MULVAY'S CASE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1592, 11 September 1873, Page 3

MULVAY'S CASE.

[to the editor.]

Sir— As the public are not fully aware of the manner in which this case presented itself, and as opinions have been freely expressed about the sentence, you will perhaps allow me space for a few remarks. The Judge (in my opinion) summed up most favorably for the prisoner, attaching Very little weight to the evidence of the prosecutor, and it was the prevailing opinion amongst professional men and others that, upon the evidence, the prisoner would not aud should not be convicted. iHowever, the jury (as juries will sometimes do) took a different view, and found •the; prisoner guilty, and sentence was passed. The Judge said Mhe had no right" to assume the verdict was wrong ; from which it may fairly be inferred that had he the right he might so have assumed, and it will also be observed that he did not (as is generally done) ,say he approved of the verdict. The sentence must accord with the verdict without allowing private opinions of the wisdom of the latter to weigh, and it is the opinion of many who heard the whole of the evidence that the fault (if any) is not in the sentence. The jury, e.rroneously I think, although conscientiously enough, went into the defence without first considering whether the case for the prosecution was satisfactorily proved. I do not suppose the matter will rest here. lam, &c, Wm. S. Staitb.Ahaura, September 8, 1873.

Mr Thomas Hayter, of Candlelight, near Charleston^ met with a severe accident on Mmlnesday evening; 3rdinst. He was carrying home some picks through which a small handle was. passed, and not being fastened, one of them slipped, and the pointed end severely lacerated his hand, occasioning a great loss of blood. Fortune seems to be making sport of poor Hayter, for it was only a short time since thau his but was burnt down, leaving him almost destitute.'^ The number of miners employed in the Colony during the year ending 31st March last was 22,335, of which number 3872 were Chinese Dividing the value .of the total ..quantity of gold exported amongst the mean number of miners employed in al'uvial and' quartz-mining, it appears that in 1872 the average was, per man, for the year, L 77 10s 3d, while for the year 1871 the average per man was about LlOl 16s s£d, showing a falling off of L 24 5s 2£d per bead— a result simply deducible from the falling off in the yield of gold. The considerable falling off in the mining population is (thinks the Goldfields Secretary) to be attributed principally to the fact that the very high prices of labor of all kinds which have been lately ruling throughout tke Colony, has attracted from the gold-fields, to other more congenial pursuits, a large proportion of the ',' wages men "—many of whom were never " miners" in the true sense of the term— and whose chances of employment during the late stagnation jn our great quartz-mining field became exceeding precarious.