SUPREME COURT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 29, 3 August 1926, Page 7

SUPREME COURT

« PALMERSTON NORTH SITTINGS ('DISCHARGED WITH A CAUTION." (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) PALMERSTON N., This Day. The quarterly session of the Supreme Court opened this morning before his Honour Mr. Justice Reed. Addressing the Grand Jury, his Honour observed with regret that there were more than the usual number of criminal cases on the calendar, but of the cases for trial only one was of a serious nature. Most of them were comparatively simple so far as the Grand Jury was concerned, and ihe only bill likely to necessitate some consideration was the charge against Clifford Harris Thompson of stealing some geese near Dannevirke. The accused, continued his Honour, was'a man holding a responsible position, andl went out hare-shooting tvith some others on a certain property, permission having been .obtained from the mother of the owner. After a number of hares had been shot, some gcc3e were killed. While this was, in the circumstances, unwarranted, it was done quite openly in front of the house on the property in the presence of witnesses. There was an apparent lack of that fraudulent intent which j made for theft. The action partook more of larrikinism, and, while reprehensible, could-hardly be termed theft. After referring to the other cases, his Honour said that the most serious was that against Ernest Taniwha Sutherland,! a half-caste Maori, arraigned on a charge of attempted murder and arson. A verdict of "no bill" was returned against Thompson, who accordingly was discharged. His Honour pointed out to Thompson that his actions had been discreditable. Against Mm were several convictions for bylaw breaches, and it appeared as if'he wag not inclined to carry out the duties he owed to the public. "I strongly advise you to recognise your responsibilities. This particular transaction was reprehensible to a degree," concluded his Honour.