LAW INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 78, 28 April 1843, Page 3

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

* —■ SUPREME COURT. APRIL SITTINGS. Wellington , Wednesday, April 5, (CIVIL SIDE. —BEFORE CHIEF JUSTICE MARTIN.) The only cause of any interest tried this day, excepting those we have already reported, was MACHATTIE V. lIULKE. Mr. Hanson appeared for the plaintiff, and Dr. Evans for the defendant. This was an action brought to recover from the. defendant the suui of 30/.,, the damage alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff, in • consequence of the defendant having distrained-certain cattle, the property of the plaintiff, whereby, as was alleged, two of them were lost. The defendant having pleaded that he was in possession of the land upon which the cattle were distrained, it devolved upon him to prove that fact, but having failed to produce the necessary evidence, the plaintiff, in support of his claim for damages, called Thomas Avery —ls a labourer in the employ of Mr. Ludlam ; was once in the employ of defendant; on or about the 22nd July last, saw defendant on other side of Mount Victoria driving the plaintiff’s cattle; some other man was with him ; asked defendant where he was going to drive the cattle to : he said he was going to drive them to his stockyard ; witness asked if he would allow him to take them over on the Wellington side of the hill; he said he would not allow him to take them ; that witness should not have them unless he paid him 1/. per head ; the cattle were at the bottom of the hill when he saw the defendant driving them ; he left the defendant driving them to his place ; he came to Wellington und informed the plaintiff; in the afternoon he went to the defendant’s stockyard in Evans’ Bay; he saw cattle there; there were 44; he counted 57 altogether; they had got the plaintiff's by themselves ; he did not take them away; witness applied to a man who was inside the fence; he said he would not let them go unless lie received a shilling a head for them ; went the following day; not in the place they were before ; they had been turned adrift; 44 were all witness had in charge, except one he had in Mr. Hunter’s stockyard ; has not seen them all since ; missed 2 at the time ; has found one of them since ; does not remember the colour of the cow missing; had been in charge of them 7 days when this occurred; supposes their value to be from 12 to 15 pounds or more ; they were not all in good condition, some middling good; they were lately come on shore; considers that driving them to the stockyard would do them injury. Cross-examined by Dr. Evans.—The cattle had been lauded 5 or 8 days ; does not know the vessel they came by ; he took charge of 45 ; after they were let loose by the defendant he found 42 ; found one of the two which were missing two or three days after on the hills ; the defendant drove away 44 cows and bullocks; he found 57 within the defendant’s fence; there might be 8 or 10 acres enclosed ; some part had been newly ploughed; it was bush where the herbage was; the land adjoining chiefly run upon wood; cannot say how long the cattle were there; he left them there at 3 o’clock in the afternoon ; went to the defendant’s stockyard about 8 or 9 following morning; he found them adrift; he found them upon the hill near the swamp; it is about a mile and ahalf from the bottom of the hill to the stockyard ; he found them first inside the paddock or stockyard; the following morning they were adrift; believes he took 44, as there were 44 inside the fence ; witness knew them as they were from being newly ashore very dingy ; the others were clean ; to the best of witnesses knowledge there were 44 there ; some died afterwards ; could not be very weakly, or the defendant would not have got them to his place, as they had to drive them through some very soft places; counted some next morning what he could find; found 42.

This was the plaintiff’s case. Dr. Evans, for the defendant, called Charles Norris. —ls servant to Mr. Revans; was formerly in the employ of the defendant; saw the defendant take the cattle; saw the defendant bring down the cattle ; witness was standing at the end of Evan’s Bay ; it might be nearly 2 miles from where the cattle were ; they were found where the swamp is; plaintiff since claimed 43 or 44 ; there were 73 altogether ; some belonged to Mr. Revans and some to the defendant; there were 16 or 17 belonging to the defendaiit; has observed strange cattle there before; they interfered with the milch cows; the paddock where the plaintiff's cattle where put was no worse than the land outside; they would not be exposed to more danger from being turned out on one side than the other; the defendant’s cattle where turned out where the plaintiff’s, were. Cross-examined by Mr. Hanson.—Witness was two miles off when the derendant disco vered the cattle ; they were turned over the hills at half past 4 or a quartor to 5 ; no person was put in charge of them ; cannot say they were very weakly. This closed the evidence, the learned counsel having addressed the Jury, his Honor summed up, and the Jury, after a few minutes’ deliberation, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 15/. , Thursday, April 6.

This morning two or three undefended causes were tried, and at 12 o'clock the Court adjourned till Saturday the Bth, for the trial of criminal cases. The learned Judge, in discharging the Jury, thanked them for their services, and the care and attention which they had given to the causes brought before them, which his Honor stated, were more important than any hitherto tried in the Supreme Court of * New Zealand.' 0 -