ASSAULT AND ROBBERY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1910, Page 7

ASSAULT AND ROBBERY.

FOUR MEN SENTENCED. James Cummings and John Fennessy, two seafaring men, who had been found guilty of assault and robbery, were sentenced each to eighteen months' imprisonment with hard labour by the Chief Justice to-day. Hig Honour remarked, in passing sentence, that he was bound to take notice of the fact that they had committed perjury. Prisoners, when the right of giving evidence on their own behalf was given them, were not to abuse it in giving false evidence. If he were to punish them- for the robbery alone without taking into account their perjury he would feel bound at once to instruct the police to take further proceedings against the prisoners for perjury. Mr. Webb appeared for the accused. j Edward Witiam Kelly and Alexander Driscoll, convicted of assault with intent to rob, were warned by his Honour that they were liable to a flogging. He had determined, if ever a case of ganotting [ came before him again, to order a flogging. He had jiever had uccasiou to do so yet. j If garrotting ever became known and practised in New Zealand that was the course he- would have to adopt. As it was, there had not in the present case been garrotting in full, though the victim of the assault had been severely handled. The sentence would be, in the case of each prisoner, twenty-one months' imprisonment with hard labour.

Some interesting references to fishing and the quality of the fish taken by anglers last season are made in the annual report of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society. Anglers generally reported that the size of the fish taken is decreasing. "When everything is taken into consideration," says the report, "this is not to be wondered at. The fully-stocked and heavily-fished streams of to-day cannot be expected to produce such large, fish as the sparsely-stocked virgin waters of years ago, which teemed with natural food. It has been suggested that steps should be taken to augment the food supply in our rivers by tho introduction of English minnow, etc., but it behoves the society to be careful that in introducing other species of fish into the rivers it does not supply additional mouths to devour the natural food on which the trout have hitherto done so well." At a meeting of the State Guaranteed Advances Board last week loans to local bodies aggregating £140,000 were authorised, subject to the requisite conditions being complied with in regard to security and valuation.