THE Hawkes Bay Times. Nullius addiclus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, 16TH DECEMBER, 1873.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1534, 16 December 1873, Page 50

THE Hawkes Bay Times. Nullius addiclus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, 16TH DECEMBER, 1873.

, Our Wellington telegrams record a native dispute at Otaki, which seems not unlikely to lead to serious consequences. Our report of the libel case, " Kegina on the prosecution of H. B. Scaly v. A. Kennedy and others," is crowded

out—the large amount of evidence taken, and the late hour to which the sittings ■ y of the-Court.have extended, precluding us from giving it insertion this morning. Our full report, occupying some eight

or nine columns, will appear in our

next. The case has excited much public Jinteiest. \ The evidence in support of the charge was very similar to that given in the Kesidcnt Magistrate's Court. The alleged libel, it will be remembered, charged the Commissioner of Crown Lands with "abuse" and " misuse" of his powers, and with "conniving" at certain irregularities. The defence was a double one—first, that no libel had been committed, ami that the expressions had not been used in any offensive sense; secondly, that the charges were true, and published for the public benefit. The plea for the defence consisted of eleven charges against Mr Sealy's administration of the land office, and the Court was occupied during the whole of yesterday in investigating these charges. One of the most serious related more specially to the survey office —a department be-

yond Mr Sealy's control; some were trivial, and others, if proved, would have been of a very damaging character. Mr Cornford's speech, in summing up, occupied an hour, and his Honor gave him much credit for his able and temperate conduct of the case. Mr Wilson briefly replied, and his Honor carefully summed up. The jury retired at 8.20 p.m., and were absent nearly two hours. On their return they propounded several

questions to his Honor, the replies to which were not the least interesting or important part of his charge. Finally, they returned a verdict of guilty against all six defendants, with a recommendation to mercy. His Honor expressed his opinion that the verdict was a just one ; for though there had been laxity in the conduct of the department, and a need for investigation, the comments of the defendants had been of ait unwarrantable kind. Mr Sealy's character,

his Honor said, had been fully vindicated. Defendants were fined £6 each, with costs of both sides, and the Court rose at nearly 11 p.m.—The civil case, .Cashmore v. Mancy & Peacock, comes on for hearing- at 10 a.m. to-day. In the Supreme Court on Friday, during the hearing of the case Galbraith v. Harding, reference being made to the Court Library to settle a disputed point of law, certain books were found to be absent from their place. His Honor said that he was informed that two volumes of the "Digest" .were reported to him as missing. The loss warf a most serious one, for he did not know how the Court could dispense with them. It was his duty to see that the public funds were not wasted in this manner. —The Registrar said that the books were deficient when he took charge of the library, and he had made inquiry of all the solicitors in town ; but could hear nothing of them. He was now in the habit of keeping the library locked, and the key in his pocket, to prevent any loss of the kind in future.—His Honor said that he must hold the Registrar personally responsible for the safe custody of the books. A note must be taken of the books at present in the library, and all reasonable efforts must be made to recover those now deficient.

The case Galbraitli v. Harding, fully reported in to-day's issue, lias raised a question of great importance, both to buyers and sellers of sheep. The question is: What constitutes a full-mouthed sheep ? In the face of the unanimous testimony of some of the most experienced sheepfarmers in the Province, the jury answered the question according to the view taken by the plaintiff. This decision, however, cannot be regarded as final, as a new trial is to be applied for.