RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, CHRISTCHURCH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 703, 3 August 1859, Page 4

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, CHRISTCHURCH.

Saturday, July. 10.' (Before John Hall' Esq.; 11.M.) CHARGE OP I.IIXACT.. John Tson was brought,up in custody of tl:f police as being of unsound mind, and incapable"l taking care of hircself. On being questioned by the Court lie gave rambling.and unintelligible answer', i said that all the . roads belonged to him, """ ' wanted to know when he was to be paid for t'lo work he had done in Ly ttelton. After a duo exn" 11" nation of B. Parkerson and Thos. Fisher, Esqrs.. as | prescribed by the terms,of the Lunatics Ordinal" l< Amendment Act, 1858, as to the state of the priso- f, ner's'mind, the Court ordered that he should be sent i to Lyttelton Gaol for safe custody. r Tuesday, Jur,v li). I , (Before John Hall Esq.., 8.M.) f ' I.AKCKKY. ' , I George Bnrratt was brought up in custody 0I Sub-inspector Revell for having stolen a ni:»e "U the Wuhnea, in the Nelson province, the property 01 Mr. Joseph Wagstaff, a farmer in the Waimca. , {; Mr. llevell deposed to having apprehended prisoner on tluj Ilanmer Plains, and that prisoner a«I111c" ted having stolen the marc, and that he brought "^ down here and sold her, to a person named O'Coii"^ • A warrant was here produced issued by the l^ s" dent Magistrate dt Nelson' for prisoner's appr^f'"

sion, and tl.e Court ordered him to be kept in safe rustrfdy in Lyttelton, until an opportunity offered for forwarding him to INeiso'n. «' >! ■ ' i Wednesday,- July 20. ■ 1 (Before John Hall Esq., E..M.)1 " I . ' LAKCKNY. .. '..)'' Herbert Knight was charged with stealing two sovereigns from the house of Joseph Buxton, on the Pji'panui Road. P. C. Eldridge deposed to having apprehended prisoner at the Royal Hotel, an/1 upon Searching him a pocket-book was found containing tliree one° pound notes, two sovereigns, two 'half-sovereigns, and 10s. 6il. in silver; .prisoner alsoistated at the same time that lie took the m6ney. Joseph Buxton deposed to' haying received £2 from !i person who paid an account, which wa,s laid upon the table in his inner room, at the same time prisoner was there; in .looking for the money about mi1 hour afterwards it was'missing, and no person h:id been in except prisoner. Prisoner admitted thq offence, and was 'sentenced to one month's imprisonment witlrhard labour. itOBBINO HEN ROOSTS. John Fox was charged by J.ohn.Frederick Ballard with stealing eleven lien's eggs, at the Golden Fleece Hotel. " „ ' Prisoner admitted having taken the eggs, and stated " that he took them for a lark." Prisoner v as discharged with a severe reprimand. I ASSAULT, i TnuiAM TARISH V. HUGH STACE. Complainant stated that on the 9th instant accused, at the White Hart, after using a good deal «f abusive language, caught hold of the top ot his hat and tried to pull him down, and then struck liinj on the side of the face, and over the head. Accused also pulled off complainant's hat, and then pulled his hair; complainant then went into the parlor; on , coming out , a,gain accused stil| persisted in his abusive language, and struck at complainant again. Complainant stated that accused wait in liquor, but not drunk, and gave no reason forfliis conduct. The evidence of two witnesses, Jolnr Marshall and Joiln Booth, mainly corroborated the statement of complainant, as to the assault having been com- ' nutted. '":'•. '■' ' . .-. ' V Accused stated that he only took off. complain ant's hat to look into his face.» •, i i Banks, a witness^on the part of the apcused, stated that lie saw the parties in;thebar,,and;there appeared,a great deal .of, chaff going ,on between them, and that lie saw complainant'give^accused a bliuik eye. The accused was' the- worse for liquor, complainant not. 7 , 'X' '' ''' Convicted, fined 4t)sl for the assault, and the exposes of.the'court, £1' 7by l'od.'' • ' 1 "*- '"Wednesday, July 27th. '' (Before John Hall, Esq., R M.) ' ' ' LtJNACY. ' " ' . ' Samuel John Gosswell, after having been duly exaiained by two'medical practitioners, in accordance vjth law, was ordered to be sent to Lyttelton^ as a dangerous lunatic. , * „ , ■ , j JU:.VT> V. PERCEVAL. I (Adjourned frpm the 13th'July.) (This was an action brought by Henry W. Read, stable keeper/of Christclmrch, to' recover the sum of twenty pounds, for work done in attempting to bling'down a herd of cattle, the property of Mr. C. J. Perceval, from the Easdale Nook station to Christclmreh. The depositions of H. W. Read, and T. Carpenter^ taken on the 136h, were read as fol3o\rs:—: . Henry W..Read sworn. About 20th April last, ] agreed with defendant to fetch a mob of cattle down from his station at^o much per day. As I knew nothing of the country, defendant referred me to John Carpenter; as being a man who knew tlie country well, and could therefore give me good assistance. I afterwards arranged with Carpenter, and "defendant agreed to pay me 255. per day for each of us, including our horses. In accordance with this arrangemqnt^we were away twelve days, but did not succeed in getting the cattle down, as the country "was too.difficult for horses to work upon. I have only charged for ten days. During the time we were away we'made'two attempts, the second time with extra assistance we obtained from Mr. Perceval's station. I afterwards met defendant in Christchurch, and he said that as we had not got the cattle down he could not afford to pay us the whole amount we demanded, and offered to compromise; we refused to do so. Examined by the defendant -.—When r the cattle were got down on to the flat, it was' three-quarters of an hour 'before, we could get up to them; we had three or four .miles to walk to where we had left our horses. Mr. White's shepherd did not offer ,to get on Carpenter's horse and drive the, cattle on at once. , t • . „ t , ' John Carpenter sworn. I was engaged- by plaintiff to assist in driving down these cattle! We found the cattle in two long gullies with scrub and brush; it took us all day to get thenv'c-ut,' and before we could get to the horses the cattle had - recovered their breath, and got away from us. We made another attempt jiext day;'having obtained additional assistance from thestation; we only found four head that day, on another day we only found one. Cross-examined :_ldid not altogether follow; the advice of Mr. White's shephprd when the cattle got out of the gully. It ,w'as ; three-quarters of an hour before we could get 'to our horses to mount them to drive the cattle forwards. '' ' v Defendant admitted the agreement as to' the payment to be made for. the service, but objected to pay on the ground that'plaitltiff did not use his best endeavours to get the cattle down ; he had offered half the claim -but it > had bees refused. John Smith stated that he was a shepherd in the employ of Mr. White, of Kace Course Hill, and that lie had assisted to get the cattle down. < Witness here described the nature of the gullies, and the assistance rendered by him to plaintiff and Carpenter in getting out. the ,cattle, and showed great negligence on the part' of the latter especially, stating that from their .performance' at that time he considered both plaintiff.and Carpenter r to betw^of the most harmlessest men after stock that he' Had ever seen. * •• : ' • ' • . The Court considered that it was clearly; proved that the plaintiff had, not used.his best endeavours to get the stock down, and was not entitled to the amount he claimed. , Judgment was given for plaintiff for £12 10s.; the costs of witness Smith,£s t l7s., to be divided; costs of Court, 15s. 6d', to be paid' by plaintiff; and an allowance of 10s. to plaintiff r for his expenses of adjournment.' '' Thursday, July 28. '' (Before John' Hall, Esq., Resident Magistrate.) UREACII 0F SHEEP ORDINANCE. Kegina'by L.'Walker r. G. E. Mason. Mr. Duncan appeared for^the prosecution; accused appeared'in person. lienry Lang sworn.—l was shepherd to Messrs. Mallock and Walker.during the month of May last. About the 6th of this' month,,l found 400 sheep on prosecutor's -run, bearing the brand of accused, about a quarter of a-mile from thcW.aiapara. There "•were also about 50 of- Miv Mallock's sheep within 400 yards of them, which 1 rounded up and brought home to,the yard. iMr. McDonald <and<'myself ex- ( ;amined them by Mr. W,alker's;orders,' and found .'two scabbr r sheep amongst, thenY.'/Wfe did not look for 'more., The br.ahd of Mr. Mason is two M's conjoined. ' ' ,r 'V 'ff v ' Mr. McDonald corroborated this statement. ' , ; Alick Koch sworn—l haye been 'shepherding for; accused for four months past, sometimes On part'of the run adjoining that of prosecutor's. 'Judging from their tracks;! believe the sheep-to haveheen, driven on .to prosecutor's run; the track was a ; broad straight one.-T.bese sheep .were in my charge, but I had not seen them for five days before they strayed. I have seen a will dog on Mr. Mallock's run since I have been in the employ of the accused; i I have seen this dog working Mr. Mallock's sheep near the boundary, and have also seen ten of Mr. Mallock's sheep smothered in the Waipara. (Mr. Johnston here appeared on behalf of defendant.) As far as I know these'sheep have not been off the run before, and the place where they crossed was a bad one for the purpose; a-wild dog could not do it, he would smother some. The sheep have bqpn in the h.-bit of feeding two miles from where they crossed.' I believe they must have been driven across by a man. ,- , , By the Court:—l do not kupw whether any other;

person.had been shepherding these sheep during the nve days in which I had not seen theih. Accused has-three flocks, and three shepherds. Where the sheep crossed they would have to jump off" a bank three feet high, and to get up a^similar bunk on the other side: the water was only about four inches deep. Samuel Henry stated that he had seen the place \?here the sheep crossed, and it did not appear a likely place for sheep to take of their own accord. Witness had been iii accused's employ about 18 months, having left in March last.' \ ' By Mr. Duncan:—l was forty or fifty yards from the place when I saw it. Mr. Johnston on behalf of accused admitted the brands to bo those of accused. Convicted and fined .£3O, and 14s. 6cJ. costs of court; costs of prosecution, £10, to be appropriated out of flue. Saturday, July 29. (Before Joseph Urittan and John Bealey Es'qrs ) leter Regan was fined £3 for drunkenness and assaulting John Fox and George Dyson at the Fleece Hotel, on the previous day. James Wilson was fined 30s. for drunkenness, and in default of payment committed for 48 hours.