SUPREME COURT.—Civil Sittings.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 456, 27 June 1871, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.—Civil Sittings.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27tb.

[Before His Honor Sir G. A. Arney, Knight, Chief Justice, and a Special Jury:],. His Honor took his seat on the Bench at 10 o'clock. . ••'-' ■'

MOHI MAUNGAKAHIi V. OBAIG. — Mr. Brookfield and Mr. MacCormick for the plaintiff; Mr. Hesketh and Mr. Rees for the defendant. —This was an action of trespass, in which tbe plaintiff, for wrongs done by the defendant, claimed £ ".000 durauges. The declaration contained a count in trover, alleging that the plaintiff did break upon uud enter upon the plaintiff's land, and did take and carry away a number of timber logs from the j said land. The defendant pleaded that the said land was not the property of tbe plaintiff, that tbe wrongs complained of . were done ! with tbe plaintiff's permission, and denied allj material allegations. The plaintiff in his re-, plication said that the wrongs were not done with his permission, that the land was, native land, and no agreement made between the defendant and the native owners had any effect; that the plaintiff had received a certificate of title. The issues left to the'jury were —(1.) Was the plaintiff lawfully possessed of certain land and timber (th« Opitonui, Wangapoa) from the Ist of January, 1867, to the 18th of May, 1870, or during any part of. that period. (2.) Were the wrongs complained of as having been committed prior to the 18th May, 1870, done with the knowledge and permission of the plaintiff. (3.) Were the timber trees in the declaration mentioned the property of the. .plaintiff from the Ist of January, 1867, -to the 18th of May, 1870, or during any part of that period. (4.) Were the wrongs complained of in the second count done with the knowledge and permission of the plaintiff? (5.) What sum, if any, is the plaintiff entitled to by way of damages for the wrongs complained of. The plaintiff also prayed of the Court an injunction to restrain the defendant from committing any further wrongs such as in the declaration alleged. From the opening statement of the plaintiff's counsel it appeared that the plaintiff obtained his certificate of title from the Native Land Court on the 25th of January, 1870, so .that there could be no question of ownership after thn>. neriod. The defendant had set up as a defence, u.^*, v^r^cr- t>u»t> pprtwsjjirn*meiym 1862, he had received permission to cut timber from plaintiff's mother, with the concurrence of other natives having interest in the land, and that he had! received permission (by parole) from the plaintiff from time to time during the period mentioned in the declaration. It further appeared that the plaintiff, on the third of May, 1870, leased the land to Christopher Attwell Harris, jun., for ninety-nine years, and the defendant pleaded that he had received permission from Harris lor the period subsequent to the 3rd, and before the 18th of May. The date when the defendant began to cut timber upon Ihe land was the 3rd of May, 1868, and it was stated that he had cut down from 1500. to 2000 timber trees, aud taken away nearly a million feet of timber from" the land. The measure of -the damage was said to be the price given by timber merchants for such trees, namely, £1 a. tree, or £2000 in all. The learned counsel said the opposite side had thought fit to subpoeena; him as a witness, and he would, perhaps, be obliged to retire from the cause at a certain stage of it. He regretted that the summons had not been served upon him earlier, so t^at he might have made some other arrangements. If he should have to go into the witness-box he must leave the task of addressing tbe jury upon the evidence to his learned.friend who appeared. He regretted that it should have been necessary to bring the cause "into that Court. It could have been settled, in the first instance, for a very small sum to be paid by the defendant to the plaintiff. But the fact was that this native never received a penny from the defendant, who claimed the right to go upon his land, cut down his timber, and couiinit the wrongs' complained of in the declaration.