RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 104, 17 October 1877, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

PALMERSTON NORTH. Satubday, Oct l3th. . (Before V. Monrad, Esq., J.P., and G. M." Snelson, Esq., J.P.) "Robert Leonard, alias Morton, was charged by Constable Gillespie with . stealing, about four months ago, a _ wiatch from the tentof one W. Harrison, ' of Oroua Downs. • William Harrison haying been sworn,deposed: I am. a laborer and' was wOrkihgfor Poole and Allen, contractors, when I lOst the wa-tch. About ! the 27th of last July, I was living m a tent,, erected m the usual way. On that day I left the tent door fastened, arid went m. search of ahorse T had lost; The watch was m my waistcoat: pocket, which was m a clothes bag, used as a pillow. As soon as T'missed the watch, I suspected the prisoner ; he was living m another tent, and employed by the same firm! *- His tent was about 100 yards from mine. He knew" I had the watch, as I shewed it to, him and two other men one day. I gave^information to Coristable Gillespie, and told him -I * suspected the prisoner. The constable produced the watch m Court, and after Being sworn deposed: I apprehended the^prisoner on Tuesday, the 9th inst. I vvisited Mr Metard, watchmaker, of Palmerston, the previous night, and fecoghised'the watch from the description, given to me by Harrison, ttold Me- . tard it was a stolen watch, and requested him to return it to the prisoner. The watch .was left by the prisoner to be repaired. Onthe' following indriiirig I saw Ajfae iprisioher on the Railway platform ; ■"Sjfcpras going away by ihe train. I Ljwt to him and pulled the watch . from his 'pocket and asked : him where ..'•■* he/got. ifc He said he bought it three months ago from-a man named Wilkins., I asked him where Wilkins was likely to be found; he said he was working A bn the Oroua river, arid if T would allow him he would go arid get him. I _i^efused to allow him to £o unless I went "r^dong with him. This he willingly agreed to. We went to Oroua and made enquiries, but failed to find anyone answering to the description given of Wilkins-. I then arrested prisoner and locked him upL In reply to questions from the Bench prisoner said he would plead guilty as he knew he had stolen the watch. He first thought of stealing it on the same day that he took it. He went into the . ' tent, to see his riaate, and finding him absent took the watch. L' This appearing to. be' the first offence of the prisoner, the Bench stated that they; would inflict a lighter sentence on that account. The prisoner was guilty of quite as serious an offence as if he *: had gone into a house and stolen the article. People Hying m tents must be protected by the law to the same extent as those nving m more substantial dwellings. The prisoner was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard '; '. labor. ; t "■