POLICE COURT, TE AWAMUTU. Tuesday.-(Before Mr H. W. Northcroft, R.M.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1972, 26 February 1885, Page 2

POLICE COURT, TE AWAMUTU. Tuesday.-(Before Mr H. W. Northcroft, R.M.)

I.\lU.'KN\ OF TM'K. Jami-s Thompson;, ,i half-caste, was In ought uj) un leniand cliaigedwith selling lime boxes of type, of the value of £2 ."i>, the pin peity of llevvi, Mannhm .mil uthci* Sergt. (iilhes conducted the piosocution Tho accused, who was undefended, pleaded not guilty. John Chailes Davis, Native Agent, of Kihikihi, lining svvoin, deposed th.it .ihmit ten jeais ago he was instiueted l>v Manuhiii and otlieii to go to Auckland foi the type. He told ln\ uncle, Mi C. U. Duh, that he had been sent down foi tho whole plant, via, type ,md punting pie^s. ile bi ought it to Alexandi.v. He went to Kopu.i and told M.inuhiri that the type .tnd piess were m Alexandra. Manuhui told Honana and Te Tuhi to take charge of the plant. It was taken to Kopua m canoes. The boxes of type in court sire some of those brought up at that tune. About the beginning of tho month he heard the type had been sold by accused, and he lodged the infoi mntion. He was a part owner. By the accused : I am an owner to the nmount of £24. I heard the property was sold by you ; did not see the wile effected. Lodged the chaigo on the information I received. Laid the infoimation after consulting the other owners. By the police : Never gave the accused any authnnty to sell the type. Honana, sworn, deposed : He was a rnngitna and resided at Whatiwhatihoe. All he knew about tho type was that he haw the boxes broken. He and otlieis took it to Kopua and left it 'n accused'-* house. Accused was living theie at the tune it was left in his charge. If these boxes had a biand on them he would know them. Was not sure if these were some of the boxes ; there were fifty or sixty more. The type belongs to all the tribes he-e ; in fact, to all the Maoris of New Zealand. Accoidini: to Maori custom he had a share. (Ja\c no authority to Thompson to sell tho tj p<\ Witness and three others were appointed to take charge. None of those indulge, as far as he knew, gave authority to lcmove the type. By accused : Since tho typo xvas taken to your house I have not been in the habit of going to examine it. Heaul fiom D.vis that you had sold the type. Bv the conit : None of the type, nonwo;k, or any portion of the plant had l>"en removed by any of the chu fs to his kn >wledge. It was Thompson who asked that the plant should be left at his house. By the accused : It was left at your house because ymus was tho only timber house in tlie place. You weie to woik it, and be paid, when it was to be woiked, woie not to be paid for taking chaige. By the Couit : It was never worked. l'ataia Te Tuhi svvoin, deposed : He remembered John Davis bunging the plant to Alexnudia. Pai t of the plant hid been removed by Kewi as it was not in veiy good older wheie it was. Wituev's evidence was eoiroborative of Hoiruia's. Kewi, svvoin, t-'eposod .— That about the year 18."i(i, he and otheis first thought of buying the press and type. He and another aio all who aie now alive of the onginatois of the scheme. The lemainder of the evidence was substantially the same as tho picvioiis witnesses. I'M vvai d Luvience deposed he was a machinist, residing at Auckland. About the 4th Januaiy visited Kopua in company with another in m. Saw the accused at hw house ; afteivv.nds had some conveis.itioii with accused about some type. Went to examine it. Was nsked the value of it. Said I did not exactly know. Accused asked if it was vvoith h.ilf-a-ciovvn a box. Said I thought it was. Otfeied tlmty shilling*, which was accepted. Accused promised to deliver tho type at Alexandia. No money was paid at the time. The type was not delivoied at the date promiiud. Saw him afterwards and arranged to go to Kopua with pack-hmses for it. Accused gave me an order to get tho type. I gave the order to a woman. The older was m Maori. Could not read the contents. [The court ruled that no evidence could be given about the document, as it was in an unknown language.] Witness gave tho letter to a woman, who read it. Aft^r tho letter was read the Maoiis sewed tho boxes in bags for me. A native boy helped me to eairy them to Alexandia. There weie nine boxes. I took it to the railway station and shipped it to Auckland. Valued the type at not more than hvc shillings a box. By the accused : I paid you eight shillings on account. Did not hear you hay you had no right to take any money when yon sold mo the type. It was afterwarns I paid you the deposit. Did not telegraph to yon that I would leturn the type. Telegiaphed to my brothel that I had not sold the type. Do not remember that the deposit I paid you was a loa'i. Would not have lent you any mone.x. It was a deposit on the type. By the Court . The accused led mo to believe it was his own property. Was not on shaies with accused. Bought the type for thirty shillings. Fianciscus Van Damme deposed he went with last witness to Kopua. Lawrence had a letter, which he handed to a boy when we got theie. Tho boy gave it to a woman. After the document was given to the woman, who road it, some grown up boys helped me to put the boxes into some bags. Lawrence and I had four boxes each, andaMaoii boy one, which we brought to Alevandia. By the accused : Cannot road Maori. Do not know the contents of the letter, but thought it was an order, as when it was re.ul the boxes weie given up to us. The closed tho case for the piosecution. For the defence William Searancke deposed that he saw some natives lemove some of the boxes of type and some of the ironwork of the press 6onie tune ago, while the accused was absent at tho Thames. Did not know to whom the type belonged. Knew that it belonged to the natives generally, but could not say who the individuals weie. Hemoata deposed that the house fiom w Inch the type was taken belonged to h>i and her husband. She did not see the two Kuropeans when they aruved at tho house. Saw them when the boxes weie on the horses. Saw no document. According to native custom I would not have given the typo to the Kuiopeans foi any letter. The house was mine, and no one had a right to give any ouler foi the type. Saw the Kuiopeans take the boxes away. Did not see any Maori boy assisting them to take the boxes away. No children were at the house at the time, and the only boy was mine, a \ ei v little child. Did not tell the Kinopeans to stop, or ask them why they took the type. Did not tiy to stop them, as fiom then boldness I thought they must have hid pei mission from some one. Did not assist them. No one was there but my (liildien, and they could not assist. Ail the natives weie at Kihikilii. Was not at the house when the boxes wero put in the bags. Did not see the bags; they must have sewn them themselves. Heard nothing of any lettei before coining heie to day. I neither agreed or objected to the type being tal>eu away, On my husband's loturu f told him about the boxes, being taken away. Ho supposed the I'Jmopeans must have had some authority. I next heaid that ThouiMop wa i arr<*s*cd. Will swoai tint the till I'll op W( ,»i (Ti'wrenu-)'i d not cik ilitt h t ' one of the elnldicn. Iftb'j s.vrvr rh' \ did s.), they will swo.ii a, K\ t) "in en the oucasiuii of Lawrence's, nist Msit to Kopua, in company with another. Saw them and Thompson looking at the tyne. Did not understand what they Haid, as tnoy spoke in English. Was sine no sale wa* made on that d;w. Could not read oi wtite. Did not reoeive the letter spoken of. This concluded the ov idonce for tho defence. Tho accused stated that ho did not sell tho type, but ho told Lawrence tint if it was of any use to him ho might take it, telling him that he had no power to take my money for it, His_ Worship said the accused was wrong in giving any one authoi ity to take the type, but in consideration of the fact that some ot the typo had been lemovcd by the natives and was scattered about the settlement, and that accused had aheady been in confinement for some time, he would fine him tho value of tho typo, \u; t'2 ."is, and costs, HJ Bs, Accused was first oharged with l.ucony of typo to tho yaluo of t'2oo, but ns the police otfeied no evidoiuie, the charge was withdrawn. He was then charged as utated, ho as to allow tho aaso to bo dealt w Ith summarily, A portion of tho fine (£"> lis), was paid. Fourteen days were allowed to pay tho balance. JVuvrenco's oxnenses were not allownl, as tho couit thought ho should h.no m idu moro enquiries beforo he bought the type. His Worship commented on the fact tint IjAwronce went for it when all the iiatiyes wore absuut at Kihikihi,

D. Craiff accepts Gco. Cutler's challenge to run half-a-mile For £ 50 a-sido. The Waipipi Road Board (Waiuku) invites tenders for cutting » Urge drain.