SUPREME COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 179, 31 July 1871, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SITTINGS., — x ■' i [Before his Honor Mr. Justice Richmoi*]. This Day. The Supreme Court met at 10 o'clock this morning, when the following gentlemen were sworn in on the Grand Jury : — Messrs. H. Beitt, H. Lewis, T. Cawthron, J. Lewis, G. H. Myers, J. Watkins, C. Watts, H. Davis, D. M'Donald. t J. Scotland,JS. Baly, H. Martin, S. Hi Pike, T. R. Hodder, J. Gully, J. H. Levied, T. Mackay, D. M. Luckie, A. Warren, and J. W. Barnicoat, (fo.cman.) His Honor, in addressing the Grand Jury, said that in the present Circuit Court, as had been tbe case for several successive sessions, the calendar was a very light one, and their duties would, consequently, not detain them long. There were only seven charges altogether, and j of these none was of any great gravity. In no less than three out of the seven, the crime did not belong to settlers in the place, but came, as it were, from a distance, the prisoners being seamen or seafaring men belonging to foreign vessels that had visited this port. Of the others, only one affected to be -men belonging to the class of settlers, an J there were two from Westport of the ordinary class of cases from diggings townships, being evidently the results of drunkenness and debauchery. A few words would be necessary with respect to the last committal, which was rather a strange case. The charge was stated to be that the defendant, when laboring under temporary insanity, had wilfully set fire to a house, which in itself was clearly a contradiction. If a prisoner were proved to have been insane, though only temporarily, to such an extent as to blind him to the distinction betweeu right and wroDg, the petty jury would be directed to acquit him, but it was always safer for the Grand Jury to ignore a charge of insanity, as if they throw out the Bill upon such grounds, they placed it beyond the power of the Judge to order the accused to be placed in safe custody even if his madness were permanent. In this case the insanity was only temporary, but still it was desirable that it should go to the petty jury, as a •prima facie case existed if a man committed a crime which, had he been at the time in bis right mind, would have been against the laws of the land. Of the case against regular settlers, it was one which under the old law could not have given rise to a charge of larceny, but under the new law such a charge might be preferred. Under the old law, the bailee was considered to be rightly in possession of all goods entrusted to his charge, but under the new one any person might be committed to whom goods had been entrusted and by him fraudulently converted to his own use. These were the only cases on which comment was necessary, and he would cow dismiss the Jury to their duties. Regina v. G. Skerry. The Grand Jury found a % - true Bill against George Skerry, late steward of the barque Malay, for having on the 4th March last stolen from the wharf certain articles the property of R. G. Gibbons, and of the Bishop of Nelson. Prisoner pleaded guilty. Sentence deferred. Regina v. W. Gavin and G. Skerry. Prisoners were charged with stealing a box of sarsaparilla from the Government wharf. ; - The Grand Jury having found No Bill" against Gavin, he was discharged. The Crown Prosecutor stat6d that Skerry having; pleaded guilty to the former charge, he did not wish to prosecute on this case. Regina v, Bartholomew Murphy. Prisoner. s ?was charged withe having } stolen certain moneys- i to the amount of £20 from the house of James M'Culloch of Westport. •.'«■.•; -■ -, AJJ^y.J. '"f'YAr' \ . ; Mr.. Fell ~i .deftir^r.th(h/priß6nw^ was '^^j^^jßj^iltg^ - i^s^n][{ancMi was deferred until to-morrow morning, at 10 o'clock.

The Brown Trout in Tasmania.--A fine specimen of the brown trout weighing 2Jlbs was lately caught in a wool box in Distillery Creek within three miles of Launceston.. It is presumed that it was about two years old. Not so Bad. — A gentleman in Hampden district (Otago) has been presenting a bugle to a rifle corps in his neighborhood. During the act of presentation he became prophetic, and expressed a conviction that the time was not far distant when tbe Volunteer force would be called upon to "stand a wall of fire round their much lov'd isle." The Opunake correspondent of the Taranaki Herald makes a suggestion which may be worthy of the notice of our flax-dressers. He says : — " There is no doubt the companies would turn out a much larger quantity yearly and at less cost per ton, if they erected sheds to store their bleached fibre in summer, and scutched it during the three worst months -of winter, by which means they would have the full power of their wheels to work extra strippers in summer, and extra scutchers in winter. English flax is stacked to sweat it before scutching, to make the process easier, and the fibre softer, and it would no doubt, bave the same effect on New Zealand flax." Thomson's Traction Engine. — Yesterday this new locomotive was despatched to Onehunga, to convey to town a large tubular boiler, weighing three tons. The journey was accomplished in about an hour and h quarter. The loadipg 'occupied some time, and c was accomplished with great difficulty. The journey back to town was accomplished in a deluge of rain. The speed attained with this heavy load attached was, in some places, four miles an hour on the level. There was absolutely no appearance of strain, and the noise by no means great upon the hard road. But the traction engine is a capital stone mangier, and the crushing of the new laid stone was occasionally alarming. The average speed was about three miles and a half. The real test was at the foot of the Ky ber Pass Road, opposite the Captain Cook Hotel. The ascent up the iodine was at the rate of -a little less than three miles. This, of course, does not represent the greatest capability of such an engine, for it must be recollected that the workmen are yet new to the mode of handling it. — Auckland Herald, July 18. Old Colonists. — " JEgles " thus writes in the Australasian'. — "Separation -day does not mean much to the present generation of Victorians. Imagine a roan giving an entertainment in celebration of his latest divorce. A Federation anniversary would have a pleasanter significance if an intercolonial union were accomplished. The old colonists made a good use of the occasion, although they might with propriety have omitted the show business with the four prize pensioners " whose united ages are," &c. Perhaps old colonists at that time of life are not troubled with sensibility. Some folks won't admit that all old colonists benevolently came ! here in a pure spirit of unselfishness, and for the sole advantage of those who followed them a little after. There are some well-preserved specimens amongst them, but I imagine that we live too near them to appreciate them as they ought to be appreciated. Perhaps we shall admire them more when there are none left. I think the public interest in the inquiry as to who founded Melbourne is not much greater than as to whether it was Romulus or Remus who first cut his eye-teeth. Melbourne was founded, and that is the main thing. History is very instructive, no doubt, but we can be overdosed even with that.