RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 537, 31 July 1869, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

(Before J. Giles Esq., E. M.) Thursday, July 29. Thomas Braithwaite, charged with bigamy, was again remanded for eight days', witnesses from Canterbury and Oiago not having arrived. Friday, July 30. Benjamin Saunders was charged with deserting his wife and family at Greymouth. The defendant said that he had left Greymouth with his wife's consent, for the purpose of looking for work, and though he had not yet got regular employment, he hope"d to be able to send his family some money, and to arrange for their passage hither. He would endeavor to send them £2 a week. The Magistrate made an order for the weekly payment of £l.

CIVIL CASES. Suisted v. Bell.—A claim of £l. The defendant did not appear. The plaintiff's statement was that he had bought from the defendant a consignment of sheep, pigs, &c. He offered the defendant for the stock £lOl, but the defendant said he would not take less than £LUS, but he would give him a " luck-penny " of£l. The plaintiff paid the defendant a cheque for £lO5, but the defendant then refused to give the " luck-penny," and went away in the steamer Murray. The Magistrate said that, had there been any appearance of the defendant, he might have doubts as to their being consideration for the money, but, in the absence of any answer, the case was sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to judgment. West v. Noble.—Judgment had been given against the defendant, a digger at the Upper Buller, for the amount of a baker's bill, but he failed to satisfy it. He was examined as to his means, and he stated that he was at present unable to pay. He had sold his share in a claim, and was working for wages—£l 10s a week, to be paid if the gold were got in the ground. He had paid a sum due by him for timber, and could not meet this amount at present. The plaintiff thought that everybody " should pay his baker before he paid a timber man." Judgment was given for payment at the rate of £2 a week, and, failing payment, the defendant would be liable to be imprisoned for two months.