LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 992, 6 December 1910, Page 3

LAW REPORTS.

SUPREME COURT. J DIII'ICTLTY ABOUT'A JURY. ( The divorce Evans v.'lilvans and 1 Elliott, petition for dissolution of marriage and .£5Ol damage?, on the ground of misconduct was reopened yesterday morning before Mr. Justice Cooper and a jury of .twelve. The. ease was first heard at the civil sittings, in August, when the .jury disagreed, after a hearing which lasted two days, and a new trial Jlr. T.jj. '.Wilford appeared for the petitioner; Mr. M. Myers for the respondent;. Mr. A. L. Hcrdman for the co-respondent. A very unusual position was reached in connection with the empanelling of the jury. There was but a small panel to work upon, anil when Jlr. Wiliord liatl exhausted his powers of -challenge, there were only eight in the box, and there were no more jurymen to call. Mr. Herrtman had challenged five out of the allowable six. His Honour intimated that unless a full jury could he obtained the ca?3 would have to stand over until next sessions. He. asked counsel what they proposed to do.

Mr. Wilford sucgested that" any quniifig(l persons in Court should bo added to the jury to 'make .up Hie number. . This was agreed to by all- parties, his Honour ruling that it was necessary for these ..additional jurors—"talesmen"—to bo drawn from tho=e whose names are on the jury list, so long as they were qualified. In the endeavour to complete the jury in this way one man was objected to as being a relative of the co-respondent, and another as a relative of a witness. VivontuaHy .seven talesmen were lined up in front of the iury-box, and the jury was completed. His Honour intimatfd that, the threa talesmen who wors not'added] to the jury were discharged from . at-| tendance, as the talesmen had been empanelled' for the particular ease only.. Following' are the names of the jurymen":—Louis 'William LrnMir (foreman), AYillmm John Hart. David .Tames Lazarus, .Alfred Phelrjs, Norma n Joseph Onnw bit>, Eenwd Doliprty. Frederick Rnemark. ' Thomas B»>rinal<l st'L»"hloi\ Charles Henry Pills, . H-nrv Ward, l'Vineis De Rosa, John Bush Brmvn.

The Court wns cleared tind miblication .of evidence nml namps of witne.«ps was iTWddeii. The Icannp lastrd tho rest of the day, and will be resumed' this morning.- . MAGISTRATE'S COURT. (Before Mr. AV. G. Biddell, S.M.V FRACAS AT LYALL BAY. A 'recent fracas at Lyall Bay. led to the prosecution, by Ernest M. Minifle, careinker of the beach, of two youths, GCrocker and John Davey, on a charge of insulting behaviour and disturbance of the peace. Mr. O'Shea anneared for the prosecutor and Mr. AVedde for . the defendants, one of whom, Davey, pleaded guilty. ■■...■' .Mr. O'Shea exnlaincil that Crocker and Dnypv were'members of a convivial narty which recently created an unpleasant. disturbauco.on the beach and in the bathhig!sheds. Cocker t who was sober, endeavoursd■•'to restrain the ' exhuberant spirits'of the others, and tried to make pence. Minifie. who was statM to bo n pimilisl:.' of . parts, promptly "laid ont" each of tlio defendants when- threatened and strncly -His Worship said that the evidence against. Cocker was not sufficient to convict, and dismissed tho chaTpe. ogaiiisr Ivim. Davey would be convicted and fined.4o?., with costs totnlling £i is., tbe alternative being a week in gaol. He was given seven days wherein to find the money.

THE LEAK, AND THE MILK. The odiourncd hearing of the c'laree aira'nst Whitoman Bros., of Upper Hutt. of having sold milk below the required rstiindaril, was n»ocecded with.

Mr. P. W. ,Tark«in, who appeared on behalf of the defendants, paid that he relied for his defence upon tho clause in the Act which imposed upon vendors the necessity of takinrr reasonable precaution's to see that their milk was of the. duality recmired by law. He submitted that his clients had taken a very reasonable precaution, and had everv renfon to •balieva that the milk was all right till ,a simple was tested and found to contain water.- The defendants immediately examined the 'copier, and discovered n leak, in the water 'circulator. They then had the apparatus overhauled, as evidenced by the receipted account shown. His .clients'.had been in the business for eig]>f: or ten rears, and never before had hud tl(W,quality of their milk questioned. He submitted that the watering of tho milk could not be lield to bo deliberate. ■

His ; . Worship replied that defendants most be hold i:esnonsible for tlio efficiency of the cooling apparatus, wliinh. they should have examined. ■ They should also have tested their milk irore often. A conviction must he entered. Do.feudants were fined'2os., with Court costs 7s.

• SERIOUS ASSAULT , ALLEGED. Tho.Epnuel to the nclmission to rhn hospital'on Sunday of n woman named Emma Coper, wlia'-n-ns siifforinp; from serion? fibdnmiiinl' injury, requirintr surgical attention, nnrl who subsequently lapsed into such ft critical condition Hint lipr. dc-nopi-tfons" had to be taken by tlio Magistrate at an early hour -yeftcrdnv morning, wns the appenranco in the dock of a man named Mattiiew Cooper, cliarterl with liaviiiP. on December .V nt Wellington' assaulted the woman to th<" extent of doing serious bodily harm. Mr. AVilford apneared for the accused. On account of the still critical condition of the patient, the aroused was, on the application of the police, remanded till December 12. . CHARGE AGAINST A MUSIC ■, TEACHER. . \Joseph Banneker Eagar, described as a music-teacher, was charged with assault on two little girls on November 2G. On the application ,of Chief-Detective Broborg, accused was remanded till December 14, bail being allowed in ono sum of .£IOO, with two sureties of ,£SO each.

' ■ THEFT OI? £15. Thomas Augustus Thomson, charged with having failed to account for ,£ls, which he had received on behalf of one William Grei, at Dannevirlie, on NooDmber 21 lost, pleaded guilty, and was remanded for sentence, till December 9. INSOBRIETY. Two.first offenders were convicted upon charges of drunkenness, and discharged. Five others, similarly charged, did not appear, and were convicted and fined IDs. each, with the option 'of 24 hours' imprisonment .Tames O'Dea, once before convicted of drunkenness, pleaded guilty to a second lapse. He asked that a prohibition order be made out against him. His Worship entered up a conviction and discharge, and ordered that he be declared a prohibited person within the AVellington and Hutt districts for a period of twelve months. William Ryan, Bartholomew Mahoney, end Goprgo Campbell, once previously convicted of drunkenness, each admitted a second olfenee, and were each convicted and Rued 10s., tho option being 48 hours' imprisonment. Frederick Bagley, once previously convicted, did not appear in answer to a charge of having been found drunk. He was convicted and lined 205., with tho alternative of - 48 hours' imprisonment.

Twenty-oiio days' imprisonment, phis a 12 months' prohibition in the Hutt and' Wellington licensing districts, was the penalty metal out to John Shannon for insobriety. Ho had three , previous convictions against.his name. ' .There was no appearance of John Gill, ■a prohibited person, who was charged with having, on November 18, centered the Albert Hotel durinn the currency of his prohibition order. Ho was convicted and ■ fined .S3, with court costs 75., in default 11 days' imprisonment. ■ OTHER CASES. A deserter from H.M.S. Powerful—Albert Henry White, alias James Harrington—ivas remanded, to bo handed over to the naval authorities. Convicted on a charge of having used improper language in Tvlolesworth Street on November 20. last, Charles Kororeho was remanded till AVednesdnr, December j- tnr senteucp , - . '