RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Southland Times, Issue 746, 6 November 1867, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

(Before H. M'Culloch, Esq., E.M.) MONDAY, 4th NOVEMBER. DausKAjaDS.— Hebecca Wolford, for this offence, was fined 20s or 48 hours, and John Hobery having been locked up j lor two nights on a similar charge, was dismissed with a caution. LAECENT. John Brown was charged with stealing the sum of £15 from the person of Wm. Wheeler. It appeared, from the evidence of the prosecutor, a miner, that he had been staying at the Castlemaine Hotel in Deeefcreet, kept by Mr Wild, and that on Tuesday, the 29th ult., he was drinking in the hotel, and had in a chamois leather bag two parcels of money, one consisting of £60 in notes, and the other of three £5 notes and two £1 notes. In the afternoon he got too much to drink and I went to Bleep on a sofa in the dining room, and when he awoke Mr Wild, the landlord, gave him his bag of money with only £60 in it. The three £5 notes were missing. The prisoner had been drinking with prosecutor and his (prosecutor's) mate, a man, named Flanagan. In reply to a question put by the Court, the witness said that he was so drunk he did not remember what occurred, but was only saying what he had heard. John Smith, the cook at the Castlemaine Hotel, who was described by Mr Weldon, the Commissioner of Police, as a very intelligent witness, but who gave his evidence in a most unintelligible manner, stated that the prosecutor went into the kitchen of the hotel on the Tuesday morning, and said he had been robbed of £15 or £20, and Mr Wild, who was present,- told him he must be mistaken, as he could rely on the honesty of hia ■ervants. On one occasion, the precise day the witness could not remember, the prosecutor was lying down drunk with his purse hanging out out of his pocket, and he (witness) told the barmaid of it in the presence of the prisoner. The prisoner- then told witness he had taken Wheeler's money, and put it back again because a party saw him take it. Margaret Eaffain, barmaid at the hotel, deposed that on Tuesday, the 29th October, in the forenoon, the prosecutor was in the kitchen of the Castlemaine Hotel with the cook and another man, and witness served him with some drink. The prosecutor offered her three £snotes, which he took out of a little bag, in payment for the drinks, and witness said she would get the price of the drinks from him afterwards. She left the kitchen, and the prosecutor had the notes in his hand. He then went into the next room and witness told him to leave it, and he went back into the kitchen and was leaning over the table very drunk. Witness told Mr Wild the state he was in and that he had money about him, and Mr Wild and prosecutor's mate removed him to the dining-room and put him on the sofa. At about 3 o'clock witness went to dress, and shortly afterwards from where she was she saw the prisoner come down stairs and go into the kitchen. Erom the kitchen he went into the dining-room and walked up to the prosecutor, and she saw him pull something from prosecutor's pocket and go up-stairs again. He then came down-stairs and went out at the front door. Eive minutes afterwards, witness having told Mr Wild what she had seen, Mr Wild went into the diningroom and called in Wheeler's mate, saying, Wheeler had money on him, and he wanted Wheeler's mate, to see him, take it from him for fear he might lose it. Mr Wild and Wheeler's mate counted the money, and witness heard Mr Wild say there was £75 and a sixpence, but witness was not certain as to the amount. John Charles Wild, publican, deposed, that on Tuesday, the 29th October, he saw the prosecutor drunk in his kitchen. The barmaid had told witness the prosecutor was drunk, and had money in his hand, and might lose it. Witness led the prosecutor to have some dinner, and he went into the bar and had a drink, and went into a room adjoining the kitchen. Ten minutes afterwards witness saw the prosecutor lying drunk across the table, and went and fetched his mate and placed him on the sofa in the diningroom. In about two hours afterwards, from what witness heard from the barmaid, he went to prisoner as soon as he came into the house and told him some one had seen him meddling with the prosecutor's pocket, and that if the prosecutor had lost anything he (prisoner) would get accused of it. Prisoner said he was laying the man oyer^— that he was lying on his back vomiting, and he was putting him on his side. Witness then fetched prosecutor's mate, and took the money out of prosecutor's pocket in a chamois leather bag. The amount in the bag was £55, a sixpence, and a gold receipt, as counted by witness and prosecutor's mate, (The witness here explained that the barmaid had made a mistake in stating the amount to be £75.) Witness T?ent out, and on returning home the ptoeeeutox was up, and witness to! 4 him Cfe'W his mcney, Prpseeutor's mate mi « m fQfiP ?ppsw tJp mi tt

was £20 short. Witness handed him the money in his mate's presence. At this stage the prisoner was remanded until Wednesday (this day), for the production of further evidence. Civil Case! jles v. green". Claim for £46 10s, wages due for work done on a run at Pahi. In this case it appeared that the defendant engaged the plaintiff to work on a station owned by his father, who had subsequently become insolvent. Judgment for defendant, with costs 17s.