A SINGULAR CASE.

Kumara Times, Issue 965, 3 November 1879, Page 4

A SINGULAR CASE.

(New Zealander, October 17.) "There are some rather curious circumstances in connection with the man Edward James, recently arrested by Sullivan, and the case, if we are correctly informed, will involve many others holding respectable positions in Canterbury—one of them a solicitor —in the mesheß of the law. It seemß that some years ago—ten or twelve, we believe—a man named Edward James purchased a hundred acres ot land in the neighborhood of Timaru, as iTell as either an acre or half an acre in #w very best part of the town. He protitaded on some business or other to the Witt Coast, and whilst on the journey, by some means or other, was unfortunately drowned in one of the rivers between Christcbfttch snd the Coast. No special notice seems to have been taken of the fact, no relatives turned up to claim his property, and and the curator of intestate estates in Christchurch must have been singularly somnolent, for he took no steps- in the matter whatever. Time went on ; the lands were unoccupied, and it seemed as though no one was ever going to claim them. A tributor in that neighborhood, whether aware of the death of the owner or not we do not know, thought he would take possession of the hundred acres in the meantime. He fenced it in, and held possession since, relying on the fair play of any owner who might establish a claim, either to let him have it at a fair price, or at all events to recoup him for the improvements effected. Some people of Canterbury, who had discovered that the proprietor was dead, looked round to find some one to personate him, and somewhere or other lit on the Edward James lately arrested. The statement of this man is—and it is borne out in a great degree by surrounding circumstances—that these persona came to him and asked him to sell his land at Timaru. He said that he had no land, but they repeated that he had, and they would give him LSOO for his signature to a deed conveying it. The property, we may say, is worth between L2OOO and L3OOO. During the time this pseudobargaining was going on, the would-be purchasers kept James well plied with drink, and eventually took him to a lawyer who drew out a conveyance, which James signed. At the time this deed was executed a cheque for LSOO was placed in the hands of a solicitor, but James declares that all the money he got out of the transaction was Ll sor so. After this, James had a fit of the "horrors," and was locked up by his friends for safety's sake. After he had been induced to sign the deed its possessors endeavored to eject the occupier, but the latter had legal advice, an enquiry was made, and all the facts came out. James went away to Wanganui, where a warrant was sent. Since that time he has been working in the Forty-mile Bush, in the Wairarapa district, and the police could not find him. Strange to Bay, the very day that Detective Sullivan was in Masterton investigating the late brutal outrage on Bursch, James came into Masterton for the first time, and had not been in town half-an-hour before he walked right into the clutches of the officer, and was brought down. He was remanded till Monday next, when the warrant will be received from Wanganui, when he will be formally brought up, and forwarded to Canterbury to be dealt with. Should his story be even approximately true his capture will be an unpleasant surprise to those who used him as a catspaw, and it is more than probable that they will make themselves scare without loss of time, when they hear of his arrest."

Renata Kawepo; a well known Hawke's Bay chief, Is an eminently practical man. He declines to bring the Native Licensing Act into force at Omahu, because the fines imposed tinder it can only be spent in administering the Act. He has, however, passed a Btrict law of his own, by which any of his people getting drunk are fined L2. The fines, too, are rigidly enforced, and Renata has now over L4OO in the bank, as the result of the fondness of his people for liquor. He follows out the subsidy idea, and has announced his intention of giving from his own pooket Ll for every LI reoeived for fines. The money is to be devoted to metalling the road from Taradale to Omahu. This is a genuine novelty in temperace legisjation, especially the subsidy part of the business. A return has been issued of the National I>ebt for each year from 1857-8 to 1878 9 inclusive. The total National Debt, funded (including stock held on account of unclaimed dividends), unfunded, (capital value of) terminable annuities, was, on Am-il 1 ? 8 8,™ •«*«»■ The total debt Treated in 1878-9 was L 6.288.123; the net estimated to *t' ion .««;<* ™ 1878-9 was 14,339,850; debt paid off, 1803,126. The following additional particulars respecting the Cabul massacre will be read with interest: —Further details of the massacre at Cabul state that the roof of the Reaidenoy was commanded by other houses, and consequentiy untenable by the beseiged, who made a trench outside. Colonel Cavagnari in the afternoon received a wound from a ricocheting bullet in the forehead. Lieut Jenkyns, Colonel Cavag. nan s assistant, sent a letter to the Ameer for help, but the bearer was cut to pieces. Ueut Hamilton shot three mutineers with a r ?Li WId i. Bal,red two « Colonel Cavag Bupposed to be burnt. Lieut Hamilton sent a etter by a mutineers, proThebeamr « a a™ -™Sfc*W* ol ■ building and S nd "? d "ifclllw body of Lieut ft""**? ?«rSStega*roM a gun, an d ColoS U X B WM residence Colonel Cavagnan,was stabbed in BeV erai fef J^A** 580 * the were mutiJatea. Mr Jenkyns Is presumed to be alive having escaped with the natives. ',