ALEXANDRA.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 809, 23 August 1877, Page 3

ALEXANDRA.

/ 'Auguat 20th. 1 Th«» mail arriving tew. pn Tuesday last quite unexpectedly must account for the Son arrival of p_ysust_al weekly budget of news. Our worthy R.M has had his hands pretty full of business lately, principally caused by the delinguenciesof pur Maori '•' ' neighbours. Petty robberies, comitted by them, a»*e greatly on the increase here. _j*orsdme time past eomeofour townsfolkSj who delight, in A new l^id egg for breakfast, have lately been "disappointed of that luxury.- One/day, however, last week, Mr Prince's fowl-house which was known to.contain egus tbe prevkms evening, with three, substitutes .made of clayfor riest eggs, wei*fi all found to have disappeared.- The 1 next morning, this being made known to our town constable, . MoLeod, he- at once made enquiries, and' found, that tbe 'tbeif, a native, bad dis^ ■ - • • p ned' of the eMs 'at Mr Daffuß's store, Offer iug cimong tneiial tli« three olay one's. McLeod went at dqce. for 'the thief, Hoani Kirio (a very appropriate name by < the by), arrested him, and brought him before Major Mair, where, on account of youth, he wot' let oft with a (jae uad coots

a j amounting %6 *-14_f'- 6ds -which his friend It paid. ; b Another qase was jthat of Hori Whare I rarauh|,\charged with stealing fa JeWte i measure, the properly of MriTliomai i Finch. .' From the evidence of Mrs Finob t .ijt yftppeared .the prisoner went -into tb< . bar of the Alexandra Hotel, and 'callec j. t for a glass of whiskey, which he gavb;t< j' .fnother hiah ; he afterwards called pint of beer, which she refused lo givehin Hh«?i hot having paid for the glass bl f whiskey. Prisoner then seized ■ the ■. ; treasure from the counter and ran away 1 with it into the street, where he. was niet who seeing thfj measure under his. shawl, and suspeotirin ,;.-he : tact- stolen it apprehended him on ' suspicion.' Oounstable McLeod, having ; evidence, prisoner was . sentenced to 48 hbura inprisonment. On Thursday last, Te Mahuki Hurinui, and a native belonging to the Nt-atiniahib-poto, was charged, with stealing three pounds of ponder in flasks, and three boxes of gun paps, the property .of Johu Aubin, ; '' •■''■■ : '' : A Prisoner acknowledged taking them but not with intent of stealing. . r . v George Ahier,. sworn, gave evidence to ' thte following* efgeot : lam assistant storekeeper to Mr Aubin. Two natives ■ oanie> into ; the store .this morning; the prisoner was one of them, and saw the powder and caps on the T cpnnter, prisoner" asked could he have some, I said no, not without a license. Prsoner defied me, and jtaking tbe powder and caps, bolted .outr ,of. the store. , I palled put to Wortley, whom I saw coming at a distance, and J;old him to go and look for constable McLeod, and . tell him that a Maori had stolen! some powder. He did so, and when . McLeod arrived, we wentT.and looked for the prisoner, and found him near the Post Offioe, with the powder in his hands. The constable at once arrested, him. Cro.-sexamined by the Court : He 'spoke Maori in explanation, but I could not understand bim. .'•;' Prisoner, through the Court : Did I not say. that powder should not be placed in so open a place fpr sale, that everything iff the Store could be purchased by Maoris, for money, excepting powder and caps, "that putting it there was a temptation to Hauhau'a to steal it. That it should be kept out of sight ? Witness : I did not understand what you said, as 1 do not talk Maori '■ Prisoner : I said ! I 'would lake the Eowder and caps to Major Mair, arid ask im if suoh goods should be left in so careless' a* manner, where natives were frequently coming. ■ 'Witness': I heard you' name Major Mair, but did not understany! Prisoner: I said I would go and see Major Mair about it, and keep the powder till I did so. Did I not go and: stand in 'the most .open manner, one Hour or one hour anda" Half, at the Post Office, with the powder in my hands, while you were looking for a constable f iiiWitness : Not* so long, about twenty iminutes. : The pDwder was in his hands. To Constable McLeod : I identify the •powder and caps produced. Constable Neil McLeod, sworn : lam District Constable, doing police duty here. At half-past 9 this morning, I waa informed that a native had taken powder and caps from Aubin's store. I, ij-tonce, went there and proceeded, with Mr Aubin in company, to look for prisoner. We found him. standing at the cornet of the fence, near the Post Office. He had the packages on bis ant openly. There was nothing at all around it. I asked Ahier if that was the man ? He answered, yes, and that is the powder and caps. I then took charge, and arrested the prisoner. He made some explanation, but, as I do not understand the Maori language, I could : not make out' what he said, : only something about Major Mai'r.' Prisoner, on being asked whether he wished to ask any questions, said, no, it is true, every word he has said. He corroborates my own statement. Prisoner, in his defence, stated :,li did not intend to steal. I knew such goods should not be exposed for sale where hauhaus are. in the habit of dealing, as the law prohibits them, from purchasing. I wished to have a policeman, to know why suoh goods were exposed for sale in such a pablip manner, to tempt natives to take them. 1 consider that such goods . not being ior sale to natives, should' have been 'kept; in ; some secret place, out of their sight. ' Prisoner then called on — .WhitinuLfas witness, in hia defence) who jßaid : When )ve, 'th'atjs, I ; a_id! the prisoner, went into the store, the powder and caps were on the , counter. I asked the. .puce lof a box of icaps The man said, 3a 6d. I then asked the price of a task of powder ? He said, 6s Od. , I then said no more, and the prisoner then said as he has stated. I then said,, such things should 'hot be., exposed or sale.- The pakeha said he had a right to do as he liked with bis own goods. When Mahuki took the goods away, to go to Major Mair, I remained in the store, as I wanted some. writing paper. I waited about an hour, T think, as I had no watch,- while, the pakeha was calling and whistling for the policeman. When the policeman came, and went to arrest Mahuki, Mahuki told She policeman he wanted to betaken Ito Major Mair.' '" ! By the Court : I consider prisoner was quite justified in taking the powder, to come and report it to you. Prisoner,: on being asked by' Major Mair, why be did not goat once and report it to bim, instead of standing so long in the street, answered : He enquire ', and was told that the Major was not in the settlement ; that he then thought of taking the powder to the ' Morehu ' (Major Te Wheoro) but heard he was also away, so he waited in the street for a policeman. Te Ika was the next witness called, who wa, also present on tbe occasion, but, as he said be could only state exactly the same as previous witness, his evidence was noil taken. , Major Mair, in passing sentence on the prisoner, said, he did not believe that he (the prisoner) took the powder and cap's with any felonious intent, but he did believe tbey were taken out of bounce. That he, thinking such things should not be sold, had thought to brow- beat and cause trouble to the storekeeper. Such offences amongst natives: were becoming far too common, and must be put a stop to. Whatever rules and laws the natives ohose to make in their own district, he would show them they were not to come down here and dictate to Europaans the way to carry on their own business The .sentence of the Court was, oue weeks imprisonment, with bard-labour. This sentence, evidently, astonished the prisoner and the natives present, including a number of his friends. The prisoner made an appeal to his Worship to reconsider his decision, and make it a fine, in vain. He theu attempted to bolt, ..but was quickly collared and thrown down 'by the police; who were, of course, ' accidentally ' in attendance. Prisoner is a bit of a nob, and a great lawyer amongst the natives, and well off. I have heard that severe threats have been uttered by some of his fiiends to have utu on some pakeha for the severity 'ff^be^e-itence,, but. no doubt this wiR ' sooii be forgotten, as all were of opinion the prisoner was to b'auip, and should receive some punishment. I am of opinion that the Maj<>rV sentence will have' a highly moral effect .and make