HETERODOXY IN NELSON.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 185, 24 August 1871, Page 7

HETERODOXY IN NELSON.

The Nelson <; Examiner " of August 2 gives the following report of evidence i^iven before Judge Richmond at the sitting of the Supreme Court : — FRADULENT CONVERSION. John and William Avery were charged witb having fraudently converted to their own use five and-a-balf tons of hay, entrusted to them to cut into chaff by Mr W. Rout.

Mr Acton Adam appeared for the prosecution, having conducted the case when before the Resident Magistrate. Mr Fell appeared for John A very, and Mr Aikinson for William Avery.

Mr Kout was called, and was about to be sworn, when

Mr Fell requested that His Honor would direct the wittness' to reply to any question he might put to him, before the oath was administered. His Honor having complied— *- Mr Fell : Do you believe in God ? Mr Rout : I do. Mr Fel 1 : Do you believe in a state of future rewards and punishments ? Mr Rout : It is a question of doubt in my mind.

Mr Fell : On that answer I object to Mr Rout's evidence being received. Mr Rout: I thought this kind of thing had exploded.

His Honor : Tou are not precluded, Mr Rout, from freely expressing your opionin.

Mr Rout : I have not thought the matter of sufficient importance to really study it.

Mr Acton Adams: Do you believe in a Creator. Mr Rout : I believe in one first

cause. Mr Acton Adams: Do you believe there will be any difference after doath in the state of those who have committed moral wrong or otherwise ?

Mr Rout: I believe that a man commits a crime according to his organisation, and that he has no power to alter it.

Mr Acton Adams: Do you .believe that punishment, either in this world, or the next, awaits the man who does wrong ?

Mr Rout : In this world certainly a wrong doer is always receiving punishment. I don't know what he will receive in the next. I neither know whence I came, or whether I am going.

His Honor : Let us in this matter keep as clear as possible of that devil's pandemonium, the question of free will.

Mr Fell: I object to Mr Rout's evidence being taken, because he does not believe that perjury is rendered worse- than an ordinary lie by the utterer of it having invoked the name of the Almighty.

His Honor : I must take notice of this objection, however much I may regret that it is allowed by law. If ifc had been the desire of the prisoners to bring out a great scandal on the law, they could not have succeeded better than by raising this question. [To Mr Rout.] Tou say you believe that punishment follows wrong doing in this world. Do you believe that God is the author of that punishment?

Mr Rout : I have not worked the matter out suffiently to make, a belief of it. If I had thought these questions would have come up, I would have thought tbe matter over, and. been better prepared to answer them. When I see so much virtue left unrewarded, I can scarcely bring myself to believe that to God only it is to be attributed the punishment of evil doing. I think the man who breaks the natural laws of the universe, that breach carries its own punishment with it. I believe in a God, and in the unity of the G-odhead, but I am in doubt respecting the future rewards or punishments.

Mr Fell : Is it a greater sin to perjure yourself than to tell an ordinary lie?

Mr Bout : Certainly not. A lie is a lie, and in a moral sense they are both the same. I know in a legal sense they are different.

Mr Fell again objected to Mr Rout's evidence being received, and cited sev-

eral instances in which a similar course had been pursued at home. His Honor : I cannot be guided by the opinion of every JYisi Prius Judge. I shall take wittness's evidence, and if a conviction is given, shall reserve judgement, if necessary. This is the first, and I hope it may be the last, time of my being called on to decide a matter of this kind, as such a discussion cannot be carried on except at tbe expense of that reverence which is due to the subject of it. I sincerely trust that tbe Legislature will feel called upon to interfere in the matter.

Mr Rout was then sworn, and tbe case proceeded, but the evidence broke down, and the prisoners were acquitted.

The Natives at Tauranga are tt appears great gamblers. A correspondent of the v Southern Cross " says ; — Some fewjears back nothing but religion occupied their minds; afterwards war, with all its excitement and reverses ; but more recently cards has been the all-absorbing subject. From a child of five years of age to the aged veteran of 70, they may be- seen engaged in this vile aud exciting practice ; and it is no special circumstance to witness special night-parties playing'till daybreak for a. penny boj of matches.