WARDEN'S COURT.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3997, 20 October 1881, Page 3

WARDEN'S COURT.

THIS DAY. (Before H. Kenrick, Esq., Warden ) C. A. COBNES T. MCWILLIAMB AND SNOD GRASS. This was an adjourned case, and arose out of an application by the defendants to have their names inserted on the license of the Just-in-Time claim at Waitekauri. Mr Miller appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Whitaker appeared for th? defendants. All witnesses were ordered out of Court. Win. Snodgrass, sworn, deposed—He went to Waitekauri in May, 1881, and started prospecting there. Comes had told him and his mate to let him know if there was a prospect of getting anything good. Some little time afterwards he sent a message to Comes at Paeroa to come up, and he did so, and he and plaintiffpeggcd

" out the Just-in-Time claim. Previous to this plaintiff, McWilliams, and witness had a conversation in a house at Waitekauri, and it was then decided- that anything they got would be divicled between them. • The claim was - re-pegged ten days after the first pegging,outfit being the impression that if a survey was not made of the ground in that time the ground would have to bo He did not re-peg the ground, nor was he present. He took the notice of abandonment to Paerra, and also the notice of repegging. (The notices were produced in Court, and were identified by witness.) The notice of re pegging'was put in in his own name, on behalf of the three of them, but he did not authorise Sergt. Russell to put Comes' name in, as had been done, nor were the words -' for C. A. Comes " in then. Sergt. Russell afterwards told him that he pufc plaintiff's name in as he knew they were all mates. He afterwards heard that Comes was . trying to deprive: them of their interest in the ground, and' McWilliams went to Comes about it. The three of them afterwards met in Paeroa, and Comes wanted to give them a full share each (126 th ■interest in the ground) in * settlement of their claims, but. they did not agree to,this. In, consequence of what he beard at WaiteKauri he and his mate came to the Thames, and lodged an objection to the granting of the license. Comes had never denied to him that they were mates, nor had he ever received any money from him for. all the work he had done in connection with the claim.

By Mr Miller—lt was between a week and a fortnight before they pegged out the claim when they became dividing mates. There were four of them present, but only three were meant when Comes said, "Anything we gftt, boys, we'll go whacks." In pegging out the ground on the 2nd August, Jle put in the northeast one by himself, and'gave Comes a hand with the (others: The claim was afterwards re pegged. He gave the notice of abandonment and the notice of re-pegging on the same day, but datpd the notice of abandonment two days before that day. He did this because they were late in abandoning the ground. He gave two notices of re-pegging, one in his own name and one in Comes', but the first one was destroyed.; (Sergeant Russell was here caiWd in, and said distinctly ho had only received one noliee of re-peggin* from Snodgrass on the day in question.) By the Court—He had not worked on the Just in Time claim. Comes did very little work on tbe ground; he simply opened up the reef. Witness did not think he (Comes) did more than an hour's work on the claim. He had made no application to Comes for a full interest in the claim before the gold was found, but trusted to his honesty. John McWilliams, sworn, deposed— That only three persons were present, namely, plaintiff, Snodgrass. and himself, when they agreed to go "whacks." The Just in Time claim was pegged out under that agreement. He heard that plaintiff was trying to deprive them of their interest, and went to see him about it, when he said they would receive their interests. (The rest of the evidence was corroboratiAe.)

Witness was then cross-examined at length by Mr Miller, but no new facts of importance were elicited. To the Court—Comes first suggested that the Just in Time claim should be pegged out! Very little work was done on the ground by any of the parties after the gold was found. Court adjourned to 2.30.

On the Court resuming at 2.30, Sergt. Russell, of Paeroa, who receives and forwards notices re mining matters, &c , was called, and deposed that Comes lodged a notice of the pegging out of the Just-in-Time claim on the second of August, and a notice of re pegging the same piece of ground on the 17th. He corroborated Snpdgrass' evidence re the notice of abandonment and re pegging lodged* on the 29th August. The words, "for C. A. Comes" were put in the notice of re-pegging by Comes' son, who said he had authority to sign.for his father. He also gave corroborative evidence re the attempted settlement of the dispute between the parlies at Paeroa. This closed the case for the defendants, and Mr Miller 'then called the plaintiff, who deposed that no agreement to go "whacks" had ever been entered ,into between defendants and himself. No one heljiia him to peg out the ground on the first occasion. He did it himself, but only used two pegs. He never received a message from them asking him logo to Waitekauri. He had promised ..them a share in the Just-in-Time claim in consideration for a share in some other claim, and not because they had any right to it. [Left Sitting.]