SUPREME COURT, NAPIER.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 115, 20 December 1873, Page 3

SUPREME COURT, NAPIER.

Saturday, December 13

[Before His Honor Mr. Justice Johnston.] (Condensed from Napier papers.) maliciously shooting a horse. Duncan Fraser, convicted of maliciously shooting a horse at Poverty Bay, was brought up for sentence. Several witnesses were examined ns to the prisoner’s character. They all spoke very highly of him, describing him as a sober, industrious man, quiet and inoffensive. His Honor then asked Fraser if he could himself make any suggestion how he came to commit such a wonderfully rash act as that for the committal of which he had been convicted. The prisoner urged that he had had extreme provocation. His Honor: Oh, the less you say about that the better. Mr. Miller, do the gaol regulations in this place permit of keeping prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for hard labor separate from those imprisoned without hard labor ? Mr. Miller: Yes, your Honor, they do. His Honor expressed his gratification that such wns the case. His Honor then proceeded to pass sentence upon Fraser. He had great cause for thankfulness to God that he ha 1 not been guilty of murder; for, when filing a gun, had his hand swerved from any cause, the bullet which proved fatal to the horse might have gone through the body of the man who had been riding the animal. As it was, however, he had most, grievously broken tho laws of the land. Offences of the nature of which Fraser had been guilty must be put down with a strong hand, ns, if they were allowed to become rife—if men, through their evil passions, were allowed to take the law into their own hands—people would not be found to live in that part of the country were such things existed. He was about to pass upon the prisoner at the bar an extremely lenient sentence, and he did so with the less hesitation that he found it would be possible to keep him from associating with the very worst characters in the country, to whose company he should be very loth to consign him for a single hour ; and, when he came out of prison, he hoped his fellow-settlers would not look down upon him. The sentence of the Court was that. Dunean Fraser be imprisoned in Her Majesty’s Goal at Napier for nine calendar months without hard labor. ALLEGED LIBEL. Robert Price, Edward Henderson Grigg, Thos. Kennedy Newton, Edward William Knowles, Alexander Kennedy, and George Edmund Lee, appeared to answer a charge of libel preferred against them, in that they did “ unlawfully and maliciously write and publish, a certain false and scandalous and defamatory libel of and concerning one Henry Bowman Sealy, contained in a certain newspaper, called the Daily Telegraph, in his capacity of Commissioner of Crown Lands.” Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lascelles appeared in support of the information; Mr. Cornford for Messrs. Price, Grigg, Newton, Kennedy, and Knowles ; and Mr. Lee for himself.

Mr. Cornford rose to move that the indictment be quashed. His Honor: But you have pleaded. Mr. Wilson : Of course you have. Mr. Cornford: But the plea has not been recorded.

His Honor and Mr. Wilson : Oh, yes it has. Mr. Cornford : It is time enough ‘to move for an indictment to be quashed before < the jury is sworn. I contend that it should be set forth in the indictment that the Commissioner of Crown Lands referred to in the alleged libellous article was really the Commissioner at the time the article was published. His Honor could not agree with Mr. Cornford at all. Were he to resign his seat on the Bench to-day, and a paper published a libel to-morrow, would he have no action ?

The following jury was then empannelled :— T. Tanner (foreman), J. H. Vautier, Gavin Peacock, G. H. Norris, A. H. Russell, W. R. Russell, H. C. Bobjohns, R. P. Williams, H. R. Holder, R. Stuart, T. F. Poole, and J. J. Torre.

Mr. Wilson then opened the case for the prosecution. He quoted largely from copies of tl • Daily Telegraph as far back as May, in order to show that, the alleged libel on which the prosecution took its stand was not an isolated attack on Mr. Sealy, but merely one of a long series, which culminated in the article of the 24th November.

Mr. Lascelles then proceeded to. call witnesses for the prosecution. Duncan Guy, sworn, deposed: I am the Registrar of the Supreme Court. I produce the affidavit of the registration of the Daily Telegraph newspaper. It is lodged in my hands in accordance with the Act. I produce the paper returned with the depositions. The title and the imprint of the paper produced is the same as registered. William Parker, sworn, deposed : I am clerk in the Crown Lands Office, Napier. I am over twenty years of age. (Copy of Daily Telegraph produced.) I purchased the paper produced at the office of the Daily Telegraph, from the defendant, Robert Price. I asked for copies of the 24th, 25th, and 26th November. When handing them to me, Mr. Price said, “These will be ample for Mr. Sealy to work up his case with.” I

By Mr. Cornford: I have been clerk in the Crown Lands Office for over two years. I was appointed by Mr. Ormond, General Government agent. My duties in the Land Office are the giving of Crown Grants, receiving applications, keeping of accounts. My salary is £125 per annum. I receive or refuse applications during Mr. Sealy’s absence. 1 have no special instructions to refuse or grant applications. Mr. Scaly is not frequently absent during the whole day. He goes to Waipawa once every two months, and and to Havelock once a month. He is absent at Waipawa three days, and one dny at Havelock.

He is also Resident Magistrate at Napier. The ] office hours at the Land Office are from half-past nine till half-past four on every day except Saturday. I always, before refusing or granting an application, refer to the Chief Provincial Surveyor or the draughtsman. Applications received by me are always subject to Mr. Sealy’s decision afterwards. His Honor: I cannot understand that if an application has been received and granted by the Commissioner or his representative, how it can be altered. The Commissioner must possess some power I do not know anything about. Mr. Wilson said the matter would be explained in the re-examination. Examination continued: I never knew Mr. Sealy refuse an application I had received. The

course of receiving applications is as follows:— The applicant would go into the office and describe the land he wished to apply for. The draughtsman would generally fill in his application, and the applicant would then present it at the Land Office. If the application is granted by the Commissioner, it is entered in the application book, and an order given to him for the Receiver of Land Revenue. I suppose he gets a receipt from the Receiver of Land Revenue At present, applications are not gazetted from our office. Applications are not always entered in the book the same day, generally the next morning. If anyone desires to see an application not entered in the book, he can do so. I never allowed an application to be seen until the same has been completed, unless the applicant is at the counter at the same time. I think I should be allowed to show an application that had not been completed, but I never remember having done so. Two applications made the same day nva nrl oc ci mill nnlic PnymniacinnnM

declares them as simultaneous. I have done so. Simultaneous applications are not common ; during the last twelve months there may have been three or four. I remember three. When two applications have been made the same day, I never knew the first applicant to withdraw. It is put up to auction, only the two applicants being allowed to bid. The time in the office is kept by t.lin wnf.p/h ? whpn lia ia nnf. fliom

vllU V'UlllLlllßDlC'llv 1 D nulLll , WAlvil lit? IS IIOL LLlcrUj I go by my watch when I have it on me. I ain not aware that officials have any instructions to go by the clock in the Tqlegraph Office. I open and close the office. lam particular about the time. I regulate my watch about twice a week. There is a clock in the Survey Office. I have known it not going for several days. 1 have carried my watch for about two months ; for several months 1 have not carried it. Two other officials in the Land Office have watches. My watch is a Geneva watch. I think it was made a present tome —in fact, lam sure of it. (Watch produced.) I can tell the time to a minute. [Witness did so.] Applications are generally made towards the close of office hours. I never received an application after office hours, neither do I know of one ever having been received. I remember Saturday, the 22nd November. I remember Mr. Heyland coming to the office on that day. I do not recollect the time he came. He made an application for 2000 acres in the Patoka district. I handed the application to the

commissioner, wno was sniing ai tne same tame as I had been. The public stand outside of the counter. The office is quite open to the public. Six or seven minutes elapsed from the time of the application being received until the order for the Receiver of Land Revenue was given to Mr. Heyland. That gentleman was in the office at half-past twelve o’clock, but I cannot say at what time he got the order. Mr. Kinross was in the office standing alongside Mr. Sealy. He was there on public business. He was perusing some law documents connected with a case in which both Mr. Kinross and Mr. Sealy, as Commissioner of Crown Lands, werS interested. Ido call that public business. When I put Mr- Heyland’s application before Mr. Sealy, Mr. Kinross could easily have seen the application. After Mr. Heyland had gone, Mr. J. N. Wilson entered the office, and asked to see the application book. 1 was entering Mr. Heyland’s application at the time. When Mr. Wilson entered, the time was oovanfonn minnhia /-vi-i.v T IrnAwr 4-Knf-

time because I looked at my watch. Mr. Wilson asked to see the application, and I showed it to him. Mr. Wilson then, on behalf of Rhodes and, Co., put in an application for the same land as

that for which Mr. Heyland had applied. Rhodes and Aynsley are runholders ; the land for which Mr. Heyland applied is a run in the name of Mr. G. S. Whitmore. I am certain it was not one o’clock when the order for the Receiver for Land Revenue was granted to Mr. Heyland. People are not very often behind the counter. Mr. Wilson and Mr. Kinross are there sometimes, but very seldom.

(To be continued.)