BUSINESS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 262, 22 October 1862, Page 6

BUSINESS.

Tuesday, October.-21. (Before His Honor Mr Justice Grosson.) His Honor took bis seat at 10 o'clock. SHEEP STEALING. John M'Crae was charged with stealing asheep, and Duncan M'Crae, his father, was charged with receiving the same, koowing it to have been stolen. Both bad treii oil bail. The case was opened on Friday, but was _ adjourned owing to witnesses for the defence being absent, consequent upon a misunderstanding a* to the fixing of the case. This 'morning, the jury r, worn oa Friday was called; and the evidence of ,hu prosecutor was preceded with. Itapjxared that on the sth July. Samuel Perry, of Savvy iV Bay, went to one of his paddocks, j and fouii'.l that three sheep were missing thence. One of them was peculiarly marked. The riprht ear had been torn off by dn^s ; and the prosecutor having frequently dressed the wound, knew exactly the appearance of the head. In addition to th;s, the .sheep had at one time "lost nearly the whole of the wool fro(ii its back; and when missed, there was a striking difference between the new grow!h and the fringy patches of the old. On the clay after the loss, the prosecutor went with Constable John Bell to tlie house of the prisoner, Duncan M'Crea, in the Sawyers' Bay district. They found two sheep skins hanging on a line, and the prosecutor at once said that one of them belonged to the missing sheep, but that if he could sn:e the head he should be able to swear to if. 4 Both the prisoners denied knowing ■whore the head or tho lr-gs of thi* skin were, but being told that they must be found, the boy said that lie tud flung them away in the bush. The officer searched, and found the head in a tree close to the house, a;id the legs were found near the saroespot. The younger prisoner in reply to the officer, sai<l ( that he brought the sheep from the Peninsula. The elder prisoner at first denied any knowledge of the carcase, but after saying something1 to the boy he pointed to a small tu)>, in whir-h the officer found miuton which the elder prisoner admitted was the carcase belonging to the head and skin which the prosecutor had identified. A witness named Edward Hamilton Haw tho younger prisoner and another boy driving a _ sheep on t!>e sth July. T bey were a quarter of" a mile from Parry's, and were going towards the eld"r prisoner's house. Hamilton heard the younger prisoner say that he had got. the sheep from the Peninsula, upon which Hamilton called out. '' You cor.M not have trot it from the Peninsula ; for it belong to Samuel Perry, and you had better takeit back." The boy " stood and looked for some time," an I then drove the sheep on towards his father's honsf. Previously, during the same aftinwon, a man numcd Stumble?, in tho employ of the prosecutor, S aw tlie younger prisoner with two dogs standing near the p.tddock in which (lie identified {-liec-p was wiUi otli 'rs. He was looking towards the sheep. In cross-examination by Mr Wil.son. for the dcr fence, the prosecutor fiaid that ibis particular sheep ■was given to him fur burying ;> lot of others. It wan very sickly at the time »i"d he tended it carefully. It was not in goo 1 condition when lot, and even apart from that tact, he would not like to have eaten of its flesh, for he. liked the sheep very much. There was a post and mil and a hush fence round the paddock; he by no means pretended that it was sheep proof. There was at one time a great number of sickly sheep left by the roadside on the Peninsula, and they used to be taken up and kept and killed by any one who found them. He had never heard anything against tho character of the prisoners. Hamilton said he had heard that it was a common practice to pick up stray sh-iep on the Peninsula, and two other witnesses made a similar statement. Bell admitted that the skin of the head was in no way concealed ; he saw it p'ainly in thft tree.

Mr Wilson, in addressing tlio jury, said that the evident already showed that it was customary for stray sheep on the Peninsula to be appropriated by their finder.-!. The young.-.-r prisoner could not be convicted, unless the jury believed that when he originally took posses-ion of the sheep : ho intended lo ste;iJ it: while t > convict tha father, the jury must believe that lie knew his son, 13 years old, to b<^ a Hheep stonier, and encouraged him in being so. All the facts in the ens?! were thoroughly consistent with the innocence of bwh prisoners, The following witnesses were called :— Donald M-'Lemmn, settler, Blneskin, said he "believed he knew as much as any man about stray sheep on the Peninsula ; and he knew certainly that many boys and others from Port Chalmers were in the habit of picking- up those thar had been left behind. It was ofoen absolutely necessary to leave sickly and weak ones on the road. If the masters sent the drovers back to look after such, well and good ; but frequently this was not done at all. He knew both prisoners well, but never heard anything against the charaters of either. David Kilgour said that he Yivud. at Port Chalmers, nnd w.-ts once Chief Constable there for four years. The two prisoners had always borne a good character, bo far ash: had heard. As to stray sheep on the Pt'ninsmla he believed tlrre were very few people Vfho could wash their hands of picking them up. The J\v. <^a : The sooner they wash their hands of it the betf r. Colin M'Crea (who gave his evidence in Gaelic. Mr Donald J1033, the crier, being sworn as interpreter) said that o;i ,he sth July he and hi 3 father were far up in the bush, and when they reached home they found John there. When the police officer came on the morning of Sunday, the Gth, his father asked John in Gaelic, " Where is the sheep you got on Saturday night]" and when John replied, his father pointed to the tub.

By the Crown Prosecutor: lie had never known John bring1 home a stray sheep before. His Honor in summing' up, snkl he thought that, upon the evidence, the jury would have no difficulty in concluding that the boy, John M'Cras, took th? filieep knowing that it belonged to Mr Perry, As to tlio father, the: jury must decide whether the evidence of the sou Colin, which must nccuss'irily be looked upon with somewhat of suspicion, was sufficient to rebut the presumption against him arising from the stolen prop"vly being found in his possession. The jury, after half an hour's consultation, found a verdict of Not Guilty ngainst Duncan. M'Crae, and of Guilty against John M'Cren, thei1" being a recomjuendation to mercy on th." ground of hi* youth. The Judge :Is there." Mr Stoddavt any place in the prison -where you could keep this boy apart from the other prisoners? Mr Sto'l-lai't: I am very sorry to say Jhat there-is not. your Honor. I will do what I can, however. The Judge, in dismissing Duncan M'Crea, said he should Ijo sorry to suggest that the jury were not justified in the verdict of acquittal. But there had evidently sprung up on the Peninsula, where a number of sheep were necessarily left because they were tsick or weak on being newly landed, a very loos° practice of picking up snehjsheap, a'tlnu-fli there was no color of ritrht to them. The belief mi^ht have been engendered that such sheep had been abandoned ; but M'Crea could now see the danger resulting from such a course of conduct, and it was to be hoped that the case would be a useful warning to others, as well as to him and hi-* family. He (the Judge) gladly yielded to the recommendation of mercy towards John M'Crea; although, whatever might have ber-n his notions, lie believed that the prisoner ■was in the eye of the iaw guilty of stealing the sheep. The sentence was that the prisoner be imprisoned in the gaol tor one week from this day. Any future fcimPar offence would be severely punished. Duncan M'Crea was discharged. '" The Judge: Keep the boy ns'much apart from the other prisoners as you can. Mr Stoddart : I will, your Honor. CIIARQK OF STEALING BOOTS. Daniel Maefarlane was iudicted ibr stealing nine pairs of American boots, the property of Louis Samson, from fhe Governor Arthur lighter, while in the Port of Dunedin. The Crown Prosecutor stated the case, and Mr Rl'Gregor appeared for the prisoner. Louis Sam-on stated that in August he received advices by the Aldinga, from Melbourne, of goods ahipped by that steamer. . His attention was afterwards called to one of the cases that had been brought up by the lighter, Governor Arthur, and landed on the Jetty here, being light; and he gave orders that it should be opened as soon as it was got to the store. It was a case of American boots, and originally contained twelve pair.-?; the cases never contained more. He had 32 cases by this one shipment, and in the whole he found that nin^ oairs of bo ts -were mis-dug. Several pairs had been taken from the case reported light. It and some of the other cases appearel to have been re-nailed. He had never imported boots of the same brand; nor. to the best of his belief, had any one else in Dunedin. The brand " N D," was st'trnped within a diamond, formed of nails, tog°t'ier with the number and size of the boots. The pair now produced had. been, cut down at the tops, and the braud was indistinct, from wear; but he could swear that they came from one of the cases consigned to him. By MrM'Gregor: A case or American boots was always supposed to contain twelve pairs, because it was invoiced as such 1 Lie had, since he came to 3)unedin, received cases, prior to this occurrence, which contained less than twelve pairs ; but he never knew it before coming here. He was not prepared to swear, other than from the invoice, that each of the 23 cases, ot arriving at Port Chalmers, contained twelve pair.7l of boots. Invoices sometimes made mistakes. Ea'c'i case was stamped as. containing twelve pairs,. He had known goods from England come out sbn-t, as compared with invoices. He nfver | stated before the Magistrate at Port Chalmers, that a Custom House Officer superintended the packing of each case at : Melbourne, so as to see that, it contained the proper number. A case-mighty no doubt, coa-.

tain Jess than.tvelve-pairg,.. W.hen-tho'bQotspnidped Avcrefirefc shown to him a magnifying glass was handed' to him, and he used it to look at the brand; it was discernible with the naked eye If lie had not supposed that the brand was *'N. D." he should not have been able to satisfy himself that it was there. He knew it ought to, be there. He did not believe that several shopkeepers had boots of tuts brand exposed for sale prior to the arrival of the Aldinga in August. The American house in Melbourne informed his firm that there had been but one arrival of boots'of this brand, and that the whole shipment had been consigned to Ms (the prosecutor's) firm. American traders did sometimes- deceive. He bad known cases from England tbat ought have to contained goods being found at Melbourne to contain : coals or rubbish.

bergcant Joyce, stationed at Port Chalmers, stated that on the Pith August he went on board the Governor Arthur with a warrant to search for nine pairs of American *oots. He saw that "the prisoner was v» earing American boots corresponding with the description on the warrant. He ask.d the prisoner where he bought them; and he said "My mite brought them down for me by the City of Hobait." ihe prisoner pointed to Samuel Elliott, who was standing by ; but in reply to a question, Elliott said that he did not bring them. He (Joyce) then took the prisoier into custody. By Mr M'Gregor.— it was not his custom to crossexamine people merely on the authority of a search warrant; but he saw the prisoner wearing boots like those missed, and consequently asked where be "Ot them.

Samuel Elliott, master of the Governor Arthur, stated that be never brought over boats for the prisoner by the City of xiobarfc. By Mr. M'Givgor: He made a trip to Melbourne, and left the lighter in ch<- we of Charles SmithDuring this time the alleged: >b'bery took place. He had known the prisoner three- years, and always considered him an honest man He never heard anything asrainst the prisoner's character. Mr M'Gregor humorously argued tint there was no cas against the prisoner, even after the evidence of the police officer. He /oared that we were here gradually getting something nearly as bad as the detestable Holy Inquisition. The Judge said that the most injudicious line of defence which couid.be adopted was that of abusing tlie axiihorities. To start with, it was. unfounded ; and, consequently, the judge was obliged to make observations upon it. Mr M'liregor would only submit that the jury were judges as to facts, his Honour as to law; and that it was most improper for the police to ask questions in this way. In summing up, the Judge said that he was compelled, as he had been i,i previous ca-es, to make a few observations, in justification of the course taken by the Crown in this and siniilar pro.-ecn.iions. The jury must, have seen that there was nothing unfair in that course. It was the duty of the Crown Prosecutor to detect crime as far as he could ; and it was the duty of the police to do the same, provided they confined themselves within certain limits. S cic;,y couid not exist—iti bonds would be altogether loosened. -if the Government did not see that they had an active and efficient police, which he was glad to see existed here. The duties of the police were strictly restricted by the law ; and if they transgreased the law, when tbe evidence came before the judge they would be punished for it. Commenting upon the evidence, his Honor said that it certainly was very light as against rlu: prisoner. The jury consulted for a short time, and then returned a verdict of Not Guilty. STEALING FHOM THE PPRSON. Marie Germain was indicted tor stealing in a place in Princes street L2I from the person of James Johnes, a miner. Sergeant Paschen was sworn as interpreter, and Mr B.trtoii conducted the defence. Verdict guilty—Six months' imprisonment, with hard labor. Tlie Court rose at six o'clock.