SUPREME AND DIVORCE COURT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 139, 3 June 1908, Page 2

SUPREME AND DIVORCE COURT

Per Proas Association. : Timaru, Tuesday. There were only three criminal eases on the calendar. One was against a (man who pleaded guilty to shooting horses. Ho was admitted to probation for twelve months upon paying £io damages and costs, £lO. Timaru, Last Night. X. W. Blackler, farmer, Jlorven, .plead, ed guilty to 'indecent assault on a young servant girl, and was sentenced to 12° months'. Decrees nisi were grant-' od on husbands' petitions in the cases Owen v. Owen and It. H. Smith (Waimate), Bourne v. Bourne, Owen and Harnett (Makikihi). Application was made for alimony in the latter case, and argument was deferred. Invercargill, Tuesday. At the criminal sessions there were only two_ cases. E, W. Climpton plead- , ed guilty of forgery and presenting a false school certificate to obtain employment on the railway. Judge Denniston refused him probation on the ground that these frauds on the public wore becoming too common. He in- : dieted three months* imprisonment. Invercargill, Last Night.

The remarkably short criminal sittings concluded this afternoon, when Murdoch McDonald was charged with breaking and entering the Golden Age Hotel, Bluff, and stealing .€lB 10s and two flasks of whisky. He ! wa» acquitted. The jury were unanimous on the first count, but one juror was for conviction on a charge of theft of the whisky. The Judge pointed out that under the circumstances it was right to give accused the benefit of the doubt, and after a few minutes' further retirement, the jury found accused "not guilty" on both counts. Joseph Captain, who had pleaded guilty to a second count, was sentenced to six months', which, the Judge said, he would reduce to four months, in consideration of the fact that accused had been nearly two months in gaol awaiting trial. Auckland, Tuesday.

In the Supreme Court a decree nisi was granted in the divorce case of Benjamin fiievor v. Alice Siever, for misconduct with Thomas Gouitor. Auckland, Last Night. John Thorley, a blind man, sought divorce from Julian Thorley, on the grounds of misconduct. A decree nisi! •was granted. Joseph Albert Massey ■ applied for a dissolution of his marriage with Charlotte Louisa Massey on the * grounds of misconduct. It was stated ■ that there wore ten children by the mar- ■ riage. A decree nisi was granted. Mary [ Kneebone petitioned for divorce from Joseph Richard Kneebone, on the ■ grounds of desertion. In this case a • decree nisi was also granted. Wellington, Last Night.

A claim for £ISOO damages was made to-day in the Supreme Court, before Mr Justice Chapman, by Arthur John Usher, laborer, against the Federal Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., for injuries received on the defendant company's steamship Surrey at the Queen's Wharf, Wellington. Mr. Skerrett, for the defendant company, stated that without any admission as to what the rights of the parties were, he was to submit to judgment for such sum as his Honor would assess the plaintiff to be entitled to. His Honor: That is equivalent to a common law judgment. Counsel: Yes. Usher deposed that he was a single man, 41 years of age. He had earned as "luucli as £5 a week in the summer. His average weekly wage for a year would be over £3 a week. Dr. Ewart explained the nature of the injuries, and said plaintiff's finger would iuiprove, but would never be of much use to him. If he continued his present treatment and the adhesions broken he would be able to place his arm by his side in about a mouth or six weeks. Witness doubted whether plaintiff would be able to put his hand over his head. He would never be able to pull on a rope. Judgment was reserved.