Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 454, 11 March 1857, Page 7

Local Intelligence.

RESIDENT MA^TIiATE'S COURT,

"Lytfceltoii,;MarcH. 9th.,; ;; . T ; BEGIN A V. JAMES HAKE. ' ' "'"'This case,; the* J investigation- of which termi-' nated on Monday.last'y: originated in a charge;! brought..pn ; the 16th of...Eebruary last, against; \ Mi\ Samuel, ©-aftc^^cp^'^f'me^obin Hqbdj ' Tavern, '6f hWing^in" "his possession a gold \ pencil-case which had been stolen fromthe pferfinises of Mr;:J.-iPrMcGardelli;!^Froni:'the'^vi- ' dence produced on this charge, it appeared;itliat; the'pencil-case in "question had been placed~witlu Mr. McCardell for dispb'salilwhof exposed it forj : sale. ; . About,;the BOjbh< of, December, lasj;,upon! cleawng;uf»'-.^is' stoclc, 'Ms'. MdCardell inisseU^he } 'pencil-case,;land;'thereupon gave'infbrni^tibn:1 to; 'the'sergeantlof police, stating that he believed ; it had'been stolen.; iNothing'nibre' Was-heard: of-the- missing, krticle'until the 14th of last; month; when Mr.' McCardell, on passing by,the: Robin Hood, saxv it suspended to a chain worn; by Mr. Scott. - Mr. McCardell at' once identified: and claimed the article, when Mr. Scott stated: that he bbughtit from'Mr. Hare, and refused to; give it up until;it was; proved • to.:have been; stolen. Mr/Hare, upon being applied to, stated: he had purchased-it .from: ; .a man who was not in the place, he;having gone away in the schooner, Hannah. He* said that he gave the "man ten* shillings for it, and that he sold it to Mr. Scott; for £1. Mr. Hare, upon being examined, stated; that the man from whom he bought the pencil-j case was one of the crew; of the Hannah, and gave a full description of him, and'also. said that he had become very intimate with the crew of the Hannah^ who had bought many things from ■him. On the 20th of February, the Hannah; having arrived in port, the Court proceeded, to investigate the charge against Mr. Hare. From: the evidence then/ given, it. appeared that upon the arrival of the-Hannah in port, onthemorn-■in°v--of the: 18tlv a police,.constable proceeded with Mr. Hai-eto: the wharf (Mr. Hare : having 'declined to go on-board),: and, after a short; time, a boat came from .the Hannah with her :master and crew, but none of them answered to the •description given..by: Mr. Hare. .These .men, who had been summoned to attend and give evidence,, unanimously.agreed in denying that any person answering to the. description given by Mr. Hare had been on board the Hannah; they also .denied having, eve.r before .seen; the pencilcase produced, or having heard any person^ on board speakrof: haying-such an article tor sale or-otherwise. They also denied having ever had any" dealings or intimacy with Mr. Hare;

having ever been .at ■ his house, or having any other than a personal knowledge of-him. The case was then adjourned to the 9th of March, to enable Mr. Hare to take steps towards discovering and bringing forward - the man from whom healleged he had purchased the. pencil-case, and bail was accepted.for hisappearanceon that day. -Accordingly, on Monday last, Mr. Hare appeared in Court; and stated that he had communicated with some members of the police force at Christchurch and Kaiapoi, for the purpose of having the man arrested, and produced a copy of the letter and the reply which he had received thereto; but, as he had not obtained any satisfactory information, the Court committed.him to take his trial for larceny at the 'next sitting of the Supreme Court, and subsequently took bail for his appearance there.

The Price of Flottb.—-We quote to-day a fall in the price of flour, which now stands at a lower figure than it has been' sold for here .for more than four years. The price now fixed in Christchurch for average quality is £15 per ton. In consequence of this reduction we shall look to the bakers to bring down the price of bread at least in proportion. . The Harvest.—Harvest. operations may now ta considered over; some few fields only remaining, as is usually the ease, a week or two in arrears. The. yield has been a full average, and has been got in in good time, during favourable weather, and cheaply, as compared with former seasons ; so that, if prices had continued at former rates, farmers would have acknowledged this as a prosperous season. - A commencement has been made in some places in breaking up the stubble land, chiefly in lowlying; spots where early working is necessary to anticipate the rain. Thrashing machines are at work, though much dicinclination is expressed to expend any money whatever on the production of grain for the market in the present state of prices. The figure quoted to-day, four shillings a bushel, less than one-third of that obtained not very long ago," is evidently one which will leave no margin whatever except perhaps to those who depend only on their own labour or have machinery for their own use. Maoei Mill.—The "Maories at Port Levy are about to establish a water mill at their settlement in that bay. The machinery, which is of excellent quality and applicable to a mill of large size, was imported- from England in the Mariner, under the directiCivof-Mr, R. Latter, and was constructed, by Corcoran & Co. -, The cost of all the parts as delivered to the natives in Lytteltoii is not less than £360, the price in England having been £325. J This sum is almost all paid already, The importance of the undertaking may be judged from these figure? and, taking into consideration the cost still to be met of erecting the mill and setting it to work, we think the enterprise speaks well for the energy of the few natives in this district, and we sincerely trust that the undertaking may be crowned with success. .Ltttblxow CHUECH.—At a meeting held on Monday evening to receive, tenders-;for pulling down. the Church in Canterbury Street, it was, agreed to have a specification carefully prepared by Mr. Mountfort, architect, describing the wor.k to be performed, and a tender sent in by Mr. Ed^mond was accepted, subject to performance according to such specification.