The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 89, 17 April 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1877.

...The remarks made by his Honor the Chief justice in charging the Grand Jury yesterday, and their endorsement by that body in ?hei presentment made by them to the Judge, iwill meet with the fullest approbation of the >, publifc, who, although they have' borne it without' making any loud complaints, are beginning, to get a little tired of being, as they frequently have been, summoned to at- ' tend a sittingof the Court at whichthere was. very little, and occasionally nothing at all, to .be done.. Yesterday.; for instance, there were :• forty-two jurymen 'assembled when it was known that. the sole,, business of the Court lay in the trial of a iery petty case of stealing, which might have been'very easily disposed of in the District Court but for the . existence of whathis Honorcharacterisedasah improper ana unreasonable.to which Ave would add excecdinglyabsurd, rule that fixes the extent of puuishment that can be awarded as the limit of the jurisdiction of the Lower Court We italicise the word "can," because it is very seldom indeed that the extreme sentence allowed is passed, and very frequently that bufc a small fraction of it is allotted, as was the case yesterday. The term of imprisonment for an offence of the kind with which the prisoner was charged is any term not exceeding fourteen years. What he was sentenced to was six months. And here it is that the absurdity of the rule referred to is displayed. The District Court could not deal with a case in which six months was considered a sufficient punishment, because the law permits r sentence of fourteen years in the event of the circumstances under which such crime was committed being of an .exceptionally heinous character, but had the jpnsoner been, charged with an otfence for.which two years was the limit of the sentence allowed, the District Court could have disI posed of it, and, if the circumstances warranted it, have ordered the full term of im.pnsonment. By adopting the "improper and Hnreasonable'>'ruie the Legislature ; virtually says to the District Court, "We jwill not trust you with a case in which a ; punishment of- six months' imprisonment is quite sufficient, but we will allow you to deal with those in which two years are allowed." ;Ihis, of course, is the reduciio ad ahsurdum but it, is quite fair to use it in treating of a regulation whose principal characteristic^ its absurdity. So long as the District Court continues to hold merely such powers as it at present has, we should think that it misfit be safely left to the Crown Prosecutor to form his own estimate of the gravity of the crime for which a prisoner is to be indicted and upon that estimate to arrire at a decision •whether the case should he sent to the higher or the lower Court. It is quite possible however, that ere long the limits of the jurisdiction of the District Courts will be based on a new principle and extended, so as to set them on a footing somethiug like that of the County Courts which exist and are generally approved of in England. That some change conducive to the greater convenience of the public may be effected in the present manner of dealing with criminal cases is clear, and now that the matter has been brought so prominently forward it is to be hoped that some action will be taken during during the : next session of the Assembly.

Having remarked yesterday upon the disturbance which took place on Saturday night and the circumstances which led to it, in . fairness to ali parties concerned, we re-pub-lish the following, which appeared in this morning's limes under the heading "Personal; An Explanation ":—« As the writer of a letter that appeared in the Tires of Saturday last, I desire to make an explanation. It has been asserted that in com- ■ meriting upon the bankruptcy of F. R. Rives, 1 made allusions to private individuals who were m no way connected with the matter , I Wish most distinctly to deny having doiie so. knowingly, but as it has been clearly ■; shown to me: since the article appeared in print that it was open to the construction : put upon it, I am constrained to admit that the inference that has been drawn, although erroneous, is a natural one. Such being the case I have no hesitation in expressing my regret that any remarks of mine should have caused the slighest annoyance in a quarter at which they were not aimed, and as there wa3 no intention on my part to insult or give pain, [most willingly offer the amplest apology to any whom I have unwittindv offended.— Hen-kv M. Mook." Fkom our telegrams it will be seen that war between Russia and Turkey is imminent in anticipation of which there has been a thorough pauic on the Stock Exchange. European news will now be eagerly looked for. The members of the Auxiliary Eire Brigade beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt by them of five volumes of a work entitled "Naval Chronology," and four volumes of Anatomical works, from Mr James Blanche, towards supplementing the library of the Brigade. Tub members of the Naval Brigade will parade at their drill shed, the Port, this evening at half-past seven o'clock. A very serious accident, which there is only too much reason to fear must terminate fatally, occurred on Saturday afternoon to John Kerr, second son of Mr David Kerr of Motupiko Valley, who was driving a heavily laden dray through the Wai-iti Bush on his way home, when on coming to a steep bank he got down to put on the brake. At that moment the leading horse, which was rather skittish, made a start forward, and the wheel caught the heel of the young man's boot and then ran up bis leg, of course prostrating him before it. The shaft house then made a slight turn, causing the wheel to cross the poor fellow's body diagonally. He fainted from the pain and the effects of the shock and some time elapsed before he came to himself. His brother, who fortunately was with him at the time, pillowed his head and made him as comfortable as he could, and then went off to the nearest house for assistance. A conveyance having been obtained, he was removed to the house of h"s !^ n , t) Mrs Morri s° n > "ear Foxhill, and Dr Oldham was sent for without delay, and every attention wa3 paid to him. Itis feared that the internal injuries he has sustained are so severe as to render his recovery hopeless Ihe sympathy with him in his suffering is widely spread, as it also is with his parents to whom he has always proved a good and a autiiul son.

An enquiry into the recent fire will be held at two p.m. to-morrow. A MijETiNG of the Football Club was held at the Masonic Hotel last night, when a Committee was formed consisting of Messrs Bolton, Roberts, Tennent, and S. Wells, and Mr H. F. Hodgson was appointed Secretary. The opening match of the season will be played with the College Club in the Botanical Reserve on Saturday afternoon. An amusing telegram comes to us from Dunedin. It is to the effect that the three or four hundred Chinese who recently arrived in the ship Gloucester, on which smallpox broke out, are to be admitted to pratique so soon as enough water and carbolic acid can be collected in which to wash them. Their clothes, also, are to be burned and fumigated. Either there is a waste of words in describing the operation, or there is to be a waste of labor in carrying it out. The town was invaded this afternoon by a troop of equestrians, nearly twenty in number. At a distance they were taken to be the Normanby Hussars who, startled by the warlike news that appeared in the morning papers, had come down to protect the town, but on coming closer were discovered to be a number of Maori ladies and gentlemen, who had just ridden in from the Wakapuaka Pah. The facts of the case are that during the la3t quarter of a century maladies involving bodily prostration or. a deficiency of vital power, all affections of the sensitive organs, kidney and bladder complaints, bronchial troubles, sleeplessness, indigestion, and the nervous ailments to which the feebler sex are especially subject, have invariable yielded] to the operation of Udolpho Wolfe's Schiedam Aromatic ScaNAPrs, the purest, safest, and best article of its kind in use.-^ Adyt.