POLICE COURT.—Tuesday. [Before T. Beckham, Esq., R.M.]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2807, 25 July 1866, Page 5

POLICE COURT.— Tuesday. [Before T. Beckham, Esq., R.M.]

DRUNKENNESS. James Cain, Margaret Sainsbury, John Murphy, James Hafferty, .Robert Cram, Johu Morgan, Richard Griffiths, Robert Collins, John Lynchuian, and John Hannigan were punished for drunkenness.

NON-PAYMENT OP HIGHWAY BATES. Henry Warnewaa summoued by T. B. Hannaford, collector of highway rates for the district oT Waitakerei East, for £4 lis. 6d. of highway rates. I Judgment was given for the amount claimed.

MAKING'A FALSE DECLARATION. John Mahoney was charged with having subscribed a false declaration. Mr. Wynn appeared for the prosecutor ; Mr. Mac- " Oormick for the defendant. William Weaver deposed : Tarn Engineer-ia-Chief of the province of Auckland. About two or three mouths ago defondanb entered into a contract for the formation of a road from the Custom-house to the break-water. I produce the contract signed by defendant. One of the conditions is that, before the conti actor is paid the money, ho maybe required to produce a statutory declaration that he has paid all the workman engaged in the work. The defendant did proceed with' the' contract, and in June applied to me for payment of a portion of the money in respect of the contract. I wrole to defendant, on July 2, that the Superintendent required the declaration to be made in terms of the contract* I got a declaration, which I produce. It is signed by John Mahoney, and purports to haye been taken before Mr. Beckham, RM. Upon that, Mahoney obtained an order upon the Treasury for the money— £4o. I know a man nampd Smith, who was employed ou the work. He wrote to the Superintendent and saw me, and complained of non-paymeDt of money, due by defendant. Cross-examined by }&r. MacCormick : The certificates to contractors are made up at the end of the month, and are made payable on the sth and 6th of the month. I measure up the -work about the 28th of the month. Defendant applied to me several times- for payment before I told him he would have to in«ke tnis declaration. I received instructions to require that declaration from the Deputy-Superin-teuclent. Smith was employed as a carter on the works. Mahoney told me that ha disputed Smith's claim. I cannot say whether this was before or after I required the declaration. Part of Smith's claim is for day labour, and part for piece work. By Mr. Wymn : The instructions from the DeputySuperintendent were in writing, telling me to consult the Provincial Solicitor, and be guidtd by him. 1 did so, and the result vm th« requiring of the deflMAttau

J. B. fitoney, clerk in tho Resident Magistrate's Court, deposed : The defeudant came with this declaration on Saturday, the ?th of July. I went with him before Mr. Beckham, when he made the declaration in the usual way. Henry Smith, carter, deposed : I was employed by defendant to cart stone 3 for a roadway in Cus-tom-house-streeb, to the breakwater, up to the first draw of the money. I knocked off work because I was nat paid. ' I made a complaint to the Superintendent in writing on th« 25th of June. I have not been paid in full. The entire amount of my claim, when I wrote to the Superintendent, was about £60, of which I have been paid £20 this day week. There was no arrangement as to the rest. We can't get at the precise quantity, as part of the stones are not built iv. Cross-examined by Mr. MacCormick : I made an agreement with Mahoney in writing. (Agreement produced, stating that the quantity of stone carted was to be paid for on being measured. ) By Mr. Wynn : Mahoney told me that he had got £70 from the Government, and when I could not get the 75 per cent, from him, I refused to go on with the work. David Wilson, mason, deposed that he had been employed building a wall facing the sea. He began to work on-the Bth of Juue. He had not received' any money in respect of his work, which -was by the day. Witness asked defendant several times for' money. Cross-examined by Mr. MacCormick : Duncan and myself did not make an agreement that the wall was to be built for £4. There was some talk about it. ■ Mr. Weaver, being recalled, deposed that, besides the £4.0, defendant lud received £70 on account of' the work, in the beginning of -June." Mr. MaeCormick adduced the following evidence for the defence :—: — Michael Dempsey deposed : lam a partner of the defendant in this contract from the Provincial Government. ■ The pay-day for the men is the Saturday following the provincial pay-day. In July the pay-day would have been Saturday, the "7th of July. Duncan contracted to build a wall by piece-work for the sum of £4, and engaged Wilson. I made a promise .afterwardi, so that they have both a claim on me. The payment was due on the 7th July, about four o'clock. An offer of £2 2s. was made to Duncan. Wilson was present We had an agreement with Henry Smith, a carter. We did not ' admit that there was any sum due to Smith on the 7th of July. . His Worship committed prisoner to take his trial . before the Supreme Court. This concluded the business.