THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 29th MAY, 1874.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1580, 29 May 1874, Page 234

THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 29th MAY, 1874.

A serious outrage, the direct result.of the illegal practice of supplying natives with liquor, lias occurred in Wangamti, and is reported in our telegrams. 'Major Kemp, a very respectable old chief, and possibly " The best of husbands"—while sober —has, in a drunken passion, thrashed one of liis wives within an inch of her life. The authorities are reported to be now enforcing the law ; but it is not related, that any attempt has been made to trace out the dnnksellcr who is both legally and morally responsible for the crime. We hope our local authorities will not wait for some serious outrage before enforcing this necessary law. In our shipping column will be found recorded the arrival of the ship Schiehallion, after a good passage of 90 days from the Downs. Three deaths—all infants —occurred on the voyage-; arid the passengers all arrived in good health. She brings three saloon passengers, and--167 Government immigrants. The greater number of the latter have already found employment, the single women, in particular, being promptly engaged. Some of the cargo is said to have been broached on the passage. Yesterday morning some of the crew were reported to be drunk and making a disturbance on board. The services q( the policc'were called into requisition, and the disturbers will be called upon to answer for. their conduct before the Magistrate this morning. There was a full day's business at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, including two native cases. One of these was a re-hearing of tlie duck case, Matenga Pekapeka v. Jeffares, in which the plaintiff was non-suited, the defendant establishing an alibi. The other was . the adjourned charge of malicious destruction of property, brought by Mr F. Sutton, against Hare Ngawakakapinga and two other natives, who improved the shining hours of Sunday, the 17th instant, by knocking down a building in course of erection on the Mangateretere block, and pitching the pieces over a fence. The magistrate thought it unnecessary to hear the counsel for the defence, there being a question of title involved, which placed it beyond his jurisdiction. We fail to see the material difference, between this case and the celebrated one iu which, avowedly to bring along-standing question of title to an issue, two Europeans took up a culvert erected by the Provincial Government. These gentlemen were committed, and subjected to the indignity of a criminal trial in the Supreme Court, which fell through on the very ground so readily admitted by the Resident Magistrate in the Maori case on Tuesday.—A gentleman who had been bitten by a dog, sought £lO damages from the owner. He was nonsuited, on the ground that the owner had no reason to believe the dog was mischievous. —There was also a debt case. Those interested will find these cases repprted fully elsewhere. On Tuesday, one drunkard was fined 5s ; another, a tailor, and an old offender, who showed his loyalty by getting gloriously drunk on the Queen's birthday holiday, and resisting the police who, took him to the lockup, was cautioned and fined £l. On Wednesday, one drunkard was fined 5s ; another, who failed to appear, forfeited his bail of £l. No cases yesterday. This morning five seamen of the Schiehallion have to appear in answer to a charge of " drunk and disorderly." W. H. Kirinini (Greening) a Mahia uative, in a letter ordering this paper to be sent to his address, says : "Friend, great is my wish for this newspaper, that I may hearken to the news of other lands, that is, of all this world." .By way of postscript, he adds an item of intelligence wnich he wishes printed, " that all friends, Pakeha and European may know." It is as follows: " William Henry Greening, [a native], of Mahia, is building a weather-board house for himself. * It is a large house —this is the extent; four rooms on the ground floor, and two above. It is being built at Tahuaroa, on the land given to him by Paora Rangiturnturu, The reason for building this house is, that rempo houses are disagreeable on account of fleas; for the bite of fleas is like the irritating sensation of the itch in its continuance, during which no sleep can be had at night, and oh, the value of sleep! Is it not so—sleep at night? The end." We arc,glad to see that our friend Wiremu appreciates and endeavors to secure the comforts of civilized life, among which ho does not forget the .newspaper. His example is a good one.' On Tuesday, Joseph Burns sued Mr A. T. Danvers for. £lO damages sustained "by the bite of a dog. At dusk on the 7th inst. plaintiff went to'defendant's house to collect an account, and took a shortcut through a paddock. As he was getting through • a wire fence, the dog, a large and powerful hound, known as " Spanker," seized him by the face, inflicting severe injuries. It was sought to be proved that the dog was known to be dangerous; and evidence was brought which proved (1) that Mr Clifton, going under Mr Daiivcrs' veranda during his temporary absence one day, was seized'by the animal by the shoulder (of his coat) and thrown violently off the veranda as he was approaching the door, which made him wish that he possessed such a watchdog; (2) that " Spanker" on one occasion playfully seized Mr Eden by the hinder part of his trousers, but lei go on being called by name; (3) that ho barked rather threateningly round Constable Neagle's horse when he visited his master's place.—The Magistrate did not' consider that these circumstances showed the dog to be dangerous; but-a'dded that the present warning should make the defendant very cautious in future,—Case dismissed, without costs,

Mails close for Wellington and Southern Ports ; per Rahgatira,»at 9 a.m. on Saturday, 30th May. " Mails close for Auckland, Fijis, Sandwich Islands, America, West Indies, and United Kingdom and Continent of Europe (via San Francisco), per s.s. City of Adelaide, on Friday next, 4th June.

Mails close for the United Kingdom and Continent of Europe via (Suez, also for India and China, per s.s. Rangatira, this day, Friday, at 4 p.m. Correspondence intended for this route should be specially so "addressed, otherwise it will be detained for the next San Francisco mail.

The Rev. J. S. Smalley, Minister, will (D;V.) hold services in the Council Chamber at 11 a.m., .and 7 p.m. on Sunday next. In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, a new trial was granted to Thomas Jeffares, >who was charged by Matenga Pekapeka with shooting his ducks. Mr Jeffares stated that he had been detained from Court on the first occasion by the floods, and that he could prove an alibi. Being sworn, he stated that on the" Saturday in question, the 9th May, he was working till dark, ploughing for Mr Hawkins, and then went home in a cart with his little brother. He had not-his gun with him, and was not within a mile of where the ducks were shot during the whole day, nor did he know who had shot them. The hat produced did not belong to him, or any member of his family. Mr Hawkins gave similar testimony.— Matenga and the other natives still said they had recognized the defendant, and saw him fire the gun. Matenga also said that there were no potatoes to be ploughed in Mr Hawkins' ground,— that the natives had taken them all out. —Mr Hawkins said they had contracted to do so, but had left half of them, and he had to get Mr Jeffares afterwards to finish the work.—The Magistrate said the case appeared to him to bo one of mistaken identity. It was dusk when the ducks were shot, the natives were a considerable distance from the man who fired the gun, and Matenga, the only one who crossed the river in pursuit, did not appear to have got any nearer. The only other hypothesis was the assumption of deliberate perjury on one side ■ or the other—an idea which he could not entertain, the evidence on both sides having to all appearance been given in a very truthful manner.—Plaintiff nonsuited.

In the Resident Magistrate's Court, on Tuesday, Hare Ngawakakapinga, Pititi, and Tame, appeared to answer the charge laid by F. Sutton, that they did, on Sunday, 17th May, maliciously pull down and remove a certain house in course of erection.biv Mangatereterc West block. Messrs Lee and Convford appeared in support of the information ; Mr Lascelles for the defence. Mr Lascelles admitted the act complained of, but justified the it an assertion of title. Mr Sutton, sworn, deposed that ho was part owner of the Mangateretere West block, his share amounting to six-eighths, Mr M'Leau and Karaitiana being the other owners. He occupied about 800 acres of the block, and had ordered a house formerly occupied by Joseph Williams to be moved from one part of the block to another. In crossexamination, the witness stated that the enclosure to which the house removed consisted of twelve or thirteen acres, and part of it had been cultivated for some years past by the defendants. He could not say whether they had Karaitiana's permission to occupy ; nor did he know by whom the fence had been erected. The natives some years ago turned out some cattle which he had placed in this enclosure. In the present instance, Pititi had threatened that if the bouse was removed it should be burnt down ; to which witness replied that it was no business of Pititi's, that he was not a grantee, and that the house would be removed.—Mr Foreman, sworn, related that he superintended the removal of the building, and its re-erection. On Monday, 18th May, he found it all to pieces, on the other side of the road. It had been damaged to the extent of £2O.—F. Dyett, sworii, stated tliat early on the morning of •Sunday, 17th May, he saw the three defendants at work taking down the building. They cut the ties with an axe, and then pushed the walls apart with a scantling. The whole building came to the ground at once, and the defendants then went away. Later in the day they came with other natives, including many women, old and young, and carried the sides of the house across the road, and threw them over the fence. About twenty-five of them carried each section.—Joseph Fritchley, sworn, deposed that he was employed as a carpenter by Mr Sutton. He removed the building in question, and partly reerected it. On Sunday, 17th inst., he saw tne three defendants carrying away the sides and other portions of the building to the other side of the road. Some, parts, which were too heavy to move, were left behind. He had left the building all right on the previous evening. On examination, he found marks of an axe on the building. It had been clumsily removed, and greatly damaged. Ho had since been putting the building up again.—Mr Sutton, recalled, said that the 800 acres occupied by him were on the other side of the road, not on the same side as the building.—The Magistrate said tliat Mr Lascelles need not say anything in defence. The question was clearly one of title, and therefore beyond his jurisdiction. The natives had been some years in occupation, and had given no.ice that they would resist the erection of the building. The presumption was that they were in rightful possession. It was possible' that they held their twelve acres under Karaitiana by as good a tenure as Mr Sutton held the 800 acres in his occupation. He had failed to show that his right of occupation over the 'whole block. No great care appeared to have been exercised in, the removal of the building, but there was no presumption of malice,—Plaintiff nonsuited,

There was one civil case at the R.M. Court on Tuesday—Finlayson v. Smith," a claim of £9 18s *6d for board and lodging.—Defendant disputed the claim, alleging that it was principally for liquor illegally supplied.—Judgment for £9 Bs, less 30s costs. An important land sale took' place at the Criterion Hotel, Napier, on Tuesday, a township at Taradale, the property of Mr It. I). Maney, having been sold by auction. Very good prices were obtained, the total amount for .the whole township being £7,854. For the- best sites there was considerable competition, quarter-acre sections ranging from £ll to £34.

A municipality is agitated, for in Gis. borne. Public to be all but unaminious in its favor.

We have received Nos 1 to 4 ofjthe new company paper, the "MarlboroughTimes.'' It is neatly printed and well arranged, and is altogether a creditable production. The "Southern Mercury" (weekly) has been purchased by the Otago Guardian Company. The two papers have hitherto been diametrically opposed in politics, and the Tuepeka Times says :—" It will be an interesting study to watch the future of the paper, and its rapid transition from a liberal goldfields platform to the principles advocated by the squatting-cum-speculating banking party, of which the Dunedin papers one and all have always been the obsequious servants and diligent advocates." However, this may not be the case, as it is specially announced that the Mercury will still be edited by Mr Vincent Pyke. We have been requested to publish a letter bearing the signature o£ Te Pohika Xaranui, a Tauranga chief, who is indignant at a statement which has been published to the effect that he obtained from a Pakeha a bottle of rum hi September last-, " What care I," he asks, " for that maddening drink ? Hearken now : From the time of my birth up to the present time, I have maintained my strong aversion to that beverage." The letter' contains also certain charges against Charles Baron Do Thierry, which we decline, to publish. The letter evidently gives only one side of some matter in dispute, which concerns only the limited circle of Tauranga society, and into which we have no desire to enter.

The English mail. brings us among other v papers, a specimen part of the " Family Herald" for April. This periodical—one of the oldest-established and the most ably conducted of the low-priced miscellanies of the old country—is too well-known in this Colony to require recommendation. The special feature of the part before us consists of the opening chapters of a tale entitled " A Strange Friendship," the scene of which is laid in this Colony, and which is the work of a lad}' of Otago. The views of the Family Herald on some of the leading social questions of the day arc somewhat behind the times ; but it is edited with remarkable vigoraud ability, and takes unquestionably the leading position in the class of literature to whieh it belongs.—.We also note a very interesting " Pictorial Souvenir 'of the great Tichborne Case," a complete and interesting' history of both trials, occupying 30 large pages, and profusely illustrated'. The engravings, though rather rough, arc good, and the whole is.published at the low price of fourpence.

We are requested to call attention to the advertisements that appear in another part of this paper, on the subject of the Registration of Policies of Life Assurance in terms of the "Life Assurance Companies Act," of the session of 1873. The Act required that all companies carrying on business of Life Assurance in New Zealand shall deposit cash or Government securities with the Public Trustee to the extent of £5,000, which is to be increased as the business of the Company goes on until it reaches the sum of £20,000. These sums the Act requires the Public Trustee to hold in trust for policy-holders, being such in respect of policies issued in the Colony by the cr.hpany making such deposits, whether the policy has been granted before or after the passing of the Act, providing that such policies; if granted-before the commencement of the Act, be registered within twelve months from such commencement (November 1, 1873), or if granted after the passing of the Act, within six months after the making thereof. It will follow from the above, that holders of policies granted on or after Ist of November last must register before the six mouths have expired, or they will forfeit the benefit conferred by the Act. The Australian Mutual Provident Society has given the holders of its policies the opportunity to register them, so that it now rests with those policyholders to avail themselves of the privilege. _^^^.^^^.^__