SUPREME COURT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 712, 3 September 1859, Page 4

SUPREME COURT.

Thtjbsday, Ist September, 1859.

-The Spring Session of the Circuit Court opened this tnoniing,at■Christehurch, before Mr. Justice Grosson. This being-the first-sitting of the Court in this town, tho proceedings attracted unusual interest among the public, although but one case of those to be brought for trial was of such a nature as to excite general curiosity. For the' purposes of the present session, and until a proper and special Court-house shall be erected, the services of the Town Hall, as reserved by the Government in the establishment of this building, have been em ployed. It was divided off with the same fitting which were constructed for Supreme. Court purposes m Lyttelton, but the room itself ottered more conyemences for the accommodation, of the iud°-e bar junw, "Unaies-and public than, were to be found in (he Lyttelton Town Hall.

At c even o clock His Honor entered the Court I 11 nif "^W) 3 -tiiVprooeediiigg were-at once opened by the Hegistrar reading the Governor's proclamation, appointing the place and.time for the sitting of the Court. After which the following gentlemen were called and sworn as the Grand Jury:—Messrs. Charles Bpwen. J.P., foreman • P Banks, J. Eealey, S. Bealey, G. C. Beard, C' p" *efj> W- C. Beswick, J.P.; C. J. Bridge, J. Bvittan, J.P.. J. T. Brown, G. Buckley, M. J Burke , FH Campbell, A. R. Creyke, A. C. Croft, o. b. Field, G. Gould, C. Greenstreet, jj, A .Hnrgveaves, R. J. S. Harman, J. M. Hey wood, E C Latter.

His Honor then proceeded to deliver the following to

CHARGE TO THE G-HANP JURY: MX. foreman and Gentlemen of the Grand Jury.— I am sure that you have listened with pleasure to the proclamation which has just been read an pointing Christchurch as tl* W"f S the Supremo Court, instead of Lyttelton.

I believo that the reirioval of the Court to Chri. church will be hailed by most of the inhabitant tlio province as a boon and earnest of further i,! provement. I trust that ore long we shall have" Court house not unworthy of the condition anS prospocts of thi ß most prosperous province. " (jentleracn, there is only one case in. the calends that appears to me to require observation. I here is a charge of forgery, I believe the fW that has occurred m this province. The statute on which the indictment in founded enacts.that 'if 2 person shall forge or alter, or shall'offer, utter, d? pose of, or put off knowing the same to be C% or altered (amongst other things) anjr order for the payment of money with intent to defraud 2 person whatsoever, lie shall be guilty of felony &/ Ypti perceive gentlemen that the.offence may £ committed either by the forging,. or by the offerL utttrmg disposing of or putting off, with guilty knowledge and fraudulent intent.. J Any, the slightest alteration of a genuine instru ment in a material part, whereby a new operation is given to it, amounts to forgery. If is not necessary to prove the- intention to have been to defraud any particular person; it insufficient to prove generally an intent to defraud—and «ucL intention may be presumed from circumstances even in cases in which the prosecutor was not in fret i and could not have been defrauded. Again,~to " offer" and " utter,""mean no more than that the prisoner tendered or attempted to pass or make use of the forged instrument, with fraudulent intent- these words do not necessarily import that the person to whom the instrument was tendered accepted or was defrauded by it. With these observations, gentlemen, I think you will have no difficulty in dealing with the case of forgery. The other cases to come before you aro charges of simple larceny, in which I do not apprehend'that you require any assistance /rom me. The Grand Jury then retired, and two bills were soon after sent into them, indicting one Wuzeerah, a native of India, on two charges of larceny, one of the goods of Mr. J. Cracroft Wilson, of Cashmere; the second of the goods of one Mackenzie. In the course of a short time the Grand Jury brought up. true bills in both cases; also a true bill in a second case, Eegina v. Pring, for larceny of tfoods, the property of Mr. H. E. Alport. The bill prepared in the remaining case, Regina v. Isaac Levi, for forgery and uttering, was then sent in, and pending its consideration, a petty jury was sworn, of whom Mr. H. E. Alport was foreman, and the first casa as above was called and proceeded with. EEGINA V. WUZEEBAH.—LAECENT.

The Prisoner being a Hindoo, Mr. Philip Ashton was sworn interpreter, and the indictment bein* recited and translated, a plea of ' Not Guilty' wa^ recorded. Mr Duncan conducted the case for the Grown,, and called John Cracroft Wilson, the prosecutor], who deposed to the following statement. Wuzeerah, had been in his employ and known to him for j several years. On his (witness's) return to India, a copper boiler, which had been used for washing purposes in the house, but was afterwards disused* fell into the possession of the prisoner and was used by him in the preparation of flax, with the consent of the^ family. Shortly after witness's return from India, the boiler was again needed, but could not be found until the loss of a crowbar occasioned a search to be made in the prisoner's house, when the articles which were the subject of the indictment—namely, the copper vessel, and two Indian sickles, a tent peg, a chopper, a koorpa, and a guard-iron of a sledge, were found concealed on the premises. Previous to this search, which took place on the 6th July, witness had discharged the prisoner from his service, on the 13th April, and had then ordered him"*to give up all property in his possession j two implements; were given up. On the articles being found,- prisoneil had acknowledged witness's ownership'in them, and begged him to take them away and forgive him. °° On cross-examination by Mr. Johnstoue, on behalf of the prisoner, Mr. Wilson stated that all the articles except the guard-iron were Indian tools; that "the koorpa and sickles were part of the tools in use by the prisoner; that he had no business, with the chopper and tent peg, nor with the sledgeiron, unless during the time when he was driving the sledge. When prisoner told witness to'take' the things away and forgive him, he was not using the usual hyperbolical language of the East, but meant only those particular articles which witness recognised as his own. (Here the prisoner; interposed, saying that he had begged him to take all he had.) Witness could swear to the identity of the articles. -

William Irvine, overseer, at Cashmere,■ recollected the discharge of the prisoner in April last; had then told him to deliver.up all the tools which'had been gl ven into his charge, consisting of a-, spade and hoe. When search was made by a policeman the articles produced were, in presence of thfe officer and himself with Mr. Wilson and Mackenzie, takea irom prisoner's house. Had never entrusted prisoner with these articles; They weVe 3sr. Wilson's property, having been taken from onfe of his boxes. In the cross examination by Mr. Johnstone, witness mentioned that he saw some of the sickles and other articles taken out of the box at Chrastchurcb, and f the rest he saw at Cashmere, where ihe box lay in an unoccupied tent. This was inihfe beginning of 1854. As witness did not know v the use' of these Indian tools, he did not object to any, of the natives using them as they required. He bad seen the particular articles after, that time ..before the search but did not think them worth consideration. Ihey had been lying about the prisoner's hut and might have been in his occupation. He asked prisoner for las tools the day before discharging him, and prisoner gave up at once those things which he . asked for. °"

Re-examined.—lf I had known the prisoner had these things or any other articles of 'Mr. .Wilson's than the spade and hoe, I would decidedly have asked for them also.

By the Court.—These articles were considered by me to be Mr. Wilson's property, but as IVdid not know their use I did not consider myself responsible for them and permitted the native servants to use them as they liked. If I hud seen them in the possession of other natives not in 'Mr. Wilson's employ I would certainly have claimed" them. I can't say whether prisoner might have imagined, from the use he had of the things, that they were abandoned by Mr. Wilson, nor whether.,thev wero really abandoned by the family. Thomas Mackenzie accompanied the policemen and others in the search of Wuzeerah's hfiuse. The artioles produced were then found; they belong to Mr, Wilson. When they were found; prisoner said to Mr. Wilson, 'this is your property, you can take it and excuse me.' When we came' near the house the boiler was on the fire, but when I came in, I saw his wife take it off the fire an.d put it under the bed. ■

Cross-examined.—l am not in Mr. Wilson's employment but have been about 12 years under his control. I came out in the ship with 'him and the prisoner. I used to. look after the animals on board; the prisoner had the sickles given him to cut grass fodder, The chopper was used for many years in Mr. Wilson's kitchen. It could not bo used for the same purposes as the koorpa, which was employed for paving grass where too short to be cut with tho sickle, I never saw tho sickles fiom the time they, .were given in chai'ge to prisoner in India, till the day when his house was searched. By the Courtv—As I understand the native language, when he- told Mr. Wilson to take the things he meant'to confess that ho was really guiltyand would .restore what he had taken. Scuneti'iius ia India »' native -might toll a stronger i»aa

H to take all he had, in a form of-words somewhat !| similar to that used by the prisoner; but on this f occasion an apology was really meant. % Police constable Burke deposed, to the search ® made, and to the finding of the goods, which were '§ claimed by Mr. Wilson. * This closed the ease for the prosecution. Gunga Ram was called on the part of the def fence. Mr. Wilson stated that this witness had i been a Brahmin.of high caste, but since his arrival f in New Zealand had disregarded the ordinances of & his religion, and therefore was not likely to be bound ** by any°form of oath. The interpreter by order of f; t] ie judge obtained from the witness a declaration P that by a certain form he would consider himself ;^ hound, and the Court sillowed the oath to be taken I in that form. This witness deposed to having seen \, the sickles and koorpa in Wuzeerah's possession I from the.time of leaving India. The tent peg he 4 hud also seen in the house. The copper vessel had * been given by, Mrs. Wilson to Wuzeerah for his i wife, as. she said it was of no use to herself.; f Cross-examined.—lt is more than four years

since Mrs."Wilson gave Wuzeerah the copper. Bhowanee Singh, another Hindoo, being interrogated.'. on his opinions as to a future state, was sworn in the same form as was administered to the previous witness. He had seen the sickles and the koorpa in the prisoner's possession on the Ganges. The chopper had also been used by prisoner when in the boats. They had all been in his possession ever since. He had seen the copper in the prisoner's house. One day, when making bricks for Mr. Wilson's house, ho saw Mrs. Wilson give Wuzeerah the boiler, saying—"Your wife has a jouiig child—take it home—heat water in it to bathe your child." In answer to a question from the jury, witness stated that he had seen all the articles now produced in prisoner's old house, and assisted in carrying them to his present place of residence. In answer to the Court he said that Mr. Cracroffc Wilson and young Mr. Wilson were standing close by when Wuzeerah asked him to help him to move the things. Prisoner then said that all the property in the house was his; and Mr. Wilson told him to take them away. The small articles were in a broken saucepan ; the boiler was carried away in the presence of both Mr. Wilson and his son. On the conclusion of this witness's examination the Court adjourned till Friday (yesterday).

Friday, September 2.

The Court opened at 10 am., and the case of larceny against Wuzeerah was proceeded with. The first witness, Mr. Philip Ash ton, was called upon to explain the meaning of the words used by the prisoner to Mr. Wilson in the Resident Magistrate's Court, viz:—" The things are all yours, take them and forgive me." Witness was of opinion that the words were nothing more than a figurative mode of . speaking used by the natives of India, and really meant nothing. - Several other witnesses were called whose evidence was of a conflicting character. The late at which the report reached us precludes us from giving any further details. Counsel on both sides having addressed the jury, his Honor read over the evidence, calling attention to the most salient points, offering a few observations at the conclusion of his resume*, and left the -case with the jury,who shortly afterwards returned a verdict of ' guilty.' . - REGINA #. ISAAC LEVI. The prisoner was arraigned on the charge of forgery, the particulars of which will be found in • -bur report of the proceedings in the Resident Magistrate's Court; ■ He pleaded guilty at the suggestion of the judge, and was sentenced to two years'imprisonment, with hard labour. When our 'report left a second charge of larceny .against Wuzeerah was being .proceeded with, but the case was of so trifling: a character that we reserve our available space for more interesting matter. ; /, ; :