SUPREME COURT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1012, 9 May 1871, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

[Before his Honor Mr. Justice Johnston.]

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 18/1

The Circuit Sittings of the Supreme Court were opened at 10 a.m. to day in the Council Chamber, and immediately adjourned to the Oddfellows' Hall. The Grand Jury having been sworn, his Honor charged them at considerable length. We can only give a very brief abstract of his remarks, as in the position where the reporter's table was placed, the greater portion of his address was inaudible. He remaiked that-the calendar was of a very ordinary kind, and presented few features calling for special notice. With regard to the cases in which pi'isouers were charged with escaping from confinement, he considered that such cases would continue to occur, no matter how well officers might do their duty, until there w*s some .general establishment for the reception and safe keeping of hardened criminals, where they might be properly classified, and where they would feel that any attempt at escape would be utterly hopeless. Another point calling for notice was in the case of thuse pri soners charged with uttering forged cheques. This was, the positive temptation offered by people to the commission of such offences, in the unquestioning manner in which they received documents from utter strangers. Here was a case in which a cheque for several pounds was taken for a purchase of three shillings, and the balance given in exchange. For his own part, he felt little sympathy with people who suffered in this manner, for if society made no attempt to protect itself from being cheated, it could only expect to suffer in consequence. He then briefly commented on the various cases to come before the jury. The Grand Jury having retired for a short time, brought in a true bill against Frederick lioss, charged with having, on the 27th January, uttered a forged cheque, knowing it to be forged. John Wood deposed that he was a boot and shoemaker. On Jamuvry 27 the prisoner bought goods of him to the extent of £l, for which he gave a cheque for .£5 9s, purporting to be signed by Messrs. Lodder and Palmer, which cheque was next day discovered to be forged —Cross-examined by prisoner at considerable length, but nothing further elicited. William Lodder proved that the cheque was a forgery. Prisoner had been four months in the employ of Lodder and Palmer.

James M. Wood, toller, deposed that he refused the cheque when presented at the Bank of Mew Zealand, on the ground that it was.forged. For the defence the prisoner called Mr Inspector Scully and Mr Jacobs, but failed to elicit anything in his fa\or.He then made a long statement, to the

effect that be had received a cheque for a similar amount, from Messrs Lodder and Palmer in payment of wages ; that he had had it changed by another man, to whom he afterwards lent money, and thai oil the 2/th January this person ga\ehim the cheque which he (prisoner] paid to Mr Wood, without examination, believing it to be the genuine one,

His Honor addressed the jury, pointing out that the prisoner's story was not only improbable, but was not borne out by evidence.

The jury returned a verdict of " Guilty." " Mr Lodder, examined to prisoner's character, testified that while in his employment he had been steady, sober, hardworking, and generally well-con-ducted.

His Honor, under these circumstances, would treat this as a first offence. He trusted the prisoner, would.reform; but the style of his defence left little hope that he would.—Sentenced to tvro years imprisonment with hard labor.

The Grand Jur/ also returned a true bill against. John McLeod, charged with uttering a forged cheque, and Thomas Ellis, charged with obtaing a watch from T. Morrison under false pretences. John McLeod, being found guilty, was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor.

Thomas Ellis was also found guilty, and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labor.

ship Niger, beg to return my bes thauks and acknowledgments to Capt. Fairchild, of the Colonial steani-sllip Luna, for the prompt and important services rendered to me in towing my ship from a dangerous position off the edge of the Brampton Reef, Bay of Is lands, on the night of the 29 th April, and am only sorry that it w»s not in my power to remunerate him more substantially than by thanks.—Charles Grant "

Referring to a lecture delivered by his Honor the Superintendent of Auckland before the Young Men's Christian Association, on the night of Friday last, the r Evenmg News observes ; —" If thestiongand determinate views and feelings expressed by Mr Gillies in his lecture at the City Hall last evening, in reference to the native department, were .only a little more general, we might, hope soon to .get rid of that costly arid intolerable nuisance. Neither on this, nor on any former occasion, has Mr Gillies gone round the bush in speaking of the native department, nor would it have been fitting in him to have done so. We regret our inability to allot further space to his remarks on this subject to day, but as they will probably be published elsewhere in extenso, we shall have another opportunity of returning to them a* length. Meanwhile, we would observe, that his on the wretched unfitness of those entrusted with the management of the department for the offices they hold,--not excepting its ministerial head ; on the deplorably contemptible position in which the government have placed themselves by the non-exaction of instant justice against Todd's murderers; and on the policy of dealing with the whole of the natives as though they were fellow-men and fellow.subjects, and not as though they were a parcel of children, have our hearty and entire concurrence. If the natives are to be raised by our laws to the dignity of British subjects, let them be subjected to all the penalties those laws impose on offenders. Let us not suffer our surveyors to be murdered, and our mails to be stopped with impunity, but let the swift vengeance of the law overtake those known to be guilty of the r'ommis.>ion of breaches of it. We shall hear no more, we dare say, of Mr Todd'ii murderers until Parliament meets, and some account of what has been done in reference to them is extorted from the head of the department. And we look for little or nothing more satisfactory than we have already heard on the stoppage of the Tauranga mail, until there is a total renewal of our native policy. The meaness which prompted the attempt to throw the blame of closing the line on Mr Mackay in the first instance, and which now seeks to throw the responsibility of re-opening it upon him, is worthy of the department. We may not think much better of Mr Mackay's management of the natives than we do of Mr M'Lean's, but neither the blame of the stoppage, nor the responsibility of re-opening the Tauranga main line, rests in any way on that gentleman. As Mr Gillies very justly remarked last evening, the management of the natives is now in the hands of men who might, on account of their knowledge of the native language, make very good interpreters, but who are totally unfit to govern them. And this remark applies no lesa to Mv M'Lean than to any of his subordinates. If the natives are ever to be properl} managed, it must be by the just and equal administration of our laws through the recognised courts of justice, and not by a lot of Pakeha-Maoris, whose sole art of governing consists in coaxing, cajoling, and bribing

We (Auckland News, May 6) regret to hear that a serious accident occurred this morning 10 a son of Mr Webbe, the painter, in Wellesley street. Jt appears that he was engaged under his father's superintendence in painting some portion of the roof of St. James' Presbyterian Church, in Upper Web lington street, and in changing his position, lost hold of the guard rope, slid down the steep roof, and was dashed on the ground below. The extent of the injuries the unfortunate lad received has not yet been accurately ascertained, but he appears to Ve in very great pain, and at the very least has broken some *>f h-S ribs.

A description of bush ink has been disco vet ed by Mr T. J. Sinclair, Auckland, and is thus referred to in a letter by him to the Southern Cross :—I send you a bottle of ink, made from the ex pressed juice of the karamu, a shrub of the coprosma family, and one thai I think, from its frequency in the bush, must be widely spread in this province. The ink (I am writing with it) is of a pretty lilac color, and I wish you would take the trouble to show it to the Auckland booksellers, and ascertain their opinion as to its probable permanency. The plant grows from the sea-level to nearly 2,000 feet, and will be plentiful in every district where there is scrub and bush. One of the plants I have seen has a reddish-colored berry, but, in making this ink I have only used the dark colored berries. I think it should also be shown to the Auckland dyeis, as it might make a very useful vegetable dye." On Thursday last (says the Wagga Wagga Express of the sth April), as Mr Barnett and a party of miners were out hunting in the neighborhood of the Little Wonder reef, the dogs put up a kangaroo of a pure white coloi. A long and exciting chase ensued, the animal proving a regular flyer, but the dogs at last ran it down, and its capture alive was then easily effected. Its coat was singularly soft and furry, and in every part of the purest white, not a single dark or colored hair being visible on any part of the body. As is the ease with white rabbits, its eyes were of a bright pink color. The creature was purchased by Mr Clarke, of the Commercial Hotel, but sulked and fretted in the buggy as it was being conveyed to town, and on Sunday night died. The body was at once handed over to a professional taxidermist, by whom the skin has been preserved, and in a few days will be stuffed for the gratification of the curious in natural history. Close to the place where this animal was captured a kangaroo still more singularly co^red--black and white —has been frequently seen by the miners, but though several attempts to capture it have been made,- it has succeeded in baffling pursuit.