DISTRICT COURT.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1157, 13 April 1872, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

.';■;.. Friday^ AraiL 12. H J-^^ (Before His Honor Judge Harveyi) Larceny. — John Gostridge was charged with the larceny of two LlO notes, a L5note, and-three Ll-notes, the moneys of" Robert Hill. This case was recently heard before the Resident Magistrate's Court here, and as the evidence was then fully reported^weneednot now Tepeatitf The' f actsshortly stated rare thatj'Hill ■■. iwent 3 t6 a tent near the tramway and "stayed all night with a woman, supposed to be the prisoner's wife. About six o'clock "rfext morning the prisoner came to the tent and offered to go for beer. Hill had his trousers under, his arm, and felt them being dragged from him by someone ouU side the tent. He ran out, and caught the prisoner with the trousers in one hand and the other in the pocket where the notes were. -Hill .caught him, took the trousers from him, put them on, but held the prisoner, while he was doing so. (The Crown Prosecutpr.remarked that this was a process he had not previously heard delscribedi) He held the. prisoner until a man who was passing brought a constable. The constable found the money lying on the ground close to the tent, where Hill first saw the prisoner with his trousers in his hand.

Several other witnesses were examined as to the changing of the LlO-note, and the company the prosecutor was in during the night in question. The witnesses were cross-examined at length by the prisoner, who made a long defence. .

The Jury, after a short adjournment, found the prisoner guilty. ; The Judge said he quite coincided with the verdict of the jury, and- told the prisoner that he had made a narrow, escape from being charged with robbery from a dwelling, in which case, he might have been sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude. The sentence would be eighteen months' imprisonment in Greymouth gaol, with hard labor. '' ■ DRURY V. 000NEY, KENNEDY, AND CO.

This was a case which has previously been frequently heard in the Wardens' Courts up-country. It was a claim to recover one-eighth share in Cooney and Co.'s claim, lnangahua, on a written agreement .alleged to ha.ye been drawn up between the plaintiff and the defendants in 1870, to the effect that in lieu of certain legal services rendered ■in the Warden's Court, the plaintiff should, receive a full eighth share in a quartz claim/ Messrs Guinness : and 'Newton appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Pitt" for the defendants. As the plaintiff's evidence was not completed before the Court rose, and the case would therefore be very incomplete, we withhold our report in order to give it in a complete and intelligible form when finished. ; The Court will sit again to-day at 10 a.m. ;