R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2037, 9 July 1885, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

MASTERTON.—THIS DAY. [Before H. A. Stratford, R.M.] DRUNK. One inebriate was ordered .to disburse - 10a and coats. INFECTED SHEEP. • ' ./■ J. Drummond v Joseph Colway.V. Defendant pleaded guilty to a charge, .of having, on .the Bth inst., offered sheep/, infected with lice for sale in tlio public sale yards, but said that the offenco was committed through,ignorance,, Fined £l, and costs fa ; ASSAULT, J. H, Taplin was'charged with'assault- ■ ing Mrs Elizabeth Yule, • Mr Bunny appeared for the prosecution, and Mr Beard for the defence. Mrs Elizabeth Yule, sent., deposed. that she was the wife of Alexander Yule. The defendant was her son-in-law, and leased some land from them. On the 29th June she wont for a drive with her. husband, and used a road which they had been in the habit of using for the laat twenty years. It passed through the property leased to Taplin.' 1 At duak ■ witness saw Taplin standing on a narrow, bridge which it was necessary they should cross, He waited till they came up, and ■ took hold of the bridlo and said they should not pass. She was 70 years, of ago, and her husband 78, Her husband asked him what he wanted,and defendant ■ replied that he did not want that old hag to go through his ground. He called her husband an old swindler. Witness told' her husband to drive on when defendant came up and gave her a blow as hard as ho could with'his fist, He struck her in the side. Mr Yule said " Jim, you (ire going . too.far now. If you dont to behave ' yourself 1 1 'will l •'make you." ' Defendant kept them ten minutes, abusing; them, and then' let): thetn' J fci'.'oh;' Slio ' only wanted iiim bound over to keep the peace, Witness-said they Had. had'.trouble with defendant beforo ; he had tried to stop'them-two or three times previously on this.wad. "She was in foar-v of defendant, for if she had not been a ■" strong woman sho would have been laid''

up. - By Mr Beard: She was cortain dofend-.-i ant's hand was closed. Sho had not called Taplin any names, but had toldhim - he ought to pay his rent; sho did not apply names to him. He pulled them up on the bridge and said, nothing before ho struck her. ,J. ,7' : Alexander Yule, sen,,.sworn corroborated the evidence _of ; last , jyitnes?, and,< said he was in fear of tho dofpjiclant, who was not the beat' tempered of inen., ;He, (witness) was an old could not . protect himself, let alone his wife. By Mr Beard : Mrs Yule did not Bay anything to defendand when hie stopped the cart on the bridge, but, told : li i m (witness) to drive on. ~ • jf- oV '. Mr Beard: Do'yoii.mean to say',that a, . heavy man like Air. TapliiUjStriking a f person like Mrs Yule a hedvy blow would not knock all the'senses out of: Jier ? MrYule: Idon'tknow lamsure, that depends upon what was in! (laughter) i' Mr Beard for the defence said the affair was only a family squabble, which had arisen through Mrs' Yule' applying strong terms to thecharacterof defendant. He would call the defendant.

1 James Henry Taplin, who was- sworn said he stopped fh'e horse on the riiglij; in'question, and saidMt",'untilj Ita lujp" ' retracted Kef words,'Ke objected "to' Her passing through A hia. lani (: ; §he. had s called him'' a ( ——.They had *

words, Mr Yule interfered and repeated tho offensive expression and said he Qpjy got off through, a flaw. He then thresV enediothrow.h'er into the creok, and he put his foot on the wheel of the trap and hit Mrs Yule on the aide with hie hand.

Ho had not spoken to Mrs Yulo since last August, on the occasion she applied tho torm to him, until that night. Cross-examined; Ho recognised Mr Yulo's right as landlord to como on his land at any timo, Ho did not call Mr ta swindler, s Worship said Mr Bunny's strongest point was that a man had kept his enmity hottled up for 11 months until he had an opportunity to resent it. It was uupardoiiablo. He did not say there was no provocation ; tho. qne'stiori> was not one of title. It'was 3vhetliera woman of seventy yfears'was to be. struck by a strong man, and on'the' otW whatwas the provocation, There had been none for 11 months, and even if an ,old woman had called liiiq names, that was no exouse for striking her. He should fine him £ 1 and costs for tho assault, and lie would to find sureties to keep the peace rlr six months in his own recognisance for £2O, and one surety for £lO.