RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 92, 18 November 1870, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S

; COURT. Saturday, November 12. (Before H. W. Robinson, Esq., R.M.) ¥m. Roberts, charged with having, in, the month of October last, obtained a. horse from Eliphalet Hall, cordial manufacturer of this town, and who had.been remanded till to-day for the production of an important witness from Dunedin, was, on application of Sergeant M'Cluskey, further remanded till Saturday next, 19th inst. Walter Paterson, stock driver (on

bail), surrendered to answer the charge, of having taken a mare, the - property of some-person or persons unknown, with a felonious intent, from the run of Messrs. Roll an J, Blacks tone Hill Station. Sergeant M ; Cluskey, who appeared for the prosecution, applied for a remand 011 the ground that the police had not been able to find the person who had purchased- the horse from the accused. Mr. O'Meagher, of Oamaru, solicitor, appeared for the accused, and objected to a remand on the ground that the police might and should have been prepared to go on with the prosecution, and that they should show some good cause why the witness was not present, which they had failed to do. Mr. O'Meagher further remarked that the charge was altogether a frivolous and vexatious one—one which could be easily refuted, and one under which the accused should not be allowed to lie a single moment longer than necessary. The learned counsel further observed that he felt so confident of the justice of his case and the innocence of his client, that he was prepared to run the risk of showing his hand and the line of - defence he intended to adopt before even hearing the evidence for the prosecution. The evidence, which was -lengthy,"" went to establish the fact that the mare alleged to have been stolen by the accused was the foal of a mare of which Mr. R. M'Morran, of Clyde, had purchased the chance some years back from one John Bapti3te, alias Black Jack ; (that the mare had been running on the boundary of Messrs. Holland and Messrs. Comber and Douglass' run for four or five years, and was always considered to belong to M'Morran ; that the accused was in the employ of M'Morran and upon his business when he took the mare; that he made no secret whatever of his intention, but told several persona that he was going to take M'Morran's mare ; that when M'Morran heard from the accused that he had sold the 'mare fo>' £l3 lie was quite ' satisfied with the sale and the price obtained, and hiughed when he heard the idea of a prosecution against accused for horsestealing. The Serjeant of .Police said that, after hearing the evidence, he was quite satisfied, and liad no desire to press lor a remand, preferring to leave the matter in the hands of the Bench. The Magistrate remarked that he was the Sergeant state his intention not to preHS for a remand. He was quite satisfied, from the evidence, 'of the absence of anything on the part of the accused save of indiscretion in taking the mar© off the run without giving the usual and proper notice to the runholder. If, therefore, the accused had suffered mental anxiety, a large portion of the blame was attributable to his own indiscretion. The accused.should, he thought, be glad, since the report of this charge against him had ,been in circulation, that the matter had been fully ventilated in open Court. He had much pleasure in discharging the accused.