R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3188, 25 April 1889, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

: CARTERTON—WEDN EBDAY. (Beforo Mr H. S. Wardell, R.M.) ■V' .. . "fi ALLEGED SHEEP BTEALINO. . 'fi "B. G. Gower v J.-Thompson. Mr : Bunny for the informant, JUr .Beard for the accused, " - ' The accused to charged .with stealing (between 'the 12th and 20th - M arch)' certain lambs'belonging to •- . tlie Bank of New Zealand. B. G. Gower being sworn, deposed: . I resident ; the Taratabi and am, in ; charge ; of : iftlMffiakere, belonging to the Bank of New Zealand. Early in Maroii I placed some' lambs in a paddock on the said estate and early in April, about the Bth, 'I f removed them froin the paddock, and - s on removing them I found some were . missing. The number when I shifted them was 520. I had bought 150 lambs from Shaw in March, and put them in the paddock with the others The lambs wliiohl purchased from Shaw; were not branded or ear-, marked. 1 then ear-marked them • with the instrument produced wliioh is a registered niark.- I atteuded Mr P. H. Wood's salo on the 11th April inst., where I saw a pen of 19' »< lambs; Seventeen of them Irecog- \ nised as belonging to the Bank of / New Zealand by the .ear mark which bai} been in my charge on'tlie'fcakere estate. They were a portion of the 100 which I purchased from- Shaw. I ' had not sold any of tho 100 whichl purchased from flhaw. l value tho lambs at 5s Gd each. 1 I made inquiries as to who placed those ■ lambs in the salo yard, and in consequence 'of;lnformation received I spoke to tho accused about the lambs in the presence of W.H. Wilton. ; ;I ■ asked the accused how lie came by - ' the lambs which were in that particular pen.'He toldme that he purchased them from a kind of a dealer by soiiie such name as Hecliels, but 1 don't remember him saving anything else. I told him lie would have to produce; the man. He did not state when he purchased the lambs, lsaid I would give him 24. hours to produce the man, and if not produced in th'attime I would put it in the hands of the police. Idon't remember Baying anything more to the .accused. I ' j pointed out the pen of lambs to the ■; accused which I'referred to. I got ■ possession of'the seventeen lambs again from the Auctioneer and W. H. .Wilton at llie sale, yards. I placed .. them in the hands if Thomas Shaw, ■ the man from whom I purchased them. They have been in his charge ever since, tho lambs , are crossbred Eomneys. 1 saw 'the lambs in tbe Court House yard, which I identify a3 the same lambs which wero at the 1 sale yards. I identify one particularly 1 by the way tho ear has been ' bitten by tbe dog at the time they were being drafted 'when- I' purchased them from Shaw. I saw the accused again on the 12th and , he told me lie would go' with me to t Mr Watson's, near Mastertoii, who I 1 purchased tho lambs from. I told; him I would go with him, I made an appointment to meet him at my gate ! at 9 o'clock the next niornirig, when >' he came, and we went towards Mas-' | terton, and met the man Watson on 1 the road. Watson returned with me ! 5 to his place to see some sheep which • 0 lie had purchased-from tba acoueed, 1 The accused was present at the r interview. I saw no sheep'at Wat- .. ! goii s place anything like what I had ' lost. The sheep that I saw at ■ Watson's.wero a tincp)n cross, The -:• ' accused stated in the presence of'V 3 , Watson that the lambs f l got from | Watson were branded, or the most of .- them, but did not say in what way.' • Watson made no remark. lam not • certain that I toMWatson for what 1 purpose I went to his -place abjiut. 1 I did not hear from Watson wliother ' he had or had not exchanged any lambs with the accused.- On Sunday, the 14th inst I had an interview with Constable Darby about the lambs t and saw them in Wilton's paddock the presence of King and Wilton. . They were bran-led with a bell brand.:j They were fetched to'the pourid'pad- , dock. I had seen sheep at Watson's , on the previous day with a similar ' 1 brand.

_ To Mr Beard: I don't think there j is anything more than what I have already stated to the Court. The | lambs purchased from Shaw were the , same breed a's the lambs at the i 'Kakere station, All the Kakere lamb 3 were unbranded at the time, ! and are still unbranded, but they 1 are all earmarked, and wero so at | the end of January last. The pad- . dock was fairly secure., .1 am not ; quite certain as to the number which | should have been in the paddock where 1 missed the lambs from. There would be between 550 and GOO, but cannot say exactly the number.-; , ; To the Court; It is diffioult to distinguish the lambs bought from Shaw from the -station lambs: I' havo neither sold or disposed of any of this last season's lambs. W. H. Wilton deposed; lam s butcher residing in Carterton. I know the accused. I purchased 20 lambs from him about the 6th March at 5s each. They were earmarked but not branded. I have seen the saino lambs that are in the Court house, yard .to. day, I know them : by. the - ear mirk, The accused fetched the lambs down to my place on or about the 29th March, part of ■ the money has been paid, receipt for which is produced, 1 saw the accused sign the receipt when I; paid him the money, I saw the lambs at the accused's place. The money was paid at my shop. I killed two of the lambs the Bamo day as they were fetched down to my place, and tho remainder I took to Mr Wood's auction sale at the Taratahi, on Thursday, 11th 'April, with two others whioh I had, they were put in a pen by themselves. I instructed Mf Wood to sell them., I saw the informant and also the accused at the sale and held a conversation with them about tbe lambs, I said to the accused, "this man (Gower) claims those -lambs which 1 bought, from you,"'lie said," Arc yousure *' those are the lambs you bought from me;" I replied ".Yes." Mr Gower asked him how lie came by them, and ho said he swappod some ewes away for thern to a man by the name of Heckles or somo similar name, and paid Heckles is a dealer between - Peatherston and Mastertonj but did i not known where he lived. Gower said he would give 24 hours to find the man, in default he [should put it iii the hands of the police. The conversation took place at, the ; sale - yard close to the pen where tho lambs were. .. _ --; -To the. Court: I eaw the. lamtajafs a small paddock about ari /acrei iii! size, at .the place of the accused. When I purchased them there were : only 20 in the paddock. I could not - say whether- they were ear/marked'y or : not wheh.l them paddock, I know that they were the eaue lambs b? tbe wad bring

off their sides.. Some of them liiwl been fagged, and one bad bud tbe wool torn out of its side wbioh I -.noticed when I went to look tit tbem lit the accused's place. I banded tbem over to Mr Gower through Mr wi& 11, Wood to bo held in pound for brother inquiry. By Mr Beard: I purobased tbe ' lambs on the 2Gth. I bad not seen the lambs previously. Tho acoused came to my shop somo few days before, and asked me if I wanted to buy any lambs. I have no idea of tbe extent of property of the accused. I have been lold that it was about 25 acres. It is not tbo rule to take ear marks when biding sheep; only tbe ' brands (if any). The lambs were . delivered to my paddock on the 291 h March, some time in the morning. 16aw then! .about two o'clock in the afternoon, I did not see who . delivered the lambs to my paddock, i The only thing I know tbem by was " tbo dagging, and some wool being torn oil' their sides. He told me be wanted tbe lambs to make an exchange for. a dray. I asked him why tho party would not 'take the ewes for the dray. He said tbe party had rather have the lambs, The Court; Were you ever known by the name of Heckles ? No, The remainder of the evidence was a corroboration of that given by the informant. Accused was committed for trial, bail being-allowed,, two sureties of £IOO each and himself £SO.