RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 83, 9 April 1867, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

This Day. [Before J. Poynter, Esq., R.M., and the Hon. N. G. Morse, J.P.] BREACH OF ARMS ACT. This case was adjourned from Saturday last, to enable the prosecution to adduce additional evidence. This morning the following witnesses were examined. Mr. Urquhart, I have taken the quantity of powder Mr. Palmer has obtained licenses for from September, 1865, to September, 1866. It is 3 lbs. gunpowder iu three separate parcels, for which he had orders. To Mr. Pitt : I don't remember if Mr. Palmer applied for a dealer's license. He said he thought of doing so, but it was not worth his while. There is no licensed dealer at the Waimea West. There are two at Wakefield. H. Buckeridge: I am a member of the firm of Buxton and Co., and hold a license under the Arms Act. I produce a book in the form prescribed by the Act, in which I enter all sales of arms and ammunition. On referring to the date, November, 1866, I find no entry of powder to Schwass. On January 19, there is an order for him through Mr. Palmer, to whom I delivered it. It is the custom to give it to the person who brings the order. It is the custom in the country to do so. I was not then aware Schwass had received those goods previously. Mr. Palmer occasionally gets powder from me. I charge him 6s. per lb. To Mr. Pitt: I don't recollect when Palmer brought me the requisition. There is no date on it. That produced appears to be the same. Palmer has made remarks about forgetting to bring the requisition on some occasions. lam a licensed dealer. Palmer generally brings the requisition to us for himself or others. This we send to the Custom House, signed by different people, and obtain licenses for them. After getting the licenses, we send or give the powder to Palmer, who pays for it. I known that course is permitted by the Custom House. The paper marked A is . not made out by our firm. It is not one of my accounts. We have supplied him with bill-heads for the purpose of making out accounts. He is charged 65., and our price to other people is 7s. 6d. per lb. We allow him the difference as commission. George Walker: I am a district constable at Waimea West. I know Palmer's Btore. . From information received, I

inquired' on the 25th iMarch last, if he had a licence to sell gunpowder. He said he had no license. When I first aßked him, he said yes. He offered to sell wa or anyone else, some gunpowder. To Mr. Pitt : When he offered to sell it, he said he would if I signed an order. Mr. Palmer's son was present at tbis conversation. Mr. Pitt submitted that from the wards of the information, and the evidence adduced -the, irquiry should be confined to the 28th section of the Act, to the selling without a license. The Magistrate said he could not control the crowu prosecutor, or iufluence him in the mode of laying the indictment. This was not a summary affair. Mr. Pitt continued to argue that the only offence with which his client could be charged, was selling without a license, aud it was clear from the evidence of the Custom House officer, that he had been guilty of a slight irregularity only in this respect. The permission granted to persons in the country to obtain licenses to sell on requisition to the Customs was the basis of his action, and although the defendant had gone beyond the strict letter of the law, he had committed no offence against its spirit. The fact of his taking the precaution to get the requisition signed, was conclusive of his intention to respect the law, by obtaining the necessary order from the Custom House. Iu fact the irregularity was committed to oblige a friend and not for the purpose of infringing the law. The powder in question was sold under the requisition prescribed by law, and it was proved in evidence that the sale was charged to Buxton and Co., and that the money was not received up to the present time. Such an irregularity although a departure from the letter was no breach of the spirit of the Act, which was to be construed in reference to its objects and intentions. On the authority of Blackstone it might be affirmed that this was the way to interpret an Act of parliament, and the ruling of other eminent legal authorities was to the same purpose. The Act never contemplated the punishment of two men who were out sporting, if one received ammunition from another in a similar way, and yet such a result would obtain if the strict letter of the law were enforced. Palmer had committed an irregularity to oblige a friend, and had been prevented by an accident, as would be shown in evidence, from making himself safe by applying to the Customs. His conduct had been all fair and straightforward, the intention was to act through the Custom House, and (o obtain a license in the usual way. This was an indictable offence, and he was aware that the case might be sent to the Supreme Court, but he put it to., the Magistrate whether he would not act wisely in dismissing it on the facts and not send it to a jury, who would be sure to refuse to convict where there had been no real breach of the Act. Mr. Pitt called Albert John Palmer, who said : I am son of the defendant, I recollect Schwass coming in November last, to the shop. I think it was about the loth. He first had something to driuk, after a time he asked if we had any powder and shot. I said yes, and would let him have some, if he signed an order. We sold to different persons, I acted as my father's servant, I had no license. The Magistrate : I dont see how you can persist when the very Ist clause in the Act, prohibits the sale without a license. Mr. Pitt : He was not acting as a dealer. The Magistrate : I shall act in this way, I shall sum up as to the selling, and leave the Crown Prosecutor to bring ah indictment in any way he thinks proper. It is not a summary proceeding, and. this is a . reason why you should not persist. Witness: Schwass signed the requisition marked B, I wrote it, and he signed it, at the time he got the powder and shot. The requisition was put in the cash box, intending to be taken, to town, but it was forgotten. My father said it should have been taken before. The blank was left for Buxton & Co, to fill in. He got half a pound of powder only, although the order was written out for a pound. The account was usually made out to Buxton. My father came to town between November and January, but forgot to take the requisition. I heard Constable Walker.ask my father if he had a license, he said, no. I heard all that was said in the store. I did not hear the word yes and afterwards no. I made but the account produced. The Magistrate .said whilst disposed! not to send the case for trial, he felt that

/the defendant was liable under the first clause of the act, which distinctly prohibited him from dealing without a license. The forms of the Schedule had also been departed from. He had no authority to - sell, and ought to bave obtained a license. Not to do so was to cheat the revenue, and the defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and had rendered himseif liable to a charge of misdemeanor under the 30th clause. " The keeping an account with Buxton & Co., looked like a contrivance to evade the act. Whilst contending that Palmer ought to have taken out a license, he did not thiuk the act contemplated a penalty on persons who sold a small quantity of powder for sporting purposes. He would leave it to the Crown Solicitor to act as he thought proper in preferring another indictment, but he should dismiss this case for the reasons he had stated. Professor Kohler's entertainment at the Odd-fellows' Hall may be pronounced an unqualified success, for it was very numerously attended, and the varied feats of legerdemain exhibited by him on the occasion, were received most enthusiastically by tbe audieuce. Many of'the tricks performed last night were given for the first time by the Professor, and the dexterous manner in which they were achieved, proved, beyond doubt, his right to be considered amongst the most successful adepts in the necromantic art. The crowded state of the Hall, and the flattering reception which he met with from his audience last night, might, we think, have justified the Professor in announcing another performance, and probably many would be pleased to learn that he had abandoned his intention to leave Nelson without giving, at least, one more entertainment in this city. This afternoon, the Coroner will hold an inquest on the body of a man named H. H. Howell, who lived at the top of Brook-street, and was found dead, this morning, with his throat cut, in a gorge about a mile from his residence and quarter of a mile from the road. He was missed yesterday, and information was given to the police last night. This morning a party of police directed by Sergeant Nash, and accompanied by several neighbors, went in quest of the missing man. He was found as previously mentioned, shortly after 8 o'clock. A knife was found in the gravel neai* the spot where the body was lying. Something, it was said, has been preying on-the man's miud, of late, and which led him to commit the rash act. A correspondent writes : — " I hear that a Bali is to be given to the Governor in Passion Week, a thing without precedent in the old couutry, aud so considerate to Roman Catholics and High Church people ! Do they want Sir George to think us all Pagans and Infidels?" The election returns from the Amuri are Curtis 10, Barnicoat 9. Tbe majority for Mr. Curtis is 180. The official declaration of the poll, will take place on Friday next. On the sth inst. a fire occurred at Havelock, which destroyed the houses of Mr. Fear, Mr. G. Levien, and the Provincial Hotel. On the 29th ult. the Acting Coroner F. E. Horneman, Esq., J.P., held an inquest on the body of J. F. Homann, who hung himself at Motueka. The jury found that deceased met his death, by his own hand, while in a fit of temporary insanity. The firing for the champiou belt, at Wellington, yesterday, resulted as follows: — Otago: Chisholm (belt), 42 ; Lacy, 36 ; Smith, 35. Lyttelton : Cragie, 35 ; Richardson, 31 ; Smith and Cragie fired their ties and Smith won.