DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 27, 21 October 1843, Page 2

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

'" County Court. — Criminal Sitting, r October 17, 1843. ; The first prisoner who appeared at the bar of tk> Court was a young delinquent of the name of Charlei Hill, one of the Parkhurst apprentices who have bee: \ kindly sent by the Home Government for the benefi; i. of the European and native population of New £ea< land. Several witnesses gave evidence in this case to C the effect that the Parkhurst penitent had on the night ? of the 27th ult., been found in Shortland Creacenl ? with a bag in his hand containing shoes, &c, whici i were discovered to have been taken by him out of th : Market, and identified as the property of Mr. Jones, > Mr. Rough, the gunrdian of these young and accom- ; plished scamps, wished to bear testimony to the generil (we suppose comparative) good conduct of the yoonj ji thief, who was for tome time apprenticed to Mr.Heale, ji and afterwards his- own master, living as best hij could. The young culprit thea addressed the Jury, • and appeared anxious to convince them that he ha' ! merely discovered the bag by accident, and was just ; taking it to the Chief Constable when he was taken i in charge by one of the other Constables. The Ju ; \ had no difficulty in finding him guilty, and* he wai j sentenced to six months hard labour, which we doubt ' not he fully deserved. - W. Cochran appeared on a charge of stedlinßi purse containing twelve shillings, from Geo. Beckely \ but the principal witness had disappeared, and tlitt charge could not be proved. The last, and most interesting case was that of i ; native called E Piri, charged with having stolen i ■ table cloth, which was found upon hit person under ■ his blanket. The table cloth was produced in Court, and identified as the property of Mr. Parry. On< ■ of the Constables and a witness called Lundon, provti , that they had taken it from the person of the natire. j. It appears the article in question was with seversß others, in the charge of Lundon's wife, a washer-; woman ; it was missed, and found upon the natm, but there was no direct evidence as to the fact that the| native had actually stolen it. Mrs. Lundon, the most; important witness, was not in Court. [ After all the witnesses had been examined, the Judge ordered the evidence to be read to the native bj aa interpreter. The native then addressed the Cow' through the interpreter, and stated that he had no! stolen the table cloth, but had purchased it for s dollar from another native, and said there were several natives in town who could prove the fact. The Judge then addressed the Jury, and verj properly pointed out to them the incompleteness of the evidence, inasmuch as the most important witness h was not present. He also alluded to the length of time, a week, which the property b»d been ou^ of the possession of the owner, he also feelingly impressed upon them the peculiar situation of the narirtj j who neither knew the forms of our law, nor how to avail himself of the benefit of witnesses or Counsel for hi 3 defence. The Jury however, after some consideratioa found tho native guilty. Mr. Clarke, the Chief Pro' I tector, was present during the trial. ■ On a former occasion we offered some remarks upoa the unhappy position of the natives in criminal easelWe have now again to repeat our reprobation of the infamous conduct of the Government in regard to tbn ! people. In the present case it is possible the nati" may have been correct, it is possible he might ha" proved his innocence ; with able Counsel he woUW have unquestionably escaped. He may have bee° morally guilty t but with good Counsel he would h** 1 been legally acquitted ; and why are the nativei &' nied this benefit ? Why should not the Irotectors, ° f at all events tke Trustees of the Native Funds empW the native*' own means for the purpose of procuri 0 *

them justice and fair play. It is exceedingly painful both for Judge and Jury to have such casei coming before them. And the effects upon the natives must be highly pernicious. An innocent man for want of evidence may suffer, and a guilty man from a feeling that he has not had fair play, may be allowed to escape unpunished. ■"■ "' : HoKiANaA— The settlers in this fine district have been for many years almost exclusively engaged in the timber trade. The price oi spars and sawn timber has however for some time back been so low as to throw them all out of employment. We are howevf r glad to bear that they are now directing their attention to cattle grazing and the cultivation of wheat. The majority of the settlers in this district have sown some acres of wheat, and the older settlers have large h*rds of very fine cattle. Mr. Graham has in the Ariel brought 25 liead of as fine cattle reared in Hokianga as any person could desire to see. The Hokianga gettlers deserve great credit, they have struggled on without any assistance from, and even despite the strong neglect and opposition of th; Government. Important and Incredible Discovert. — But Mr. Shortland is positively a Gentleman ; for even if nothing else could entitle him to that appellation, the very fact of. Jsis being a Lieutenant in Her Majesty's Royal Navy would.— Auckland Chronicle. , ■ The Government Domain. — We regret to oh. serve that the grounds around Government House have been so utterly neglected, after having been carefully ploughed by Captain Hobson at his own private expence ; and after a good crop of, oats has been reaped off the same by Mr. Shortland. The fern is again allowed to assume its former place. Surely the Government horses and bullocks might hare been employed for a day or two in ploughing up this land, and the seed from last year's crop would have done for this year. What will Captain Fitzroy Bay, when he sees the state of the grounds around Government House, and hears of all the sums of money that have been expended on the so-called improvements ? We fear Mr. Shorlland is as bad a Farmer as he is Governor. Surely the Government workmen would have been much more usefully employed on this land than they have been in running a fencs between the Government Domain and Mr. Shortlaud's farm, which of course turns out to be for the tole benefit of the latter. This fence he might well have afforded to pay for out of his own pocket, seeing that he has erected it in such a manner as to secure to himself the exclusive benefit of the run of wattr on the boundary line, tho' he is only entitled to one half of it ; not to mention that the value of the surplus ground which he has enclosed, would have put up the fence twice over. The Bishop cf New Zealand. — We hear that the Bishop arrived here on Sunday morning, oa a tour to the East Coast and Port Nicholson. His LordBhip appears to be a most indefatigable traveller. A number of Natives and Europeans have been waiting his arrival for a week or two with the view of being confirmed. The Natives however became impatient, and went away before his arrival. His Lordship again departed on Wednesday or Thursday last for the Copou and the Thames. It is to be regretted that he does not permanently establish himself in the capital, where his presence and example might tend to so much gooJ for hit) 'own Church. We fear his L>rdship in his zeal for the evangelizitton of the Natives, forgets that the Europeans have also a claim upon him. We ure informed that he has been displeased both with the people of the Bay of Islands and Auckland, because so few attended his visitations. In this place, few were aware of his arrival; and the majority of his own Church know almost as little about him as they did before he came to the colony. If his Lordship remain secluded at the Weimate, instead of residing in the capital, h« cannot exptet any thing else. Europeans as well as Natives require te be looked after, or they goon grow indifferent even to the Church ia which they have been brought up. We have made these observations, not because we feel any more inte eat ia the Church of England than in any other, (indeed not so much, for we do not belong to its communion) but; because we know that they are the sentiments of several of our episcopal friends. Barrier Copper Minks.— By the arrival of I Captain Nagle from the Barrier we are happy to learn ■ that the operations at the Copper Mines are being I successfully conducted. The Tryphena sailed for I Sydney with 88 tons of copper ore, and 20 tons of I sulphur, and we are infoimed that there are about ■ 200 tons of copper ore now ready for shipment at the B mines. It would be well if the owners of the mine ■ would charter a vessel to sail direct for England with ■ a cargo of copper ore, spars, and flax ; it could not ■ fail to pay. The Tryphena was under the necessity B of sailing without a full cargo, in consequence of the a schooner Rory O'More having sunk between the B vessel rod the Barrier harbour with 20 tons of the 9 ore. The loss of this vessel has for the time occaH tioned much' inconvenience. There are at present H between thirty and forty persons employed at these ■ mines. q Land Claimants —We beg to call the particular H attention of the Land Claimants to the able letter of ■ M— — , in to-day's paper. We trust they will ■ Dot allow Mr. Sbortland and Mr. Swainson to take M advantage of their present necessities, by driving them Hto Papakura. If they have already been so long kept ■ out of the possession of their just rights and pro< B Perties by this Government, they can surely now wait Hforaftw weeks until they see the new Governor; ■ from whom they may expect a lhtle more justice than ■ they have hitherto experienced at the hands of their H iasls mastsri. From t':e letter of our Bay of Islands ■ correspondent it will be seen that ihe Government is ■again seeking to raise disputes and fresh quarrels H between the Claimants and the Natives. It is truly gwfamous that this Government should strive in this Bi?, an >! ertolower the Euro P ean3 » tt the estimation of Bt r^ atives " Wnat id . ea wiu the Natives form of our ■"Whlulness and morality, when our very Government ■ teaches them to believe we are rogues and vagabonds. B The Government Garden.— We are happy to ■tif rC n" c tnatMr> Shortland pays some attention to ■we Governor's Kitchen Garden. This it very right ■* . ye proper, seeing that the people have no access ■io u and derive no benefit from it. Is this garden ■Wblic property ? If so, why are the public debarred ■«om walking in it ? We should not care so much ■""out the waste of money on this piece of ground, if ■«c could perdeive that it was of any use to the colony, ■r r if other more necessary public works were attended B: o< But when the streets of the Town are impassable, ■"w rather hard to see the walks of Mr. Shortlands '. ■*• Jtchen Garden covered with shell sand. Half the ■ W'ooQr and half the cartage would have mettled all r B We streets of.the Town.

Bay of Islands. — The communication between Auckland and the' Bay of Islands is now so unfrequent and uncertain, that for the last three weeks we have had no opportunity of forwarding papers to our subscribers at the Bay. We really think the Government shoud have made some attempt at establishing an overland mail between Auckland, the Bay, and Hokianga. But it is vain to expecc good from this Government.