Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 620, 16 October 1858, Page 5

Local Intelligence.

SUPREME COURT. Lyttelton, Oct. 15. The Court opened to-day for the trial of criminal cases, before Mr. Justice Gresson. There was but one case on the list, which, as will be seen, occupied but a short time. Tbe Grand Jury being called over, and having sell

lectcd Mr/.Jos. Brittan as foreman, his llono* t proceeded to deliver the following address :.— Mr. Foreman and Gentlemen op the Grand Jury.—Yo.tr duties this Session promise to be extremely light. There is but one offence charged, and that, one of common assault, it is unnecessary for me therefore to detain you by offering any observations upon your duties. But Gentlemen, I cannot refrain from congratulating you upon having obtained for your province a Resident Judge, and being therefore relieved from the manifold disadvantages consequent upon the soat of justice being at such a distance from Canterbury as it has been hitherto. 1 know that I need not enlarge upon the evils that have resulted from the uncertainty of the times of session of the Supreme Court at Lyttelton under which we have suffered for some years past. It is a subject with which unfortunately we are all too familiar. I trust, ; however, that these evils are now past, or only I to be remembered, like many other incidents to a new settlement, for the purpose of increasing j our contentment, by being contrasted with our present position; and that for the future the times of session may be calculated upon with certainty; and I cannot doubt tliat the improvement in this respect in the administration of justice, will tend largely to promote the prosperity of this most prosperous settlement. I trust that the moral condition of the province may keep pace with its advance in wealth and material prosperity, and ths lightness of the calendar before me gives me reason to hope thtt such will be the case. Gentlemen, —I will not detain you longer. The bill for assault will now be laid before you. The Grand Jury tiien retired for a short time, and returned with a true bill in BEGIXA v. TOPPIN. Thomas Toppiu was placed at tbe bar for an assault upon James Jackson in tbe month of Jane last. The prisoner pleaded guilty, but called two witnesses to character, Messrs. Jeffries and Haughton, who gave in evidence the fact that he was a quiet, well-behaved man, when not in liquor; and that during two years he had been drunk three times, when h^ behaved with great violence. The prisoner stated in mitigation of sentence that he and Jackson had been drinking together all day and p irted once good friends, but on meeting again, both being in liquor, the assault had been committed in a manner which he (the prisoner) could not account for. He added that he had already been twenty-five days in confinement, and that a wife and five children were solely dependent upon him for support. His Honob, in passing sentence, remarked that this was one of the numerous cases of crime arising from intoxication. The law did not look upon an offence as less criminal because committed by a drunken man. The prisoner had received a character for general good behaviour ; but be should recollect when sober that he was not master of bis actions when drunk, and should feel the necessity of refraining. The sentence of the court would be'imprisonment' for two months with hard labour, calculating from the period of his first being imprisoned. This closed tbe business of tbe court. Several grand and petty jurymen who had not answered to their names when called upon, but arrived lute, were permitted to put in affidavits as to the cause of absence, and their lines were remitted. The court then adjourned. The long expected comet lias appeared at last. On Thursday night the phenomenon was visible for about half-an-hour, between a" quarter past seven and a quarter to eight p.m., while the portion of the sky in which it appeared was clear of clouds. On the previous night we learn that it had been observed by a few persons on the plains, but not so vividly as on Thurday. Its position on the latter eyeing w?s in the constellation Scorpion, about twenty degrees above the horizon, and therefore about thirty-five degrees from the sun. It was directly in tbe moon's path and about fifteen degrees distant. The tail extended in a north-east direction from j the nucleus, which uppea-.ed as lar^e as a star of j the second magnitude. The brilliancy of the phenomenon was somewhat impaired by the near ! presence of the moon and Venus, but, being of ; comparatively large size and the tail of eonI siderable extent, it was sufficiently conspicuous j to attract attention at tbe most careless glance : It is (so authorities say) rather near the sun i to be long visible until returning, but it is satis- ! factory to have caught sight at all of its exis-^ ' tence, as but little doubt can be entertained of I its identity with the phenomenon progiiostiI eated as likely to occur about this time in its ! irregular course.