DUNEDIN.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1041, 13 June 1871, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

Tuesday, June 13. A. fire broke out at 2 o'clock this morning in Reicheldt's fancy warehouse, Princess-street. The flames got fair hold of the shop and of the adjoining premises (the City Buffet) before the Fire Engine could get to work. The fire, however, was immediately subdued on the application of water. Rejcheldt was insured in the New Zealand Company for in ,500. The stock and premises were totally destroyed, as is the City Buffet, which was insured. The loss to Mr Allen, the proprietor, is Jt'9oo. Reicheldt is in custody on suspicion of arson. The evidence against him is strong. lie admits setting, fire to his preuises, but says it was the result of pure accident.

THE CHARGE AGAINST B£R LEMON. [EVENING POST, JUNE I.] In the Resident Magistrates Court, this dav, before J. Q. Cra-vford, Esq, R.M:, ]%. M.vßaiuiatyne, JBL J. Puncaf , C* |har£, and; W. Doi sett, Esqs., J.P.'s., Charles Lerapn, General Manager of the : ~New Zealand Telegraph Department was charged on the information of fe T. * Collinson, of Bunedin,: with having on the 22nd day of April, 1870, been guilty of a breach of the Telegraph Act, by haVing shewn to Wm. Gisborne, Esq., a person not legally entitled to see it, a copy of a telegraphic message sent from Timaru to the Otago Daily Times. Mr Travers appeared for the prosecution, and Mr J. G. Allan for the defendant. Mr Allan objected to the proceedings, as there was no proof of the" information having been taken before a Justice of the Peace entitled to take it. It purported to be taken before A Buchanan, Justice of the Peace, but unless A. Buchanan vsas present to show that he was a Justice entitled to act, the information was only waste paper. The signature of a J u'dge of a, Supreme Court was legally acceptable without parole evidence, but judicial notice could not be taken of the signature of a mery Magistrate. He would not allow his client to surrender on such an information. Mr Travers asked whether Mr Allan appeared or not for Mr Lemon. If he did not appear for Mr Lemon, then he had no right to take any objection. Mr Allan said he only took the objection out of courtesy to the Court. If the Court wished to take the responsibility, they could issue a warrant. Mr Travers— My friend, then, is simply offering gratuitous advice to the Court. The Magistrate—lf such an objectj.oll as Mr Allan's was sustained, it would upset the whole course of justice in the Colony. There was no Colonial law on the subject, so far as he knew. Mr Allan—The English law prevails. Mr Travers —The Court will assume that every official act lias been done properly until the contrary is shown, Mr Allen —There is no proof as to how this information readied the Court; here. Tne Magistrate —It does not seem that the information reached the Court in the regular way. Mr Travers —It was sent to me by the gentleman in Dunedin for whom I am acting, and I at once handed it over to the Clerk of the Court as being the person properly entitled to the custody of it. The Clerk might have refused to receive it, as not coming direct from the Magistrate, but, as the Clerk accepted it, and had the summons served, it reached Mr Ijemoii. from the proper quarter. The Magistrate—The Bench will refuse to consider any objection until Mr Lemon appears. Mr Allan —Mi Lemon will not appear or surrender. (To Mr Lemon, who was in Court) : Don't surrender, Mr Le.lloll. The service of the summons on Mr Lemon was then proved on oath by Sergt. Monaghan. Mr Travers then applied for a warrant. Mr Allan said Mr Lsmon would surrender under protest. Mr Lemon then surrendered. Mr Allan said the information was laid under the Justices of the Peace Act, 1866, and he contended that the Magistrate before whom the information was laid was not a justice acting in the district in which the offence was alleged to have been committed. Justices were appointed for the Colony, certainly, but they could only exercise jurisdiction over offences committed within the district or province where the offence was commuted Justices were appointed generally, but could only exercise their functions at the place where the offender resided, or where the offence was committed. MiLemon ought to have been brought before Mr Buchanan, who then had power to send him and the case to any other court which might be necessary. The Magistrate—Do you mean to say a magistrate at the IJutt could not issue a summons to appear in thi> com 1 1 Mr Allan - The Hutt is in theProyince;

The JVfagistrate—The Bench overrules the objection. Mr Allan asked that a note of hh objection might foe taken. Tljev; information was then read by the Cl.erk of the Court. Mr Travers,-having opened his case, called Mr Gi*sborne. William Gisborne, being sworn, said—l am Goloii ial^Se(^e?ary v : and held that office in April, 1870; I- know Mr Lemon j 'he is General Manager of lhe^elf^ra^^D[e^ftimen'&J■ , in April, 1870, I had '-Nome conversation with Mr Lemop in reference to a speech about to be delivered by Mr Stafford at Timaru ; the first part of the conversation was to settle the. terms on which the report of the speech should be telegraphed to the- Otago Daily Times and to other papers.; it had to be graphed at night, and I arranged that the Times should only be charged single instead of double rates as usual at night ; the Times wanted a verbatim report, the other papers wanted only a nummary ; I wished to induce them all to come to an agreement on this point, and in order that the speech might be circulated as widely and rapidly as possible T authorised Mr Lemon to offer the 'Korthern papers the verbatim report at the price which would ordinarily have been charged for the summary ; I know nothing of the arrangements between the Times and other papers; at the same time I authorised Mr Lemon to have a copy of the message transmitted to Wellington, as 1 understood one operation would transmit it both North and South ; I did this in order to see the report, knowing that it would be in the Otago Daily Times of the following morning ; I had no authority to do this from either the Times or ihe sender of the message; the afternoon after the speech was made, I saw the telegram purporting to give a report of the speech ; it had a*, that time been published in the Times in 'Dunedin ; T have not got the telegram I saw ou that occasion ; nothing was said when the telegram was delivered to me as to its being a copy of the telegiam 10 the Times ; 1 had instructed Mr Lemon to have an operator at the Wellington Office, to take olf a copy of the speech at the time it was being sent from Timaru to the Times ; I did this in order that I might see the speech next day ; in my evidence in Dunedin,, speaking from recollection, I said the telegram was brought to me by Mr Lemon, but on consideration I think it was brought to me by one of the Telegraph boys, and that it was at a later period of the day that I saw Mi- Lemon ; it was in consequence of the arrangement I made with Mr Lempn the previous day that the telegram was sent to me; I glanced at the telegram, then locked it up, and afterwards destroyed it, I think the next morning, in order that it might not fall into the hands of anyone else ; T had made no arrangements with the owners of the message to re - caive a copy. Cross-examined—On the 21st April, 1870, T was acting as Telegraph Commissioner under the Electric Telegraphs Act, and had been so acting for some time ; in that capacity all the officers of the department were subordinate to me, and bound to obey my directions ; as Telegraph Commissioner I could go into the operating room and operate it' I could, and examine all the records ; copies of all telegrams are recorded ; instead of having the message sent to me, I might have «one down and looked at it in ihe office ; Mr Lemon came to take my instructions, as the sending such a long message out of usual hours was a special case ; three or four papers wanted a repoi t of the speech made by Mr Stafford at Timaru; I authorised the message being sent to Wellington and shown to me; it wa*, I think, the afternoon when J got it; I destroyed it the next day, and was careful not to speak of it to any one, as I only looked at it- in the capacity of Telegraph Commissioner, so that it might not go beyond me; the evidence I gave in Dunedin was as a witness in a criminalcase, brought by the Go\ eminent against Mr Barton, the editor of the o*tago Times ; I was a witness for the defence; when I was in Dunedin, an information was laid by Mr Barton, before Mr Strode, against Mr Lemon, for the same. offence with which N\* Lemon is now charged.

;Ke examined The instructions I gave to Mr Lemon were given as Telegraph Commissioner.. Mr Travel's—Did you want the message as Commissioner, or simply as a Minister ? Mr Allan —1 object to that question. Mr Gisborne—What I said was in .the course of a conversation. When Mr Lemon; came to me to receive my instructions a«t Commissioner, nothing was said about my wishing to see the telegram in any particular capacity. Mr Travers applied for an adjournment until Saturday, as an important witness—Mr Walmsley, the telegraph operator at Timaru, was on board the Omeo, and had not yet arrived. After some discussion, the case was adjourned until the following day, Friday, Mr Lemon's own recognizance being accepted for his appearance.