The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3906, 6 July 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 1881.

The result of the case, Mellhone v. Merimana Konui, heard in the District Court yesterday, is calculated to cause a certain amount of distrust in the administrators of the law in our local courts. The verdict of the jury, and the ruling of the District Judge, appeared to be totally at variance with the decision of the Resident Magistrate—and which is right is a question that most people will ask. The Resident Magistrate has laid it down as a desirable rule, that in all dealings between a native and a European, in the matter of written documents, evidence shall be given that the native thoroughly understood tbe nkttare of the documeni passing between the parties, and that the signatures had been witnessed by a third person. On the other hand, the District Judge, and the jury, appear to-have been influenced solely by the evidence before them —evidence of a character acceptable were the action between two Eurbpenns. It is no doubt well for the Resident Magistrate to protect the natives from being taken advantage of, but on the other hand is it consistent, or within the duties of the Magistrate to go beyond the law in so doing, and give the benefit of the doubt against the European ? In the case referred to the native admitted the genuineness of his signature and his liability for the amount, in the presence of several reliable witnesses; and only in order to escape payment of his debt did he bring forward a plea that he was somewhat intoxicated at the time the document was signed, and did not thoroughly understand its nature. We are inclined to think the District Judge and the jury took the proper and most equitable view of the case.