SUPREME COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 111, 10 May 1879, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

Fell, Appellant ; Gully, Respondent. The following is the full text of the judgment delivered by His Honor the Chief Justice in this case : — This was a case stated by Justices under the Appeals from Justices Act. The question is whether a by-law made by the Municipal Corporation of Nelsou is valid. The by-law, as appears from the case, is headed "Gorse," and so far as material is as follows.- --" The owner, or, in case there shall be no owner resident within tho colony, tbe occupier of any land within the City of Nelson upon which any gorse thereon, sweetbriar, or docks, shall be growing, or being other than a properly trimmed hedge, shall within thirty days after receiving from the City Council a written notice signed by the Town Clerk of the said City, or their solicitors, requiring him so to do, which notice may be served personally or affixed to the said land, grub up, clear, and destroy all such gorae thereon, sweetbriar, or docks, and thereafter keep the said land free from the .same." By tbe Muuicipal Corporation Act, 1867, section 186, under which this by-hiw was made, the Council had power to make by-laws for any of the purposes for which the several sub-divisions of the 13th schedule are intended to provide, or for any like purpose of good rule and government of the City, or for any purposes specially provided for in the Act. The only purpose within these sub-divisions for which this by-law could be intended to provide is "fire prevention." Tbe respondent relied particularly upon Regulation of Part VII, which is framed for prohibiting brush wood fences or other fences of a like material. I am much of opinion that this by-law in question was not aimed at fire prevention, but rather at the ptevention of the dissemination of briars, gorse, and docks. However, whatever may have been the intent, if the by-law is valid as one for fire prevention, it must be supported, though the intended object was not fire prevention. Accordingly, if it bad been so limited as to be aoplicable only to gorse in an inflammatory condition, I think it would bave been supported. But this is not so ; it is capable of application to a amgle bush of young green gorse standing as a shrub in a garden. The only exception being gorse in a properly trimmed hedge. Io make, with the object of preventing fire, the keeping of such a shrub illegal is altogether unreasonable, and the by-law is therefore, as to "gorse," invalid. The question is not unlike that in R. v. Wood 5 E and 8., p. 58. The question there was whether a power to make a by-law to compel occupiers to remove "filth" from tbe pavements in front of their houses authorised a by-law to compel occupiers to remove "snow." It was held it did not: for though "snow " may become "filth," yet untrodden bucw being F_° V _ lly pute was not filtb > therefore, as c. _i y " law was not Hefted to snow in a state of filth, it was bad. So iv Everett v. Graaser 3, L. T. N.S. 669, a by-law to prevent the keeper of any swine whatever within a town was held bad, for, as Crompton J. observed, by laws of this kind always have the qualineation 'soasto be a nuisance.' " The appellant was convicted by the Justices for an infraction of this by-law. It is plain from

the case tha. the , gorse on the appellant's land was in an innacttmai'ory condition, hut the by-law being bad, the Conviction cannot be supported. I think the decision o_ the Justices was erroneous, aud that the conviction must be quashed.

11l fate seems to attend some men through life, notwithstanding all toe efforts tbey may make td feattle with the world. The case Of Air T. SheehStf, ttho has lately been iMtne'H out at Westport, Is a floti*^ 6 } a * sfariee' bi how 6a*d luck Witt follow, Tv_ tbsteady footsteps, for years ifi succession. Burned out about foui'teefl years ago iv Princes-street, Dunedin, Mr Shecbau took up' bis a'botte in the early days in Hokftika, wHefe' he aid af rattling business, until the encroachments oi the sea Undermined his property. Thousands of pounds were after- i wards expended hy him in concert halts __<_ hotels at Okarito, Brighton, i"»d Addison's Flat, and ou each occasion an exodus of the population set in just as the large buildings were justcdmiileted. Reaching last of allWestport,' he purchased the present building from Mr Trimble Some ten years ago for over a thousand pounds,- and nearly cleared its cost in the first six motiths 4 w'hefl agaih the ocean curreut followed on his path, &nd soon! surrounded his bustling domicile. I*o its present site the building was removed at great | cost, and was again for a time a valuable property, until the action of the river and the sea reduced its marketable worth, when it fell into the hands of a mortgagee, the burning of which brings with it ruin to the original holder of the p: a vises. Mr Shcebaa and family are now destitute, we are told, and this after his having expended in business sites and building material on the West Coast goldfields not less than ten thousand pounds. Truly his rugged experience has been one of fire and water.— New Zealander. The correspondent of the New Zealander thus describes Te Ngakau, his Majesty King Tawhiao's principal adviser :— -He is a stern, intelligent native of 50, although, when asked his name , he only referred to some fight amongst the natives of the East Coast as occurring before his birth, with no indication of his actual age. He was dressed in a peajacket with a flour bag round bis loins bearing tha brand T.S.F. (Thorntou, Smith, and Firth). He is a very muscular man, with limbs of enormous strength, and" seems as strong in mind as in body, and would prove a dangerous antagonist in any assembly. That he is a statesman was shown by the fact that when interrogated by the Revs. Buddie and Harvey, (Wesleyans), as to when the meeting was coming off, he said he did not know, although having just previously intimated the postponement to the Native Minister. He quizzed the missionaries present, to the amusement of the company, and seemed very self-possessed and important, even iv his own eyes. Amongst his people be is regarded with veneration in some cases, not unmixed withfear. He makes no secret of his power behind tbe throne, greater than the throne itself, and Mr Sheehan and Sir George Grey, and his officers did well t o court his presence and favor. A private letter from California received per City of Sydney, contains the following interesting references to the great constitutional struggle now going on in California: — "We are in the midst of a long fight over the new constitution, and I do not know what the issue will be. It may be riot and rebel lions, or it may pass off quietly. The public mind is greatly excited, and its excitement will increase till the 7th of May, the day of the election. The political outlook of the whole country is not reassuring. We are goiug to have the biggest harvest ever gathered in this State. The produce is simply enormous. We shall be able to ship grain to Aucklauds, and undersell the local producers."