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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 85, 12 April 1877, Page 4

. The Lytielton Times Baya tbat atthe la^t sitting bt tlie Supreme) Court James Davis was sentenced to lei years' penal aurvitude for larceuy-from a dwelling. He defended himself wit^ great volubility, but. by .his^orpss!examinatioa did himself mo^e'hafia than good. r He seemed, to,. ,h ave k great "down"' On the polic^ Mr Iniapeotoi. r J?east iv particular, and aaid they "we[re' ail' in league' and would swear at.yt_t.__g to get* him convicted. W^tjijegajcd to, the value ofthe goodji bb 5 - Vis' charged with stealing, and which ,^as put dowu at £5, he informed the jury that one bf tiid witiaes'Jes had stated at the ,, Court Jha_. thb value was ority % £i, wiiife ahbther 1 ha^ \ •Said. thie, y^e was £6—*"and," Up added "Wq "papers made it £50. Those reporters are very careless anil ought to be cautioned," at which thia jury smiled, the spectators laughed, and all eyes were immediately turnell upon tbe two representatives of thje Press sitting at a table immediately below the prisoner. The Judge him;self could not keep his gravity, as he remarked,/.^.You. should, rebuke them' then — they are sitting close enough to you. On receiviog . his sentence, tha prisoner looked blackly at the Judge and . mattered, /'Thank, you,, sir*— ydu will be alive when I come but." It ts sincerely to be hoped that his predic-, tioii will prove true. I Talking of candidates (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times) I may mention one rather curious spedimeu :of the class. t)t Macartney— now a teetotal lecturer and now a candidate for Parliament — whs once a clergyman of the Church of England, but left that position on tbe ground that .it .did not .affor,d . scope fi_ r■• of large inteilects. So he studied for the bar, became ja barriß|er>at-law, , and. ultiniately a meqaherioif :Pa ; -lidment. When in that capacity he did not hold, or at a^y rate did,notlpractioe,the.Y opinions ijW. garding the duty of total abstinenjcei which he has formed since. Neither! is, he believed to have shown any tendency in this direction during the time of his stay in Fiji, where he is understood Ito have had a chequered career. It Was rather a suprise and a cruel cut to his old friends when they found out, on his return, that he had become a burning and shining light of temperance doctrines, and did battle witb the demon . drink on. teetotal. platforms as a jueane '"of living. The o.ther. day ' he was annouced to lecture at the Temperatcei HaU, but in the afternoon the evening paper cape out with a report lof an application ..made to ihe Supreme Court by the wife of D. -M-aoartney [to be;permitted to, file a petition of divorce against him fordruukenn.ss, ill-usage, and unfaithfulness. Ha met hi& audience in the. evening, but. did not proceed with ;; hiß leciuie. In lieu ot that, (he read to them a letter, in which jhe declared that he was the "injured" p^ty •— not f.the "culprit;* but th^ yjctim—- (|nd that a bosom ir iend of his, whom [he had introduced and recommended til a vconstituency, aqd -who had ,. been, and was Wow', seeking to be Ya'na^nabeti of Parliament, bad'betrayed his confiJence, , poisoned his domestic happiness, Ind done other very wrong things. To those who take Mr Macartney's version it [becomes manifest, that queer people' find their W&V iiito Parliament, and those who disbelie'veYhim altogether liay nevertheless agree in the same conclusion. : The Americans are already organising an Arctic Expedition, to start this year. ; ' The longest sentence on record was pronounced by a western judge. He sentenced a murderer to imprisonment for life, and afterwards added two more years to the sentence because the prisoner called him "no gentleman."