SUPREME COURT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2591, 7 December 1893, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

In the Supreme Court, Wellington, in the case of W iiliam Thomas, charged with perjury, the jury were unable to agree, and were locked up for the night. 11.I 1 . Philpot was sentenced to two years for obtaining money from a girl whom he had promised to marry, on pretence that a large sum was coming to him from England. The jury in the perjury case against Thomas could not agree and were discharged. A new trial was ordered, i n the Divorce Court on Monday, Jessie Berg, domestic servant, sought a dissolution of marriage from her husband, Samuel Berg, a bookmaker, on grounds of adultery with Ethel Bushby and others. The parties were married in 1887, and adultery and desertion having been clearly proved, Mr Justice Richmond granted a decree nisi. In the case Rowe v Rowe, husband’s petition, the judge took time to consider, as it was shown that the man had deserted his wife and children. The woman went to the bad, and the husband, who had been brought back on a charge of desertion, then brought the suit. In Wigg v. Wigg the order was made absolute. The divorce suit Long v. Long was a wife’s petition on the grounds of adultery and cruelty. The parties were married in Dunedin, and two children are living. The evidence showed that respondent confessed to misconduct with a girl called Nelly Parkes, by whom he had been accused of having a child. The petitioner had suffered from puerperal mania in consequence ; and was in an asylum some time. N o actual cruelty was shown, but the evidence given was general indifference to the wife. The respondent did not appear. The Chief J uatice said that the case was very near the margin, but he thought there was sufficient ground for a decree nisi on the usual terms. The decree was granted. At the Supreme Court, Auckland, a Maori named Meta, for rape on a Maori girl aged 12, was sentenced to eight years ; William Rogers, for failing to obey a probation order, to six months; Henry Hill, for false pretences, to six months. At the Supreme Court, Dunedin, on Monday, the Grand Jury returned true bills in all but the case of W iiliam Roach, charged with housebreaking. Joseph Evans, found guilty of an aggravated assault on a woman named Rushton, was sentenced to hard labor for two months. Catherine Stevenson, for maliciously wounding another woman, was sentenced to two years. Annie E. Robertson, who pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, received three years. Thomas White McLillan, aged 17, for breaking and entering, was admitted to twelve months’ probation. John Guillmot, for criminal assault on a girl under 14, was sentenced to five years, His Honor remarking that if the prisoner had inflicted any physical injury whatever on the child, he would have added flogging. Percy Arthur Quinlan, breaking and entering, and William Reid, maliciously wounding, pleaded guilty, and sentence was deferred. The Supreme Court, Dunedin, was engaged all Tuesday with the charge of perjury against Henry Ginsberg, of Naseby. Accused was sued in an affiliation case, and going into the box gave evidence so contradictory of that of the girl’s witnesses that the present proceedings were brought. The case was not concluded when the Court rose.