RESIDENT MAGISTRATES' COURT. (Before J.H. HARRIS, Esq., R.M.)

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4, 19 November 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

RESIDENT MAGISTRATES' COURT. (Before J.H. HARRIS, Esq., R.M.)

Monday, Nov. 18

J. Williams, J. Newson, W.* Down, Alex. Brown, Jas. Roda, J. Harper, and M. Horigan were each fined £1, or 48 hours imprisonment with hard labour, for being drunk. Harper and Horigan were further charged with having behaved in such a manner as to provoke a breach of the peace in the streets of Dunedm, yesterday, for which offence Horigan was fined ss. and Harper 10s., Sergeant Sheridan stating that he believed the disturbance to have been originated by the latter. A. Brown was charged with using indecent, profane, and obscene language. In extenuation he pleaded that he had only done so in the lock-up, where he had been confined for being drunk the night before. -\ Magistrate—This offence took place in the morning ? you must have been sober then. Prisoner—l should think I was, but I don't recollect it. Magistrate —You have been convicted of drunkenness three times within a month, I shall therefore fine you ten shilling or seven days imprisonment. Prison 6":"- r?7 rig is the last time I'll be here; I can pay this fine and I will go right away from the town as soon as I have served my 48 hours. A charge brought against Robert Murray, seaman, of having stolen three doz. bottles, value 205., was dismissed. Henry Andrews and J. E. Harriss were charged by Thos. May, carpenter, living in a tent in Stafford-street, with having robbed him of bank notes to the amount of £6. The prosecutor made a most conflicting statement, and it seemed that he was so drunk at the time of the alleged robbery, as to know very little about it. His Worship was going to dismiss the case, but on the application of the police it was remanded till Wednesday, to give them time to make enquiries. J. Foggarty sued F. Keenan, master of the brig "Missie," for £20 damages for alleged false arrest at Port Chalmers, but after hearing the evidence the case was dismissed. 1 F. Keenan sued M. Dunn for the sum of £20, as amount of two cabin and one steerage passage in the "Missie," from Melbourne to Otago. The amount of the passsages was £27, but it was reduced to £20,^ to come within the jurisdiction of the Court. Verdict for complainant, with 15s. costs. To the Editor of the Otago Daily Times. Sir, —I beg to protest, through your columns, of the unfair and unjust manner by which coroners' juries are summoned in Dunedin. Within \ a very short period, I have been summoned on four inquests, sat on the last held here, and am summoned on another this morning. They are held during the best part of the day, and cause a considerable los 3of time. I trust that those whose duty it is, will make some arrangement by which individuals may have their turn of such duties, and prevent it falling on the shoulders of a few.—l Jim, yours, &c,

David Adam.

November 18

( Per favour of the Otago Daily Times.") To the Editor.

Sir, —I ta"ke the liberty of making known through your young but apparently independent journal a grievous wrong about to be inflicted on that poor class of people, principally new arrivals residing in tents,'within the town boundary. They are told to remove off the outside of the boundary of unoccupied sites, much to their inconvenience, not only in a commercial point of view, but the probable formation of a ragged . canvas town not easily removed and big with other interminable difficulties consequent therefrom. For convenience, of course, stores must follow the purchasers, police protection, &c, and no doubt there will be plenty of vendors in other commodities, which will be felt by insiders sooner than perhaps they would wish. The people ordered to remove are under the impression that the town's people are the cause of it, hence the threat of being nicely clanish to their own. I trust you will assist in suppressing this movement, at least for a short time.

I am, &c,

Atrevida

We are glad to hear that the police have succeeded in capturing one of the men engaged in the late West Taieri sticking-up case, named Jem Burns, with half-a-dozen aliases. It was he who performed the duty of sentry over the fifteen prisoners he and his mates succeeded in capturing. It appears that after the affair was over, he, with two of his confederates, made his way north towards Waikouaiti. They lost their way, and their northern progress was impeded by a small river. They had to return. Burns came to Dunedin, his companions made their way to the Port, and managed to obtain a passage to Sydney. Burns was recognised in Dunedin by the detectives as an absconding ticket-of-leave holder. He was also wanted concerning

the late robbery at Mr. Mill's, the gunsmith, a participation in which he stands charged with.

At Terawiti, says the Neiu Zealand Advertiser, gold continues to be discovered, and some very fine specimens have been lately brought into town. Several Europeans are on the ground, amongst them a party from the Hutt, who seem determined to give the district a fair trial, whether they meet with encouragement or not. Writing on the prospects of the Middle Island compared with the Northern, the New Zealand Spectator says :—"The tendency of immigration at present is to establish a large preponderance of the European population in the South and centre of New Zealand. According to the official Statistics for 1860, the total European population of the Colony in December, 1860, exclusive of the military and their families, was rather more than 79,000, of whicfy 25,000, rather less than a third, were in the Provinces of Aukland and Taranaki. The estimated increase of population during the last year by Immigration was about 6000, of which about four-fifths were received by the Southern Provinces and Wellington. If we suppose the Immigration to New Zealand at the close of this year to be 25,000, which at the present rate of arrivals at Otago we consider to be a moderate estimate, and assume the proportion to Auckland and New Plymouth to be the same as that of last year, or about 1200, the European population of the North will be about 26,200, and that of the central and Southern provinces 77,800, or nearly that of the whole European population of New Zealand at the commencement of the present year. The census which Will be taken in the course of next month will afford very valuable information on this and several other important heads affecting the position of the different Provinces, and we very much question whether the facts which these returns will establish will not form the basis for many important changes affecting the present mode of governing the colony."