RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 828, 22 June 1871, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURT.

Tuesday, June 20. (Before J. Giles, Esq.K.M.) VAGRANCY. Maria Jennings appeared on remand, charged with fighting and the use of abusive language in the public streets of Westport. The charge against the prisoner had stood over to admit of a medical officer reporting upon the injuries stated to have been received. The result of the investigation showed that the prisoner ha'l received no injuries whatever, and that her extraordinary conduct arose out of mere contumacy and perverseness. The circumstances in connection with the charge, were similar to those in the case of the police against Webster, heard on Saturday last, only that a greater degree of culpability attached to the prisoner. A number of previous convictions having been proved, his Worship committed the prisoner to gaol for one month with hard labour. CTVIL CASES. Cooper v. Sanders Claim for £1 2s 6d. Judgment by default in the amount claimed and costs. Sullivan v. Jacklin. This case was adjourned on the application of Mr Pitt, counsel for plaintiff, until Friday next.

Williams v. Annett. Claim for £1 ss. No appearance. Struck out. Jones v. Munro. Claim for £1 lis 6d, being 14s short delivery of barley, and 17s 6d for a half cord of firewood.

The plaintiff stated that he had purchased four bags of barley from the defendant, containing fifteen bushels, and he had been charged eighteen bushels, the difference representing the sum of 14s. The half cord of firewood he himself had delivered at the defendant's house on December 5. The defendant admitted that there was an item of 13s, overcharge on barley, sold to the defendant. It was not, however, for short weight as represented by the plaintiff. This item had been placed to Mr Jones's credit as also the sum of 18s for a half cord of firewood. The real matter in dispute was as to whether the plaintiff had received six bags of barley or four bags; if the latter the sum now sued for was due to the plaintiff, but the accounts were balanced if he (defendant) succeeded in showing that six bags of barley had been delivered. The plaintiff produced an account for four bags, dated Dec. Ist, 1870, which was receipted. At that time he had already received delivery of two bags, and he took away the remaining two bags on Dec. 7. He was quite positive that he had only received four bags in all. Some time in January he called upon Mr Munro for a settlement, and a conversation then took place about the barley. He denied that he had received six bags, and, on reference to his delivery book, Mr Munro could only find mention made of four bags. The defendant gave him credit but no money passed hands. He got the weigh-bill of each lot of barley, one of which he produced, but the other had been mislaid. He produced it on the last occasion that the matter was brought before the Court. He had neither purchased nor received any goods from the defendant since Dec. 7.

By the defendant: I have not had delivery of six bags of barley. I took delivery of two bags in November and of two more on Dec. 7, but I did not receive two bags on Dec. 13. Jho. Munro : The invoice produced of four bags barley is in my hand writing. It was understood in the first place that Mr Jones should take six bags of barley at 3s 9d per bushel, but my retail price at that time was 48 6d. Up to the Ist December Mr Jones had only taken two bags, and these were invoiced at 4s 6s. The defendant objected to the price when he received the account, and it was agreed that he should take other two bags and that the price was to be 3s 9d. I altered the invoice accordingly, making it in place of 9 bushels at 4s 6d, 18 bushels at 3s 9d. Mr Jones took away the remaining two bags on Dec. 7th, and on Dec. 13th also got delivery of two bags. I am not aware of this of my own knowledge, as I know nothing of the delivery of any portion of the barley to Mr Jones, but I shall prove it by the storeman. The storeman, when he delivers goods,

enters them upon a slate, and I then transfer the itemH to a day book. On December 13th the storeman made an entry of having delivered two bags of barley to Mr Jones. The plaintiff has not been in the habit of giving receipts for goods taken away.' On January 23rd the plaintiff came to my office and had a settlement. 1 showed him the ledger in which he was then debited with six bags of barley, and various allowances were then made; the firewood now sued for was passed to his credit, and an item of lOd allowed as discount for the purpose of balancing the account to that date. Richard Suisted, Btoreman for Mr Munro, stated that he delivered six bags in all, on three different occasions to Mr Jones. The first delivery was taken from the vessel, and on that account a receipt was taken. The receipt was written by a man named Oxley, who was assisting to warehouse the cargo. The second delivery took place shortly after, and no receipt was then taken. The entry in the block of the delivery book for the second lot was in Mr Munro's handwriting. A third lot was delivered to Mr Jones, for which no receipt was taken.

His Worship: Although no receipt was taken for the last two lots, how do you account for a memorandum of one of these lots appearing in the delivery book, and not the other ? Witness: I am unable to explain that, but I am quite certain that I delivered six bags of barley to Mr Jones. I put the weight of the second lot of barley upon the slate, and also that of the third lot.

By the defendant: I recollect the circumstance of your coming with an empty dray for toe second lot of barley. If you understood that you had still to take delivery of four bags of barley, there was no apparent reason why you should not take the four at that time, instead of two only. Tou took a third delivery of barley shortly afterwards. I cannot say how long, as the time is so distant.

His "Worship, in giving judgment, said that it was a difficult matter to decide, where the evidence was so utterly contradictory. There was also the fact that accounts were gone into on January 23rd, and a definite balance then struck. The plaintiff however states that he then repudiated having received six bags of barley, and consequently the question comes back as to whether four or six bags were actually delivered. He did not th/nk that the affirmative evidence on that point was sufficiently strong, and that, together with fh.3 circumstance incidentally mentioned by the storeman that the plaintiff came with an empty dray for the second lot of barley, there being no reason why he should not then have taken four bags, in place of coming a few days later for a third lot, would decide him in giving a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount claimed and costs. He must also add that the discredit attempted to have been thrown on the defendant's book-keeping was altogether unwarranted. Every item had been clearly and satisfactorily explained, and the whole question had really narrowed itself into whether the storeman had delivered four or six bags of barley.

Byrne v. Kerr.—Claim for £l4 6s 9d for goods supplied Judgment for the plaintiff, by default, in the amount claimed and costs. .

Graves and Fleming v. Bodering.— Claim for £8 17s Bd.

Judgment for the plaintiffs, by default, in the amount claimed and costs. G-racie v. Brown.—Claim for £l6. Mr Pitt appeared for the defendant, and pleaded not indebted.

This was an action to recover the sum of £l6, being £2 amount of passage money paid by the plaintiff from Greymouth to Westport, £2 for his return fare, telegrams ss, one week's board £1 15s, and £lO for two weeks' wages at £5 per week. The circumstances of the case were that the defendant, who is a draper in "Westport, had written to a Mr Tomlinson, at Grey mouth, asking if any draper's assistants were disengaged as he required a hand. Mr Tomlinson replied mentioning a Mr Tobin, whom the defendant, however, declined to engage; and subsequently spoke to the plaintiff who placed himself in direct communication with the defendant. Telegrams passed between the parties, and, while no salary was fixed, it was definitely determined by the defendant that plaintiff was to come on by the first steamer. On the latter arriving, the defendant took exception to the plaintiff's age, stating that he was physically incapacitated from fulfilling such duties as he (the defendant) should require, and he declined to receive him into his service. Mr Pitt contended that there had been no specific agreement, and that the plaintiff had come up at his own risk. His Worship held that the engagement entered into by the defendant was binding, unless it could be shown that the plaintiff was obviously incompetent to fulfil the duties. This had not been shown, and judgment must therefore be for the plaintiff. The sum allowed would be .£3 for the passage to and from Westport, and £3 for one week's wages, in addition to the costs of Court.

Uranchich v. Minderman.— Claim for £9, being the amount of freight to and from the Inangahua upon half a ton of flour. The freight charged to the Inangahua was £6, and the return freight was £3. The defendant is a storekeeper and publican at the Junction.

His Worship gave judgment for £3 and costs, being the amount of the return freight of the flour to Westport.

EXPLORATIONS NORTH OF KARAMEA. On the night of Thursday, May 25, we camped with David Stephenson and mates, and the following day came down the Anatori Creek, and camped at the mouth of the river, being fortunate enough to fall in with some wood-hens. On Saturday, May 27th, we started once more along the beach, it beiiiggood walking and fine weather. On reaching the Big River, a distance of seven miles, we had to wait for dead low water in order to cross this stream, which at neap tide is sufficiently deep to immerse a man nearly to the armpits. It has a slow current, however, and a good bottom. Waller tried the bar, and found a good entrance with plenty of water. Inside there is good shelter for vessels either from freshes or bad weather. The entrance is sheltered by Kaurangi and Rocks Point from strong southwesterly weather, and any of the coasting steamers could enter at high water. Once masters of vessels became acquainted with the extrance, they would find it an excellent shelter from southwesterly winds, and there is ample room inside the bar for a steamer to turn. On Sunday, May 28th, the weather was fine, but excessively cold, and having crossed the Big River, we travelled along a good beach for a distance of about three miles, It was then necessary to branch up a creek owing to a rocky promontory, and make a detour of a few furlongs, which took us the remainder of the day. On reaching the beach the tide had advanced too far to admit of continuing the journey, "and we camped on a ledge of rock. It came on to rain during the night, and the following morning we pushed on our journey as our provisions were beginning to run out. The road was terribly rough, being one mass of boulders, and at intervals we had to scale high cliffs, it raining heavily during the entire day. Every now and then we had to pass the swags up and down to one another when scrambling over the cliffs, and at one point had to drop twelve feet. As we proceeded on the journey the cliffs became more precipitous, and at last it appeared as if we were likely to become exhausted, run out of provisions, and be hemmed in on every side by salt water and inaccessible bluffs. We had advanced about four miles, and suddenly found the passage intercepted by a lofty cliff rising abruptly from the sea. We climbed up it a distance, when darkness intervened and we camped, it still raining. Fortunately we had a few biscuits or we should have had to go supperless, as it was impossible to get a fire, and these, with cold water and a morsel of raw bacon furnished our only repast since morning. It rained steadly during the night and the following morning, Tuesday, May 30th, we made a fresh start. Finding it impossible to scale the bluff, we decided to try the bush, and after several hours' toil, cutting our way and scrambling over rocks, we struck a creek, which led us into a fine sandy bay. The sun made his appearance, and having lit a fire, we made a couple of dampers—one for present use and another to carryon our journey. While this was in preparation a wood hen incautiously put in an appearance, and was very speedily transferred to the pot. This, with oatmeal, curry, and wild celery, furnished us a good breakfast. I forgot to mention that the previous day my coat and I parted company, while scrambling through the bush. I lost it piecemeal, arms first, then the tails, and finally, the back being ripped in two, it disappeared altogether. My nether garments would have fared the same but that they were firmly secured with flax. Having packed up the remnants of our provisions, we made a fresh start, and after proceeding a short distance were intercepted by peveral bluffs, which were very awkward to get round—one in particular was very dangerous, as there was but a narrow ledge for the feet, and scarcely any hold for the hands, while the rock descended in a sheer precipice to the sea hundreds of feet below. We got round the difficulty only to find that further progress was impossible, and we very reluctantly retraced our steps. Waller rounded the point safely, but I had a very narrow escape. A piece of rock to which I clung broke away from my right hand, and my swag slewed me half round, but I got a hold again just in time to save myself. On reaching a place of security I well nigh fainted. The tide was now making, and the return journey became difficult. A strip of bush, crossed before with perfect ease, was now covered by the sea. Waller dashed across it, but I felt exhausted, and cut my way through the beach. It took me two hours to reach my companion, who all the time was not more than a hundred yards distant. We camped in the same spot where we dried our clothes in the morning; caught some wood hens, and passed a comfortable night. The morning of the 31st opened with heavy rain, which continued throughout the day. We decided to make for the main range, and crossing it to drop into the valley of the Heaphy. We proceeded on our course all day, cutting our way with a bill-hook until reaching a spur, which we followed up, and expected shortly to find ourselves overlooking the Heaphv river. But no such good fortune was in store, as on reaching the summit of the range, we only found a deep gorge, and a loftier range on the opposite side. We kept on our way until night, and camped on a lofty

spur. It was with the greatest diffi. culty we got up a fire, owing to the wet. With the dry bushwood we carried with'us, we lit a fire under a baking dish, and got it started, but passed a very wretched night. The water for breakfast we caught oft* the tent, and our tea running short, sup. plemented it with kawa kawa. This and a little oatmeal skilly formed our only provisions. We were now getting very anxious on account of shortness of provisions, and once more started for the main range, but, after travelling until nearly dark, I was so discouraged by the little progress we had made and felt so exhausted that I decided to follow the first creek to the coast. We did so, and reached the beach the same evening, lit a large fire, and had a good night's rest; the rain fortu, nately having subsided. Friday, June 2nd, opened with fine weather, and Waller having caught a wood hen close to the tent, we made an excellent breakfast of it, along with nekau and wild celery. After breakfast we patched our clothes. I replaced the sleeves of my Crimean shirt with the legs of a spare pair of drawers. We were terribly exhausted and scratched with struggling through the bußh, more especially Waller, as he always led the way. We again started along the beach, climbing over boulders, half the time on our hands and knees. We caught a fine wood hen amon» the rocks, and shortly after came across a large seal. About midday we rested, collected a quantity of mussels, and had a good meal. Fortune now seemed to favour us, as we caught another wood hen, and travelled for theremainder of the day along a fine, sanJy beach. At night we camped, finding an abundance of firewood and plenty of wood hens and nekau.

[to be continued.]