently drowned in the Grey River. One of the greatest (perhaps the greatest) feat of newspaper reporting and special despatch by land and sea was achieved lately by the Times. Dr Russell, the well-known war correspondent, and Mr Kelly, of the Times staff, were the reporters of the entry of the Germans into Paris. Dr Russell rode into Paris on the Wednesday morning with the Prussian troops, and he and Mr Kelly left Paris by special train of the Northern Railway at 2.50 p.m. that day, and arrived at Calais at 9.30. Thence a special steampacket conveyed the despatches across to Dover, and they proceeded by special train j to London. The courier reached the Times i office, and delivered his despatches at 1.15 a.m. on Thursday, and the whole of the report of those special correspondents was published in the regular first edition of the Times on Thursday morning. The Westj>ort Times informs us that a deplorable and fatal accident occurred on Saturday morning last near the Four- mile diggings, to a miner named Thos. M'Grath. It appears that at the time of the accident M'Grath was bringing a truck of cement from the face to the machine, when, in consequence of a portion of the tramway being out of order, the truck, which wasgoingdown an incline at the time, tripped up, throwing him off the break and down off the tramway, a height of about sixteen feet, alighting with his belly upon the stump of a tree. He was conveyed to the Hospital, was there attende'l by Dr Henry, and after great agony, sank gradually, expiring about one o clock on Monday morning. Deceased was thirtyone years of age, and a native of Kilmalone, County Wicklow, Ireland. He was much, esteemed by a large circle of friends who deeply mourn his untimely end. The funeral.took place at 2 p.m. the following day. The procession formed at Regan's Post Office Hotel, where the body had been lying since the previous day, and was attended by one of the largest assemblages ever witnessed in Charleston —numbering about seven hundred. The Hibernian Society, of which deceased was a member, marched in their regalia, which was draped with mourning. The president and several members of the newly-formed branch in Brighton were present, and the number of all classes that attended fully testified the esteem and respect that were entertained for the dedeceased. The Rev. Father Walsh received the body at the church and performed the funeral obsequies. Recently the neck of a moa was found at Clyde in an excellent state of preservation and forwarded to the Colonial Museum at Wellington, where it has been dissected. The specimen is eighteen inches long by eight inches in diameter, and some of the vertebne are bound together by the dessicated muscular tissue of the left side, on which also the integument still remains. The skin is of a light brown color, and well preserved ; the surface showing deep folds such as are seen in the necks of the pachyderms. The skin is about an eighth of an inch thick, and is made quite rough by conical paoillie, from the apex of which a double-headed feather springs by a single quill, as in the emu, and therefore not like the kiwi. The longest feathers preserved are on the back of the lower part of the neck, and are only two inches long, and evidently incomplete. The rest of the feathers have been broken off short. The edges of the skin are quite friable and soft, and the right or exposed side of the vertebral column is perfectly clean and free from all tissue. From this it may be judged that the right side has undergone thorough decay, while the left has been preserved by dessication, as in the case of the Tiger Hill specimen. Owing to this valuable discovery, our scientific men will now be able, no doubt, to depict the Dinornis in his proper plumage. The following additional recommendations have been agreed to by the Otago Mining Conference : — " That the annual rent payable under mining leases be reduced to 20s per acre per annum. That, all assignments of mining leases should operate from the day of execution, subject to the condition that the assignee shall prove to the satisfaction of the Warden that all rent has been paid up to the day of such assignment. That bush reserves should be proclaimed within Gold? fields, and that the same should be exempt from sale or leasing, Thai v the sum to be deposited by an applicant for a gold-mining lease shall not exceed LlO. That clause 50 of the Goldiields' Act, 18G6, should be amended by providing for the compulsory establishment of a Mining Board for the Province. That goldfields, proclaimed towns, and other centres of population within goldfields, shall have set aside commonages for the use of the people for pastoral purposes. That the Legislating favorably consider the desirability of the Government causing to be laid on the table of the General Assembly an annual statistical report, similar to that laid before the Victorian Legislature by the Minister of Mines for the Colony of Victoria, and that the said report should be circulated as widely as possible, not only iv the colonies, but in Europe ; and that His Excellency the Governor be requested to forward a copy of such leport to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies." The Cromwell correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes :— " King Frost has been ' enlarging his borders' very quickly in this district for the last week or two, but it has been in that dry clear way which makes the winter in many ways the most dulightful season of the (.Wnwcll year. Mount Pisa acknowledges tlv I;< n King's rule by displaying a few streaks <.v his furrowed side ; but, as a rule, th« inns: t Invited districts are still open. In an .thcr «iek or two, however, we may expect to hear ol" the higher . races being stopped by the snow. Mining' matters generally are in a healthy state, a little more than good wages forming numerous exceptions to the ordinary rule of wagesmaking, Pile-making claims, equally with duffers, may be set down in the • unknown' column. In fact, especially in alluvial workiug, an assured income has become such a certainty to the members of a mining company, that the results of washing-up are no more a matter of notoriety than the halfyearly profits of a butcher or storekeeper. In quartz-reefing matters, although Bendigo possesses the best claim yet discovered in the Province, and the Alta and Colclough Companies are very sanguine of their future prospects, and not without good grounds, the interest manifested by the people of the district in Bendigo affairs has somehow de-. clined, or been transferred to the Bannockburn side. Men able to form a sound opinion on these matters think well of both districts, the apathy or distrust regarding Bendigo being only the natural rebound from last year's feverish excitement. Warned by the failures at Bendigo, people are cautious about investing at Bannockburn, and working miners there must be really working men or they get no support. Real bona fide men would do weil to taboo the genus loafer i wherever found. It is impossible to calculate the amount of barm they and lying reporters

do to a reefing district when that branch of industry is in its struggling* infancy."

Commenting on the withdrawal by the Government of the prosecution against Mr G. B. Barton of the "great telegraph libel case," the Canterbury Press says :— They simply dare not go on with it. They dare not face the Supreme Court. Mr Gisborne must be specially loth to make another appearance in the witness box. A man must be elephant - hided indeed who could stand without shrinking before an Assemblage of his fellow-citizens to tell how he, placed in an office of trust and responsibility, had been guilty of breach of trust— to be forced step by step to narrate all the particulars of his misdeeds— to explain how, as Acting Commissioner of Telegraphs, he had filched a telegram for his own private reading— to throw blame on his subordinates for having suggested the offence— to declare his colleague's well-meant assertion,, that he had been permitted by the owners to make use of their property, untrue— and to conclude with a piteous appeal for merciful consideration on the ground that he never did anything of the kind again. We can well believe that no one, having been once placed in so humiliating a position, would endure the ordeal a second time. Nor is that all. For though much has been revealed, much is still to come. The case of the Government is rotten to the core. The proofs of the wilful delaying of telegrams, of unlawful preference, of tampering with the regulations to serve political purposes, are overwhelming. The enquiry before the Resident Magistrate left Ministei'S with ragged reputations, but they would not have a rag or tatter remaining by. the time they emerged from the Supreme Court.