The Westport Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 466, 16 February 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1869.

Thk recent case of Retina v. M'lntyre, tried at the late sittings of the Dis- ' frict Court, involved a question of I arauiount importance not only to miners on this goldfield, but to all re- - sideut in New Zealand. That ques- * tioa is the liability of a mate who appropriates the gold obtained by the ; party. t vv enroi aaruiy puiui uui. uuw pccu--1 liarly desirable it is that the utmost , i-ouhYe ice should subsist between men ' so closely associated as they are in a P mining party. Where so much trust 1 must be placed in the various members s of a party, and so many opportunities f» exist for that trust to be violated, it , will readily be admitted that every i meai s of securing good faith and punishing its violati n should be by law . provided. And yet what do we find ? That in these cases the law, so . far as any real and practical remedy is concerned, is simply powerless; that while every ingenuity of our ■■ legislators has been enlisted to bring to 8 justice a wretched half-starved creature who steals a penny loaf, a class of , rases involving hundreds, it may be thousands, of pounds is altogether un- ( provided for. This seems passing strange, and yet the anomaly has ex- ) isted for years, and has been more than once commented upon. The judges at home have endeavored to i s retch the authorities so as to punish such palpable offences, but, it i appears, without effect. Instead of depending upon the straining of ' cases, direct and substantive enactments ought long since to have been passed to meet so great an evil. The case of H. v. M'lntyre was, perhaps, one of the strongest of the class referred to, and presented features peculiarly gross and glaring. The party to which he belonged had secured some two hundred and seventy ounces of amalgam. This, by the commou accord of the party, was invariably entrusted to one individual of the party. It was kept in a box under lock and key; the lock.it is true, being of a common description, and the key of a kind readily obtainable. The amalgam was abstracted from the box, and upon the suggestion of this man M'lntyre, another, and, as it turns out, an innocent person was charged with the robbery. Examinations took place, and the accused was discharged. Suspicions attached themselves to the man M'lntyre, and he was subsequently arrested- From this time a variety of circumstances developed themselves in such a complete and compact chain that his guiltiness was proved to demonstration. The evidence will be too j fresh in our readers' recollections to • render repetition necessary. Upon that evidence the Crown Prosecutor asked the learned Judge to leave to the Jury as a fact, whether

the person entrusted with the amalgam was or was not the sole custodian of " the amalgam, whether he did not stand towards the party in a fiduciary relation, j, j and whether he was not responsible £ for its safe keeping. This we under- < stood him to do upon the authority of J a recent case decided in the Court of l Criminal Appeal in England. The learned Judge, however, declined to ' adopt that course. He gave it as his \ opinion that the law was clear that ! one partner could not steal from , another; that unless it were proved that the bailee held the amalgam under some agreement and received some remuneration for assuming the responsibility, he could only be liable for gross negligence, and as no such agreement and no such negligence were set up, he should direct the prisoner to be acquitted. In deference to this ruling the astonished Jury had no alternative but, in the face of the strongest and most convincing evidence, to return a : verdict of acquittal! * That such a state of things should not exist, is a proposition so self-evident that we do not deem it necessary to do more than state it. The next inquiry is, will the Government leave the law f in this disgraceful state? Already this is the second case of the kind which has appeared before the District Court at Westport, with precisely the same result. A short Act ougbt at once to be prepared to remedy this palpable defect, in our gold-mining law at least, even if it do not extend to " the common relations existing between partners in general. Parliament will = soon assemble, and a favourable opportunity, therefore, exists for considering a the question, if, indeed, it needs more r than a moment's consideration to establish its pressing emergency. = Since writing the above our attention has been called to the fact that the English Parliament has legislated upon this very subject. The enactment of the Imperial Legislature, 31 and 32 Victoria*, Cap. CXVL "An ~ Act to amend the law relating to lar,f ceuy and embezzlement," is precisely 0 applicabla to the defects in our'law to ,_ which we have alluded. We cannot . do better than refer the attention of u the law department to this statute, e and express a hope that the singular state of things to which we have ret. e..~~~A will nn Innser be allowed to .+ continue.