LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4419, 12 January 1876, Page 3

LAW AND POLICE.

SUPREME COURT. —CitniiKix Sittings. Tuesday, Jautmby 11. ; ; [Before His Honor Mr. Justice Gillies and a Common Jury.] ; TTtr Hokor took his seat on the Bench-at 10 o'clock a.m. 1 Embezzlement. , —Henry Weston, clerk, surrendered to his bail, and was arraigned -upon an indictment" charging him with embezzling, on the 28th of June last, the sum I of £2 -14s-4d,the - money- of - hie employer, Antonio Deviani, 1 : a storekeeper at Mercer. There was a second count in the indictment, charging him with embezzling £2 17s, on the. 2nd._of ( August, .also the., money, .of his employer. O "Mr." Brooiifield appeared for the Crown, j-Mr.i Eees defended".the prisoner. — The prosecutor deposed that the prisoner was in employment. Xt' T was his duty to "receiTecaaY for" good 9,-andwheirifcfeceived Cclieques to pay them into the bankl? OnTthe 28th of June, John O'Donnell paid ii&sash £2 14s 4d. Only £1 17s_of that amount was entered. On the 2nd of August Mr. Kidler, a publican, at Mercer, paid to the prisoner;

by cheque; £4 17s, and only £2 of this was accounted for. Witness not being satisfied .with the accounts, employed-Mr. Leers, an' accountant in Auckland, to investigate them.—Mr. Leers was examined as to-the state of the accounts. He pointed out the : effect of the erroneous or false entries,, and said generally there was a deficit upon the prisoner's accounts to the extent of about £20.. On cross-examination, however, it transpired that the cheque, part of the pro-: ceeds of which the prisoner was charged' with embezzling on the 2nd of August was dated the 3rd of August, and it appeared that the prisoner had paid £15 into the bank, on that day to the credit of his master. The witness said thjs cheque might have been included in this £15.—His Honor was of opinion that there was no evidence in support of the second count in the indictment. —Constable Limner deposed to a conversation which he heard between the prisoner and his wife, while they were in the lockup. Prisoner asked his wife to go to Mr.; Deviani to beg him off, and to say that ho would give all he had to Mr. Deviani, and then "clear out."—John O'Donnell and Mr. Ridler proved their payments to tho prisoner.—His Honor having summed up the evidence, the jury, after a short absence, acquitted the prisoner.

Another Indictment.—The prisoner was arraigned upon a third indictment, charging him with embezzling £2 15s 3d on the 21st of August, and, upon the 22ud,. £4 15s. The evidence in support of these cases was to be gathered from .the books.—His Honor thought the accountant's investigation was not sufficient to bring the alleged embezzlement home to the prisoner.—The jury, without leaving the box, under His Honor's direction, acquitted the prisoner.—The prisoner was discharged.

Larceny as a Bailee.—John Shearer was arraigned upon an indictment, charging him with the larceny a? a bailee of a quan r tity of articles, the property of John Levy and Abraham Jacobs. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. Mr. Brookfield opened the case to the jury in the usual manner. Mr. Hesketh appeared for the defence.—A dis- I cussion took place between His Honor and the learned counsel for the prosecution, as to the case being one that could go to a jury; His Honor thought that the case should be brought up as a civil action. It was eventually agreed to proceed with the hearing o£ the evidence.—John Levy, a resident of Tauranga, deposed: The prisoner was in the employ of' myself and partner as tbe master of a schooner of 1G tons named the Boyd, o£ which wo were the owners. On the 3rd October the vessel left Waimama for a port about three miles distant. Did not hear any news of her again until the 23rd October, when in consequence of something I had heard from a person named Boorey proceeded to Maraianui, where I saw the wreck of the Boyd. She was all broken up, and the cargo had been stored in a Maori whare. On searching the place, however, found very little or the cargo remaining. [The witness here enunciated a number of the articles he had missed.] Spoke to the prisoner about it, and accused him of selling about £50 worth of the cargo. . He said he had only sold sufficient to pay his expenses, and refused to give me an account of what he sold when asked to do so. Maraianui is about 30 miles from Opotiki. [The witness identified several articles as having belonged to the cutter Boyd.] The prisoner had no authority to take the vessel to Maraianui nor to dispose of any portion of the cargo.—To Mr. Hesketh: The value o£ the cargo was about £350. The vessel was a difficult one to manage, and was about twenty years old. When I arrived in Maraianui the prisoner said, "You give me my wages, and I will tell you what I have done with the money obtained from the sale of part of the cargo." If he had handed over the money with a proper account of how ho had disposed of tho cargo, without mentioning his wages, I would have taken no proceedings against him. I have not settled with Shearer for his wages during this last voyage. He made one trip previous to that for which I paid' him, before we left Auck. land for Waimama, I received a letter from Shearer, intimating to me the wreck of the vessel. Waimama is about 200 miles from Maraianui.—Robert Boorey, a seaman lately employed on the cutter Boyd, deposed: Remembered going from Tairua to Waimama, from whence we sailed to Whangamatau, a port six miles distant. On reaching that place, however, it came on to blow, and the vessel was obliged to be kept close to the wind, and got into Maraianui Bay, and as the wind then died away, could not get out again. We had no anchors, and the vessel went on shore during the evening. The place where she went ashore was a shingly beach. In the morning tho natives came down and took the goods out of the boat, and piled them on the beach. No one requested the Maoris to do so. Shearer and I watched them until the articles were put into the whare, where they remained about three weeks. Did not see Shearer sell any of the goods. We lived on the provisions that we had in the boat. Did not buy anything. At the end of three weeks I left Maraianui for Waimama, but had only got 12 miles on my journey when, hearing that two Europeans had been seen going in the direction of Maraianui, I returned thither, thinking they might have been the owners. Found Shearer opening a box of candles, part of the ship's cargo. This was tho first time I had seen him opening any of the cargo. The owners not arriving, I again started the next morning for Waimama, and on reaching that place acquainted Mr. Levy with the facts, and he returned with me to Maraianui, on reaching which place I at once proceeded to the whare with Mr. Levy.—To Mr. Hesketh: The Maoris who removed the goods to tho beach received for their trouble some grog from tlx; cargo. When they again removed the goods to the whare they received more grog. On the third day they were at Maraianui a spade was given to a native policeman for conveying a letter from Shearer to the Resident Magistrate at Opotiki. The natives pilfered sev. ral articles, of little consequence, however. No answer having been received to the letter at the end of three weeks, I started as described for Waimama.—Edward Webb, a Maori, residing at Maraianui, deposed -. I remember the cutter Boyd being wrecked at Maraianui. I arrived after the goods had been landed, and offered the use of my house to Shearer for the storing af the goods. He accepted my offer, and they were accordingly placed there. When the goods were put in the whare, I gave the key to Shearer, and told him he was the person in charge. I bought from prisoner for other persons 10 gallons of rum, for which I paid him £12. I also bought the vessel and a boat. Gave 10s for the boat, but thought she was worth more at the time. Paid £1 for the vessel. Shearer had said he had sold the tarpaulin to* a*-native for ss.—Te Tira, residing at ■Maraianui, deposed: Recollect the Boyd being "wrecked at i Maraianui. Bought-, two bottles of rum for 10s, one glass of beer for 6d, 10 spades' for. £3,' and 10 gallons of beer . for. £2, from Shearer. Had known him ' for a": long : time before that.— Eruiti,'' another resident, . of Maraianui, remembered purchasing a saw from Shearer for Bs.—Amatu, likewise residing at Maraianui, . deposed to buying seven' shirts for £1 15s,a camp,oven for 7s, and a bottle | of rum for ss, from Shearer.—Te Tane; native assessor and chief, living at Maraianui, next deposed.: Saw, Mr.. Levy speaking to Shearer. Shearer said to Levy that he would retain the money obtained by the sale of the cargo.nntil his wages were paid, him! Had known Shearer for a long time.—Wm. Joyce, a constable inthe Armed Constabulary,: stationed at Opotiki, deposed: In consequehce of an -information laid against the prisoner for the'present'charge, -proceededto Maraianui fciXhe ;day previous to starting escorted the prisoner, to the police station at Opotiki. ,«He then told me, that ie, only.sold goods tojay for,the" food that was required by. him and. Boorey. He had only 34s left of the money received by the sale of goods,' and'" that .he had sent foiir.halfsovereigns : by" Captain- Baker ; to - s his wife at* Auckland. 'A/He further' remarked. ;that smart aa the Maoris were they had not sue-; ceeded in. getting the money, from him, and taking me to the whare he produced a canvas

bag containing £25 10s -which had been con--cealed, and said he had not given it to Leary, as he had not received his wages.—» This closed the evidence, and Mir. Broo&field ■ addressed the jury for the prosecution.— • Mr. Hesketh spoke for the defence.—Bsa ' Honor, in summing up, said, when the case . was first brought before him, it struck him as being a rather peculiar one, and since found there were several legal difficulties in it. There could be no doubt that the master of a vessel liad a right to do the best ho could for the owners by selling the cargo, * and even if he made a great mistake in his judgment as to the necessity that existed for the disposal of . the articles, it did. not follow that ho was guilty of -a fraudulent intention. He would not be criminally responsible, but might be liable to a civil action. If he had' not sold the goods in a bona jidt manner, but with a fraudulent intention, then he might be charged criminally. That was the distinction, and it . was for the jury to decide whether or not' the prisoner had acted in a bona f de manner. If he had done so, he must be pronounced iunocent; if not, he would be guilty. It seemed perfectly clear, from the evidence of Boorey, that the wrecking of the vessel in Maraiamri Bay was unintentional. The goods were removed from the boat by the Maoris, and the prisoner entered into an arrangement for their storage, and also looked after them carefully. There was 110 evidence of a fraudulent intention there. Instead of trying to make himself scarce, which he could easily have done, he had sent a letter to the Resident Magistrate at Opotiki after the vessel was wrecked, acquainting him with the position of affairs. After waiting for three weeks and receiving no answer to the letter he despatched Boorey to the owner, and it was during his absence • that the prisoner sold ; the goods spoken of. There did not appear to be any attempt at concealment as to the prices at which tho articles were sold. The fraud, if any, must have been in the selling'of the goods, not in the appropriation of the money afterwards. The charge upon which tho prisoner was being tried was larceny of the goods, not embezzlement of the money he received, for them. He might have had ia fraudulent intention as to the appropriation of the money afterwards, but that would not support the present case. The jury without leaving the box returned a verdict of not'guilty... The prisoner was accordingly acquitted. The Court rose at 6 p.m. The case of Amelia Thomally, for alleged forgery,, will be the first to be heard this morning..