Poverty Bay Standard. Thursday, March 30, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1055, 30 March 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. Thursday, March 30, 1882.

The case of Esther Thomas has occupied the Court for some two days of patient hearing, and now results, as «C old easily be foreseen from the firs’", in a dismissal. Whether she be guilty or not guilty, no one can positively say, but one can say certainly that the onus of her not having been proved to be either one or the other lays not on the police, for they have worked hard •in the matter, but on the prosecutor, Mr. J. 0. Barnard, who while moving the criminal law to the utmost to punish the person he suspected of stealing his beef, retarded and clogged its action by actively procuring the absence of the only witness who could have satisfactorily established the guilt or innocence of the person he accused. We allude to Mrs. Barnard, whose presence in the witness box would have satisfied the Magistrate "earlier in his course, and rendered valid those efforts of the police in the ’interests of justice which were rendered •completely nugatory by her absence. We think the Resident Magistrate would be thoroughly entitled to resent by instant dismissal in any case any atiy attempt to dovetail personal convenience and personal feeling in prosecution of theft cases, to rhe -detriment of justice and the waste of public time. The meat was lost on Saturday, ■the charge was laid on Sunday, a.i>d on Monday Mr. Barnard, knowing that his wife is an active attd essential witness for the prosecution, allows her to leave for Auckland (or somewhere •else) without one iota of consideration for the trouble he is thereby entailing, in her absence, during the trial which .has actually commenced. Her presence would have settled the question at -onoe, to the avoidance of much un* necessary trouble to the police, and, we fear, of much perjury among witnesses. No sensible man could hear the evidence of those two yeung girls without feeling frightened—and we feel sure that Mr. Price experienced this feeling equally with everyone present. Either two young girls, with a view to screen their wretched mother, and prompted by her, committed a aeries of wilful perjuries; or else some three or four respectable young lads did the same on the other hand. If the young girls did so, the guilt, as Mr. Price justly observed, rests with their mother, who bears a notorious character. Nevertheless the sight was c&e oa which ao isan of refill ciururo

could look without a shudder. Two young children, the eldest not over fifteen, possibly placing themselves within the pale of the criminal law, and offering the greatest possible offence to the Almighty, at the prompting of the creature who gave them birth, and who did not hesitate to place them, in order to screen herself. in a position which all womanly and motherly feeling must protect against as wicked and shameful. What effect it may have upon these two young girls in after life. God alone knows. Let us hope that humane and charitable interference will tend as far as possible to separate them from the baneful influence of one whose example to them is so shocking and degrading as her defence would seem to imply in more ways than one.

We are happy to be able to it ate that Dr Baton is progieasing very favorably towards recovery. Mr. J. R. Morgan calls for tenders for the erection of a five-roomed house at Patutahi, for Mr. L. Mclntosh. Plans and specifications may be seen at the Wharf Timber Yard. Tenders to close at noon on Wednesday, April 5. Mr. W. P. Finneran calls attention of builders and contractors to the fact that the tenders for the erection of a Fever Ward atthe Gisborne Hospital, will close at noon on the 30th instant, at his office, where plans and specifications may be seen. Messrs C:rlaw Smith and Co., advertise for sale by auction at Waercnga-a-hika on Monday next, 12 head of splendid young heifers, also a number of milkers and other cattle. ■Some horses also will be offered, the sale commencing at 2 p in. sharp A fnT’well tea meeting was held at the Wes’eyan Church in Bright Street, last night on the occasion of the departure of the Rev. J. Dello w for Whangarei. About 250 pertms were present, and the following ladies presided at the tables : —Mes.lames Pollock, Remolds, Kurtain and Robinson, Scotter, Wilkinson,"Stevenson. The programme consisted of anthems by the choir, and speeches b? the Rerds. McAra and Dellow, with a financial statement, of which the following is an extract, by Mr Scotter : —lncome for past two years towards support df Minister, £343 4« nd; Income of Trustees for two yias, £lOl ; raised on behalf of Sunday School. £33 ; towards Home Mission, £l2 5s lOd ; estimated proceeds of farewell tea, including special contributions towards Circuit- debt. In the case heard before Mr. Price, yesterday, of Read’s Trustees v. Mere Tipuna, Maaka, Donohue, and Riparata Ngata, for £lO9 damages, sustained by trespass committed on Kairouru block, Mr. McDougall for defendants, and Messrs. Brassey and Ward fur plaintiffs, a heavy tax was laid upon the legal acumen of counsel on both sides by tl>? ingenious but worrying mode of defence adopted. Mr. Brassey had hardly put in a single document in evidence, or asked a question of a witness, without meeting from a direct protest from Mr. McDougall—protests made with such persistency as to elicit from the presiding Magistrate a remark upon the nature of the objections offered. Mr. McDougall holding that the fact of the defendants’ disputing the title in born, files, removed the case from the jurisdiction of the Court. Merc Tipuna claimed to be owner of the portion of Kairouru No. 1 under a Crown grant. After hearing the case with much patience Mr. Price decided that, if it, can be satisfactorily proved to him that Alere Tipuna is a Crown grante? in Kairouru No. 1, as she sweats she is, thereby evidencing a bona fide dispute to title, and having never disposed of her interest therein, lie would instantly dismiss the case as beyond his jurisdiction. The matter is one of vital importance to the district. The Natives evidently took a great interest in proceedings, and when they find it is possible) to set aside a certificate of title under the Lands Transfer Act, fraud being implied, wp. shall doubtless hear of more than this instance as coming before the Court. Mr. Price at the request of the defendants, adjourned the hearing far a month in order that certified copies of the Crown grants might he Procured.