MACRAES.—July 9.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 280, 18 July 1874, Page 3

MACRAES.—JuIy 9.

Resident Magistrate's Court. (Before H. A. Stratford, Esq., R.M.)

W. E. Griffen v. R Donaldson.—Suit for £1 2s. 6d. This was a suit for timber borrowed by the defendant from the plaintiff some months since for a racing booth; and, as it had never been returned, the plaintiff sued for the value of the woodhe having sent in his account to the plaintiff before suing. In cross-examiaation the plaintiff said that he had given the account under cover to a servant. The defendant, on being sworn, stated that he had accounts,against the plaintiff for the ' Otago Witness,' and thought it unfair that he should be sued betore he received a bill —more especially as there were accounts between them. He did not know what timber he had obtained from plaintiff, for he had been using some of his own at the same time. The Magistrate, in summing up, said that an account in an envelope having been given to a servant of the defendant's was a sufficient rendering, and that the defendant ought not t.o have treated the plaintiff's bill with silence. The amount had not been disputed, and the defendant had been brought into Court by. his. Judgment for the amount claimed, and costs 9s.

W. E. Griffen v. the Macraes School Committee/ —Suit for £B. By the evi-_ dence it was shown that Griffen had con- * tracted to perform certain works in reference to the schoolhouse for the sum of £lll 19s. —the work to be completed by the 4th of December, 1873 ; failing completion, the" Committee to have power to set on workmen under the contractor's supervision, to finish the contract; the employes to be paid by the Committee, and their charges to be deducted from the £lll 19s. As the contractor had not ful-. filled the conditions of the contract on t'iat date, the Committee, by virtue of their agreement, employed a carpenter and a mason. The carpenter was paid £6 4s. by the consent of the contractor, and the mason (R. Donaldson) allowed £B, which the contractor disputed. The Committee paid the contractor £97 15s. He gave them credit for £6 45., and sued for the balance of £B. The Magistrate discovered by the evidence that the' Committee had charged the contractor for mason work £B, when it appeared they should have .charged only £G 2s. Judgment for £1 18s.-, and costs 18s. Police v. J. B. L. Luks.—For supplying liquors to residents of the neighborhood on a Sunday. The case having been proved, .the defendant urged that he had acted quite in ignorauce, that he should be very sorry to break or defy thp laws, and remarked that it would be a difficult thing to refuse some kinds of people who came to his house on Sundays; that, were he to follow his own inclinations, he would, keep his doors closed. He hoped the Magistrate would sec fit to recommend thai a constable be stationed at Waihemo. The Bench remarked that Mr. Luks' statement was believed, but that ignorance of the law could not save him from a penalty on conviction. Every hotelkeeper should have a copy of the Ordinance, and know its sections by heart. A nominal penalty would meet the merits of the case— the maximum.being £2O. Pined 10s., Court costs 16s. 6d., and one witness" allowed 10s. The Magistrate informed Mr. Luks that he would recommend that a constable be stationed at Waihemo; and Sub-Inspector M'Cluskey, who was. present, promised to bring the matter under the notice of the Commissioner of Police.

Warden's Couet, (Before H. A. Stratford, Esq., Warden.) Patrick Phelan was refused an extended claim. , James Wrigley appeared before the Warden to object to the application of one Simpson, a "carpenter, for land as a freehold, near the Duke of Edmuuryu Quartz Keel'. "Wrigley remarked that if was quite by accident that he had discovered that the application had beer made, and was quite sure that Mr. Barron had not surveyed it; that he thought that it had been done on the sly by some Dunedin surveyor, and- that the matter had not been openly published, as it ought to have been. He thought it very unfair that any man should be allowed to mark off auriferous ground and purchase it, without an opportunity of objections being heard. The Warden replied that he quite agreed with Mr. Wrigley'. All such applications should be advertised in the district, and the district surveyor's report received. That he had heard indirectly something about this matter, and himself intended to bring it under the notice of the Government. He was quite sure Mr. Barron knew nothing about the matter.