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Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 161, 25 October 1876, Page 2

A shocking case of -'perjury has been proved at Christchurch by a monster of the name of Norman Evans, who was found guilty after a two day’s trial. One person’s evidence showed that the prisoner; having a grudge against a neighbour named Sliackwodd,- accused liirii of stealing property, arid hid it himself in order to fix the guilt on Shackwoocl. He marked a saddle on Shackwodd’s horse with Ids own initials. The magistrate, however, dismissed the preliminary case, and ordered Evans to be taken into custody for perjuiy. The Judge said it was one of the worst cases of the kind he eA r er heard, and hoped the law would soon be amended so as to make the maximum punishment heavier for bad cases of perjury. He also said that if he had had power to pass sentence at once he would have given prisoner four years’ penal servitude, and if he got off on a technical point it would be a great misfortune for society. He then ordered him to be kept in gaol until the decision of the Court of Appeal was known. The Victorians have resolved to construct tramways on an extensive scale, principally for the cheaper and more expeditious transit of wheat from the interior. Mr Thomas Hooker, a Wairarapa settler* and a practical engineer, writes to the local paper, anent the establishment of a woollen factory in the Wairarapa. In his letter he states that the idea is not a new one, as lie (Mr Hooker) was in correspondence in September, 1869, with Mr S. Ward, nianager of the Victorian Woollen Cloth Company, Geelong, and elicited information from him as to the cost of a woollen mill. Mr Ward states in his letters that a mill could be erected in those days for the sum of 4-6,00U to £15,000 £IO,OOO being the total cost of the mill hd was then managing in Geelong, which mill was then paying a dividend at the rate of 20 per cent per annum. Ilhink it would pay our wool growers better to have their wool manufactured in this district in preference to sending it to England, as there is a groat demand for colonial tweeds, and I consider that all local manufactories should receive support, as they circulate a large amount of capital in the districts and towns in which they are carried on.