Supreme Ceurt, Invercargill.

Lake County Press, Issue 2737, 6 June 1918, Page 4

Supreme Ceurt, Invercargill.

(Before His Honour Mr Justice Sim). Wednesday, Mat 29. Wm. Henry Long was charged with stealing £46 worth of scheelite belonging to the Glenorchy Scheelite Co., Ltd., on or about the month of February. The accused, who pleaded not guilty, was represented by Mr Hanlcn (Dunedin). The Crown Prosecutor (Mr W. Macalister), in openirjg the case, said that the scheelite was found in seama n which were of various thicknesses, and that won by the Company was got at a considerable depth, 200, 800, 400 feet or more below the surface. A mineral of that kind when exposed to the air or near the surface became oxidised and there was a great distinction between minerals found near the surface and those found at great depth. A sample the Crown Prosecutor showed to the jury was, he said, found on the hills near the surface, and he also placed before them another sample that had been found at a considerable depth and which, ho said, was white and clean. Any experienced miner would, he declared, tell them which was obtained from the surface and which from a considerable depth, and they had to consider that only one of the niinc-j, that belonging to the Glenorchy Co., was what was called a deep mine. A great deal would turn on where the scheelite sold by the accused came

from. A large proportion of the sehee-1 * lite won in New Zealand was found at i i Glenorchy. The Glenorchy ScheeHte Co. owned three properties—the June- ' tion, Glenorchy, and Paradise mines, I and the men worked until 4 o'clock in i the afternoon, resuming at 8 o'clock in the morning. If anyone was so dis- • posed he could visit the place and take ; away scheelite, which, after being brought to tho surface often lay about ' in fairly large pieces. The accused bad been employed by the I Glenorchy Co. for some time" up I to February, 1918, for a p?riod on con- I traot, but for a greater part of the time i on wages, and while a wages man he < had a right to collect scheelite from 1 the hills and to go fossicking for it outside hia working hours He sold ■ it to the Company, who treated it with ( their batteries, packed it up and sent it away. A good deal of the soheelite < obtained in the district was got that I way and sold to the company or someone, else who had facilities for treating < it, During the time the accused was there the Company could see that eoheelite was disappearing, but were I unable to find out who was taking it. < In January, 1917, they missed a con- 1 siderable quantity, and again in Feb- ' ruary last they had noticed that some i had been taken. They complained to < the police, who investigated the ' matter, but until quite recently they t were unable to find where the scheelite J had gone. The accused left the em- £ ploy of the Company on February 9, and joined Mr Voisey, the pair working I together in getting scheelite on the l hill. One of the officials of the Com- 1 pauy found that there were six bags on ' the Glenorohy wharf cou-n'gned to the Inspector of Mines in Dunedin and 1 beating the initials " W.H.L.," which < were the initials of the accused. Mr £ Reid, manager of the Company, did f not open the bags, but, suspecting what £ was taking place, he communicated c with the Inspector of Mines in Dunedin, I and asked him to scud a sample of the c scheelite, which, on arrival, he found I to his satisfaction had been taken from 1 the Glenorchy mine. The matter was t put into the hands of the police, the I result being that Detective-Sergeant i Cameron visited Glenorchy, interviewed the accused, and had him i arrested. 1 Called by the Crown, Alexander ( Whitely, Inspector of Mines at Dune- < din, gave evidence as to having received t six bags of scheelite, on behalf of the , Government, from the accused, on Maroh 16. H6 bad not seen the six £ bags until they they had been produced ( in Court at Queenstown. The samples produced in Court were the same as he ( bad seen there. In his opinion the I Bcheelite had come from the Glenorchy 1 mine because it had come from deep < working. He had seen the scheelite < which bad come from all the other 1 mines. He did not know of any other ' mine in Glenorchy from which the ' soheelite could have been prooured. 3 Cross-examined by Mr Hanlon : He j had over four years' experience in * handling scheelite. To his Honour: He visited the mines about twice a year. Mr Hanlon : Principally to look after ( the safety of the men ? * Witness : Yes, but I like to note all ' the other things. The Glenorchy mine ' went in over 500 feet vertically from f the surface. He would swear that oxi- * dised soheelite was never found at a { deep level. Henry Logie, olerk in the Mines De- ' partment, Dunedin, said that he remembered receiving six bags of eoheelite from Glenorchy on March 16. { The bags in Court were those he had ( received. He sampled the scheelite and sent the result to the Dominion analyst. ( He bad had a good deal of experience ' in sampling. To Mr Hanlon : Sohee- ' lite from the Glenorchy mine seemed * similar to that received from the accused. ] George Reid, manager of the June- J tion, Paradise, and Glenorchy mines, I said that he had been manager for 12£ < years. The depths of some of the ' mines would be 600 or 700 feet. The j appearance of the scheelite altered ab ' it was found further from the surface. ' Roughly speaking oxidised stone would ' be procured at a depth of from 50 to 60 1 feet; in some cases it would be procured ( still further down. There was no , mine iu Glenorchy, but the Glenorchy ' which would produce scheelite like the ' sample in Court. He had had opportunities of seeing the scheelite from all '■ the other mines. To Mr Hanlon : The company bought the scheelite on the results obtained. The miners were allowed to see their scheelite tested. . It was the custom to send the soheelite obtained in this way along with that direct from the mine. The good sample of scheelite in the Court would not be obtained at a depth under 250 feet. James Lynch, underground manager of the Glenorchy minp, said that he knew the accused whose house was about half an hour's walk from the Compapy's mine. There was no one about the mine between the hours of 4pm and 8 a m. Scheelite was first missed in January, 1917, when six or seven cwt had disappeared. There had been another disappearance in February. 1918. Witness had had 12 Years'' mining experience. Cross examined by Mr Hanlon : Witness could swear that one sample could not he procured at any mine except at the Glenorchy. To Mr Macalister : When " fossicking " he had never managed to get any gcheelite like that on view. James Archibald Reid, battery manager at the Glenorchy mine, said that he had held his position for 11 years, and had a Kood knowledge of the scheelite which came from the other mines. Tho Rcheelite on view resembled that which had been missing from the rienorcby mine. It was he who had discovered six bugs of Bcheelite branded kW.HL" Daniel James McKenzie, manager of ♦ ho Junction mine at Glenorohy, said that ho had had 11 years' experience Jo scheelite mining. He had preSowly worked in the Glenorchy mine. IJLuuiing that the scheelite in Cour

came from Glenorohy, be would say that it came from that mine. Cross-examined by Mr Hanlon : He would say that the schoeiito came from the Glenorohy mine by its texture and colour. John Richard Tripp, miner at Glenorchy, said that he had had 7_ years' experience of scheelite mining. The accused had offered to sell witness 7 cwt of scheolito last December. Riohfird Voisey, minor, employed at the Glenorchy mine, gave evidence as to having been told by the accused that he wag going to ship about 6 owt to Dunedin. He and accused had worked together getting su.-faoe scheelite to the 22nd of March. Detective-Sergeant Cameron said that the accused had told him that the scheelite had been procured on the hills. Witness had looked at the scheelite carried home by the accused, and also at two bags of scheelite in a Bhed. After seeing the contents witness* had charged accused with the offence. Tbis closed the case for the Crown. For the defence, Wm. Henry Long, the acoused, said that he had lived at Glenorchy for a little over 2£ years. He had two claims. He hail done more than had any other man while witness had been at Glenorchy. None of the scheelite which he had sent to Dunedin in the six bags had come from the Glenorchy mine. He had been gathering the scheelite from Mt Judah for 2£ years. The oxidised scheelite had been obtained on the surface ; the other from shallow workings. The stuff which he had obtained from a vertioal drive was pure white. Cross-examined by Mr Macalister: He had been getting the eoheelite at six or seven different places. He had procured the bulk of it on his own olaim from the vertical lode, and the rest above Groves' claim, and at the head of Stony Creek He had got 8 cwt from his own claim about 18 months ago, and had not then disposed of it because scheelite was going up in price. He denied that he had told the detective that he had some of the mineral left similar to that which he had sent away. George Watson, miner, Glenorchy, said that he had had 38 years' experience of scheelite. At one time he owned the Glenorchy mine. Unoxidised scheelite could be found near the surface. In his experience it would be impossible for anyone to say whether the scheelite was deep level or surface. He had often met the acoused out " fossicking". Alexander Hood, miner, Glenorohy, deposed that be had started work in the Glenorchy mine about 12 years ago. He had been working on his own account for seven or eight years. No one could say whether certain scheelite oame from a deep level or surface working. If hasd ground was worked white scheelite would be found at any level; if the ground were soft and broken the scheelite would be oxidised. He knew that Long was a keen "fossicker." Cross examined by Mr Macalister : It would be an easy matter for a bag of scheelite similar to that in the Court to bepicked up away from the Glenorchy mine. He had told accused that he (witness) had often seen white scheelite surface mined. Accused had not asked him to obtain him some for evidence in the case. John Thompson, gold-miner, Queenstown, was the next witness. He Lad had a little experience in scheelite mining. He could not say whether the scheelite in the Court came from a deep working or the surface. To Mr Macalister: He had bad eight months' experience of schoeiito mining, and, in that time, had procured near the surface specimens similar to that produced. Edward McLeod, labourer, previously a miner, said that he had his first experience in scheelite mining 80 years ago. He had had considerable , experience in the Glenorchy mine He had procured, on Mount Judab, scheelite similar to the sample exhibit from the Glenorchy mine Ho did not think it would be possible for anyone to tell the difference between scheelite got from the surface and that mined deeply. To Mr Macalister : He had worked in three different scheelite mines; also for himself. The respective solicitors for the prosecution and the defence then addressed the Court. His Honour said there was no direct evidence against the accused. If the jury were satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that the scheelite could not possibly have been obtained anywhere but in the Glenorchy mine, it was their duty to enter aconvictiou Witnesses for the Crcwn stated that scheelite had been stolen from the mine—about six or seven cwt. The accused bad sent 4ontßqrto Dunedin. The witnesses for the Crown bad all expressed the opinion that the scheelite alleged to have been stolen must have come from the Glenorohy mine. There was no suggestion that the witnesses for the Orcwn were not expressing their honest opinions, but iodividual opinions were not always correct in matters of that kind. The jury returned a verdict of " Not Guilty." —Southland Times.