Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 279, 4 October 1864, Page 4

To the Editir of the NewZkaiaxi) Hkisai.d.

Sin, —111 a case of lioise-stcaling, tiied 011' Wednesday !u.--t at tin: Supreme Court, tlio jury were uiianimi.us that tlio prisoner must bo acquitted, there being no evidence whatever that ho stole tlio liorsc, lmt Hie identity and ownership was dearly proved, also that, tin: prisonor'liad disposed of the horse. The jury were desirous of conveying to the Court their opinion, that in so doing tlio prisoner knew that ho was disposing of property not his own. In a ease on the day following, the prisoner stood charged with forging a cheque and uttering the s:mie. The jury were obliged to acquit him on both charges —first, iiccause the cheque was not forthcoming, the prisoner having destroyed it ; and secondly, because lie received no consideration for it, and therefore did not utter it. Hut it was proved that he endeavoured to do so. The jury were anxious to record their opinion Unit the prisoner must have linown he was doing wrong i»i trying' to get the document cashed, which he either knew to be a forgery, or, at all events, of 110 value, or ho would not have destroyed it. Tim .jury in both eases were of opinion that they were conliuod to the simple; question of guilty or notguilty, without remark. 1 think different. Perhaps some gentleman of the legal profession will kindly imswi r the question; it may bo of service to future juries. am, sir, yours, Sec., O-NK 01-' Till*. Jckv. Auckland, Oct. Ist, lSft-1.

To the Editor of the 2> T i;\v Zkalaxp Heuai.d. Sit;, — On looking over the Jhiib/ S<uttJ<rrn (.';•».«.* of to-day, T observe <i report of a meeting of the creditors of Morris Henry, anil was rather startled to observe th.; following as lutv'ng emanated from Mr. A ernon. " Upon arrivinsr at Deacon's he found it was " neither Mr. Maliiit or Mr. G'raJian, but a person '■ named ]\! cKny or McCoy, who had been sent by " Mosrs. Mabiu & Graham, and was then in search "of Morris Henry, lie had then left Deacon's in " nioiniitLr. and after arrival at Mr. MeLcodV, found 11 that McKay hurt been I hero a short tiuif? previous, iirtl had oifcred the c>um of to Mr. John " Mcr.cod, for a bo:»t for tlio purpose of iukinp; him " up th<s Oiiuiwiuiro or Kaipara, us he should find Lt necessary. Ho found McKay at Ovuawharo and " sp'ko to htin. McKay himself stilted that he had " come up faun M'essrs. Mabin it Graham, and that " he wanto i to see Mr. Morris Henry, or Mr. Maso- " field, for what purpose he Mr. Yernon could not " find out." I have only to remark that snch statement is ntterlv false, and my contradiction, can be continued by Mr. McLeod who is now in town. Again, I observe the passage— " There being no other boat and the river very " deep, ho (Mr. Vei .1011) could not follow until a " Maori chief took him across to Minefield's. He " had seen Mr. Masofield, anil ho bail promised to " come down and tiive the creditors every informa- " lion, but no information could be got from liim at " the time." I'ossibly Mr. Vernon did see Mr. Masefield, but I can only say, if he did, 'hat he must- have more than ordinary good for 1 know Mr. Vernon was never nearer to Maselield's than Tort Albert, a distance I am sure of not less than twenty miles, and I believe much farther.

Milking every allowance for feelings produced by disappointed hones atul in a partial sense fruitless mission, I oaiim.l understand how my name has been mixed' -villi Morris Henry's. I. have been hut a lew days in the Province, and wis sent l»y my <miployerw to Otamatea, and tliero only, to recover a dolit din; by a person there, hut what it had to do with Morris Uenry I fail to discern. The nivhteiy might., however, lie unveiled by one who at Port Albert conld see und spc'lc to a person at Otamatea. Yours obediently, MliuiOCll M ICVY. October Ist, BU-J.

THE FREEMAN'S BAY NTJIPASCE. To the Editor of tho New Zealand llf.dai.l). Sm, —The attention, which, ft few weeks since, you drew in the columns of your valuable journal to the nuisances inflicted by cert ain parties upon the inhabitants of Freeman's Buy, lias, until lately liad the effect of stopping tho continuance of (he nuisance. Within tho last low days, however, there has heen n recurrence of the much-complained-of nuisance—the deposition of nightsoil after dark upon the beach in Freeman's Bay, and tho consequence is that the stench is again as o vet powering as it was before you shamed the contractors out of the disgraceful practice then complained of. Night soil is again deposited on various parts of the bench, between low-water and high- water murk, and tho eflcct of this in a thickly populated district like that of Prake-streot, Salestrert, and Union-street, and the lower ends of "YYollesley, Cook, and Victoria-streets can be bettor imagined than desciibcd. As tho owner of several houses in these localities, I cannot but expect that, scarce as house-room is—they will 1 e empty during the coming warm weather, for if such a jocaclicc is a.'lowed to be continued,. no one can Jive in thi* neigbouvhood and preserve his health. What, sir, are we unfortunate victims to do To whom must we look for redress"? As J.MtAIIITANT Of FIiEESIAN's Bay. Sale-street, October 3rd.

To the Editor of the New Zealand lleuai.i>. Siii, —Tn your issue of to-day I see a letter i-igncd " Militaire," saying " that his Excellency the Governor had heen requested to present the medals in question," whereas they were simply forwarded through the Colonial Oiiico in his Excellency's despatch, and which were detained with tho despatches until his Excellency's return, whou they were forwarded to me with a letter lrom the Private Secretary. " jMilitaire" has omitted to mention the order of " Mcdjedie ;'" in fact there are several discrepancies. Although, I have no doubt, " j\liiitairc " writes tho letter out of kindness to me, yet its appearance may do my cause far more harm than good, with which object I have hastened to address you, and trus.t that you will make the altitude honorable in your issue of to-morrow. I r.m, sir, yours kc., S. Jlay. Aucl;l;u'j October Ist, 185-1.

To the Ed : b rof tho New Zi:ahxh Heuai.h. Silt. —Notwithstanding tlio rapid strides of impiovement, during tho past two years in this city, as regards architectural development, still it may not bo presumptous to say that there remains a grout deal move to be done. To paps over an immense scope of de-iderata which tho spirit of progress itself points to lcproachfully, one in particular meet:) tho eve of an observer with aslonisr.ment, and that is a public -market place, the w;int of which seems unaccountable h; a community not by any means unonergc tic, or without :i fair pmtion of acquisitiveness. The question naturally arifes, and J have asked it—what iii'-an the City B"ard!' In answer, it is stated that for two years the subject lias been agitated, that, plans be at tho chamAers for the appioval of tho public, and it appears that a ccrtain sum has boon paid for then:. Xow, that the- plans are good, mav be admitted, but after a lap«o <-f two yo-u-s, it m»y be asked, would it be prudent or advantageous to adopt them without usceitaining, through competition, whether better may not be obtained Suppose, for instance, that fresh designs were eallel for, without expenditure on premiums, I do not hesitate to say that able men and good architects would finish them on tho simple and lair condition that the designer of tho approved plan should have tin; cariyirg out of the work proposed for the onVmiry professional commission. Yours truly. Yiatou. Auckland, Ist Oct., ISG4.

To the Editor of the jN'kw Zpa'axh Hkuai.i>. Slit, —There is a practice exist in lt in Auckhird, which I think is very reprehensible, and which would not. be permitted by any mercantile community in England, I allude to the unlimited supply of cheque b. oks, not only has every business man in Auckland blank cheque* to hand his cu-tomers upon every bank in the place, but any one can help himself to cheques freely enough at the bank counters. In London, the bankers are very particular in their issue of cheques and record the number of eviry book given to a customer ; this mast prove a great- check to forgery.

There is another matter connected with tlio I .inking in Auckland, which is vary inconvenient, tl a.", is not being able to obtain payment of a chique until it has been marked by the ledger clerk, certifying that ;lie drawer has a balance snflicicrit to meet it, this onuses great delay. o>pi chilly at busy hour-, and I think might be avoided ; at all events cheques paid into account need not undergo that scrutiny, and many are paid in without it, being drawn upon other 1 miks than thai into which they are paid, for instance the bank of New Zealand requires their customers to get the cheques drawn upon Uiem marked, before placing them to their aei ounl, not so with other cheques, they receive all ethers without being marked, the marking jiroccts takes place when presented for payment by the bank ct-Heeling elcrk. X am, «S:c., X