SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 665, 23 March 1859, Page 3

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

We have received Adelaide^ journals to the Ist instant; .... =. ' •'.". V. „. ,■ , . : Mr. E. C. Gwynne.was sworn m as third Judge before his Excellency and the Executive Council on Monday, Eeb; 28. ■ ' , . T ;

CONVICTION OF THE MAYOR FOR FORGERY.

The 'Register'gives the following account of tbe proceedings in the Criminal Court when Mr. Sabben* the late Mayor of Adelaide; was brought up for sentence:—.. ..■: „ ; ',-;. •: | William Thompson Sabben, convicted on his own confession of. forgery, exliibited, when called up, traces of severe bodily or mental suffering. < Alderman Lazar, said lie took that opportunity of recommending the prisoner to merciful consideration

Mr. Ingleby called the'following witnesses to character:— . . •.' ' :•-; ■ ""■ - ; Joseph Mellor, mechanician, Morphett-street, stated that he had known the. prisoner, and employed him as hie, solicitor, for seven or eight years. He had always conducted witness's business ,in a straightforward msinjjer: ,He, had upwards of £400 in his.h'aniis'belonging to witness before ,1m 'apprehension for sfcveral weeks,, and it was made, up ,; in; the last week :to .£9OO. :AH that money .had; been duly accounted for. " , ' / ■ • Job Spender, builder, stated that he knew ;the prisoner for nearly eight years in this colony, as a solicitor. He was witness's, professional adviser, and.large suras, of his money had; passed .through ,4heiprisoner's hands. Had no ; fault,, to find; with vhim... •,; ...' ': •■■ !■■■ ■-. -•■■■: v,- •■■ „ ; '■■'■ i : P B. Coglih did not answer when called. John Coleman-Dixou, Manager of the South Australian Banking' Company,, stated that he had known, the prisoner for .upwards .of eight years. Had" many 'pecuniarytransactions with him. On the very day before his apprehension, he handed to

the barik"|"6ri' account of one of his clients; upwards of £5)00. He (witness) always thought his probity unimpeachable. l :■ :; . ; William Clark and George Ernest Hamilton were called but did riot answer. ■.. *

Mr. Ingleby said the prisoner had handed to him a papery wliich he (prisoner) declaredv he was physically unable to read. He would, with permission; read it:— •••-,; ■-.

'I would beg permission to state that, after a struggle against undeserved calumny and ill-health, and consequent pecuniary difficulties, I had just igaineda position from which 1 might.look for happiness and competency; and,it was in tlie desperate hope .alone of retaining that position that, urged by, wants arising out of, the depression of the times, I had recourse to acts whicli have righteously resulted in, myruin.. While acknowledging my guilt, I declare that I had no intention toft defraud the . prosecutor, and I submit that the written personal ; guarantee; whicli I gave him for payment of the amount will evidence the truth of this assertion. I , desire to express my deep contrition for, the offence whic.li I liavecommitted against society and against the profession to wliich I belong., I throw, myself on the mercy of the Court, trusting that in consideration, of my broken .health .and/physical. ina--bility to bear an.excessive punishment, such a sentence maybe passed as will riot: deprive those dear to me of all hope of seeing me again.

William T. Sabben.'

; The Chief Justice.—" William Thomson Sabben, you stand convicted upon your own confession of the forgery of ; an acceptance, and uttering the.same! knowing it ..'to be a forgery. It is urinecesary for me to say that this offence. is one df'ayery serious character. It is also unnecessary for me to say that : I cannot pass sentence upon youl without feeling something, more than in the case of a common bffeh-, der; for L see in you a member of the profession' to which I myself belong, and a person whom I supposed to be in: a position altogether different from that referred to' in the paper just read. From' your respectable'':connections' arid apparent business, I • supposed you to be in'the very flood-tide of prosperity- I must sayj but not as a testirnoriy to your character, that when I heard you had been brought before the magistrate upon this charge, I 'could hardly give credit to it. T supposed, indee.\ that you were above the necessity which you state was the cause of yoftr crime. However, this; is one of the many cases, no doubti in'which crime arises from -not resisting the temptations of the devil. You said in answer to tlie question " Guilty or hot guijty,"'that. you were guilty of the forgery, but without the intention to defraud. I did not myself '. hear; that latter part of your answer, and I thought you had confessed yourself guilty of the offence laid in the indictment. Now:,., with" regard to .'.that, I: do not believe that your thought was ultimately to defraud Mr. iazar or Mr. Brandon. Ido not believe you sought to keep those people out of their money; but yoii forged the name of a person whose deeds you happened to have in your posessiori, and you made use of those deeds for a fraudulent purpose.' I quite believe thattyou thought you might be able to make up the money; but'you were norland thereby'Mr. Lazar. was defrauded. The very result happened which' the law endeavours to prevent, by making..it highly penal, in any person to commit the crime of forgery. No,doubt Henry Tauntleroy, who expiated his crime on the scaffold, thought he . could'm'akei the money good to those .people/whose names he so improperly used. Unfortunately, however, one crime leads to ano- : ther. Perhaps it was in this case as in others, that you thought you would be able to meet the necessary payment, which would have been but a small .sum, as .it!appears, compared with y.our transactions. You now stand;in an ignominious position, ;and it must not .be supposed.,thatdf,,you had- projVided the money and made it good, that your crime wpuld.be less.- I consider .that I. ainnot taking advaritage of my position jtb.triumph over you or to \ say. anything!riaore severe than;l think I feel it,to be necessary upon occasions of this kind that the Wh6le J community should have a warning 'not to be led into anything li<e-the commission of. this crime,'for however ;they inight»think; that in the end; they:would be- able to>preveni; the crime, being found out, it will in; all. "probability in every case be discovered and; punished.: \ I might mention, , if-it were -necessary, the Case of a, gentleman who had for a long,time filled a,most respectable,situa- ; ition in the! very profession r to! which., you belonged, "and who! had made use of a friend^s nariie,!tliinking /that lie might do so safely. He.forged that name to a,' bill of exchange, arid when thebillbecaine due, took it up. Unfortunately for Kirn, but fortunately for the cause of justice, that bill remained in the 'hands of' the bankers; and, notwithstanding, that 'the bill was paid in due course,, the person,who .committed theforgery, and whose name was.Leach, suffered the/penajty of his crime. ; Thus,, it; is not the,hope of,the .offender that he will find money which limits the nature of the crime, but '= tlie .evil which .'the .crime is calculated to inflict upon society. In the reign of George the' Third the punishment for , forgery was 4eath,. without hope. of. mercy. 'Happily a more lenient system of-punishment is now in Operation. Still, I think it necessary to niark my sense of the gravity of your offence, being as you are a man of education, and one who shouldhave shrunk from bringirigdisgrace upon an honorable profession. You; have received a testimonial which I would have been better pleased" to have seen come from the members of your own profession, as they.could have best testified in a niatter of that sort. You have, however, received a testimonial; but, taking that into consideration, as well as your bad state of health, I do riot feel warranted in passing a less sentence upon you than that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labour, for the term of six whole years." ■ '■ The words ' six years' were repeated in an audible whisper for several seconds throughout the court, which was densely crowded.

The Railway Labourers.—For some time past a large number of labourers have been engaged upon .the. railway line northward of Gawler at daily; wages, but the Commissioners last week determined to dispense with their services, and to proceed by contract or piece work; and it was understood that the Commissioner of Public Works would furnish employment for the workmen thus liberated, either at the Government Quarries or ujpori the country roads. The matter seems to have been misunderstood by the men, who , fancied they were to be offered lower wages than they had been receiving; and under this idea many.of them struck, work, alleging that they were already underpaid, and complaining ■that the .cost of provisions at the local stores swallowed up nearly the whole of their weekly earnings. Having y.ius ceased to be in the employ of the Commissioners, they were refused on Saturday their usual free passage to Adelaide, ami some very needless fears were - entertained at Gawler of their creating a disturbance at the station.. A few policemen Were consequently sent, there, but no breach of the peace occurred. On Monday about 200 of the men assembled at the Adelaide Station, anxious to be taken on again. It was then explained to them by Mr. Borrow, the secretary, and the other officials, that their services would not be needed on the line, as the works were to be-proceeded with by contract, but that other employment would be found.by the Government for such of them,as wished for it. This assurance satisfied the men, who generally professed their anxiety to obtain work of some kind. In the course of the day some of them applied at the office of the Commissioner of Public Works, where tickets were given to them for employment at the quarries. We understand that the number of men discharged or to lie discharged from the railway works ia between. 600 and 70.0, and that the quarries upon which the Commissioner of Public Works purposes employing those : who'desire" fresh engagements are in the North, North-east, South/and South-east Districts. The day'-wnges have been 4s 6r1.. but the quarry work will be paid for by the piece, at rates which are supposed to admit "of a man's earning ss. per day.— Reqisler. . War Trophies.—The Russian guns taken in the Crimean war are at the Port, and will, at no distant date, be brought to the city. If has been suggested that the Government should be at the expense of and horsing them,: and'1 that the honourable arid pleasing task of conveying them to their destination '■ should be assigned to the Adelaide

artillery cox^it. AH other expenses, such as aimnu- . nitionfor a salute on the occasion, &c, would be defrayed by that company of volunteers. Were this course adopted, and the regulars ordered to meet the, artillery corps and conduct the trophies down Ilindley-street, Rundle-street, and through Pulteney-street to the Barracks, it is thought it would be an imposing demonstration, worthy of thereception of puns in taking which,the British troops shed their blood so freely, and gained so muck glory.—lbid.