LAW AND POLICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8584, 4 June 1891, Page 3

LAW AND POLICE.

SUPREME COURT.Criminal Sittings. ' Wednesday. ■':

, [Before His Honor Mr. Justice Conolly.] ' Embezzlement.—Brabazon Disney O'Halloran, who on the previous day pleaded'; : guilty to five indictments charging him with embezzling various sums of money re- : ceived by him as: a public officer, was' brought up for sentence. - Mr. Tole, who 1 appeared as counsel for the prisoner, in- . structed by Mr. Carruth, addressed the Court on his behalf, and before doing so called the Rev. 'K.f L. Cubifct, minister of * the Church of England, residing at Whangarei,-, who deposed that 1 he bad known / prisoner for throe 5 years, and his character! ; was perfect as regards integrity and attention to duty, arid that was the character he: universally lield ; until these , charges werei laid. Mr. >Biss,' the Chief Postmaster, Auckland, was also called- He . knew the accused, in his official capacity, for about six years, and so far as was known by witness ha bore a good character a3 an individual, and as an officer. He had been in the service 21 years. Mr. Tole put in the Gazette containing prisoner's first appointment,- in 1870. In- answer 'to His Honor, Mr. Biss said prisoner, in addition to his i salary, received small commissions for collecting property tax and '.'life insurance fies, but the amount would be very small, nob more than £10 in all. The total amount of prisoner's defalcations as scertained was £291 4s 4d. Mr, Tole referred to prisoner's previous good character; and his long service and the , high position which lie had attained in the service, and . asked His Honor to regard the ' offence as a first offence under the Probation Act. : It .was the first time the prisoner had ever been charged with any off'jnco. and this was a continuation or. the enlargement of one offence. ; If His Honor | could see his way to admit him to probation on condition that ho made good the amount of his defalcations, he believed that . I:prisoner's outside friends,! in' consideration of his. previous integrity, would make good the money embezzled. ;He pointed out that the embezzlement was not caused by any low vices or gambling, but was solely due to domestic expenditure, which he had not the moral courage to check, but which he now deeply - regretted.- He asked His Honor, in the' face of' what the prisoner had already suffered, and would suffer, to take as lenient a view of the case as possible, . and to exercise clemency, not only on : account of tho acI cused himself, but for his wife and family. | His Honor', addressing the accused, said he' had listened* attentively to what had been! so ably urged by his counsel. ' With regard to his good character previous to his detection there could be.no doubt, but for twelve months at least he had not deserved that good character, but made use of it, and of the opportunities afforded by his position,, to carry out ; systematic embezzlement of tho moneys entrusted to him. Had he been a young man, a beginner in the service,' ho might have treated this as a first offence ; but prisoner,was nob a beginner, and it was his duty to have " kept his expenditure within his salary. He would not pass on him the extreme sentence provided by the law, as his prospects in life were ruined. . The sentence of the Court was that on each indictment the prisoner bo kept in penal servitude for three years, the sentences Hto run concurrently. t cl* ; "> Conspiracy.—Aporo Apiata and Taupo te'., Iwilere, two aboriginal ..natives, surrendered to their bail, and were charged on the prosecution of Francis Bernard Scott with having conspired to falsely charge Francis Bernard , Scott . and'.his wife-with having on the Sth of December injured and damaged certain private ; property, and laid an information against them before Mr. Malfroy, a Justice of the .Peace ; and'further, that on the 20th of February they, in evidence given before s Mr. R. S. -Bush, R.M., said they saw 'Scott, in company with his wife, Ramareri Scott, break the wheel of a buggy Vat Waiotapu (Rotorua). " Mr. Theo. Cooper appeared for both prisoners, who pleaded not guilty. Witnesses were ordered out of Court. Mr. Hammond was sworn as interpreter. The case . for the prosecution . was ; opened by Mr. Hudson*; Williamson, who first- defined what was meant by conspiracy, namely, an agreement between two or more persons to charge', another, with some offence either from motives of malice or for the purpose of extorting money. The charge against the. prisoners was that they conspired to lay a charge against Mr. Scott-and his wife, and if they had been convicted they would be liable to certain pains and penalties. , On the 30th of December Aporo and the accused and some other natives appeared before Mr. Dansey, who was clerk ;of the Co.urt and postmaster at Rotorua,. and' Aporo had an information prepared charging Scott and his wife with having on the Stli 'of December broken the wheel 'fef his, {Aporo's) buggy, an offence on which had they been convicted they would have been fined or imprisoned. ; Aporo swore this information • before Mr. Malfroyj a s Justice of the Peace. When- they, came ,to . lay the information against Scott'. and his wife, they also wanted to lay an information' against other natives for destroying a; potato crop, and Mr. Dansey heard them' discussing amongst r themselves whether they should take civil or criminal proceedings, and they decided to take criminal proceedings against Scott and his wife/ and civil proceedings against the natives. The case' was, heard before Mr. . Bush, R.M., on the ; 20th 'of'. February, and' both"the accused ■ swore positively that on the Bth of December .they were looking for their horses, when they saw Scott and his wife -and child ride by, and when 3 they... reached the buggyj :scott gob off his horse, and broke the wheel of the buggy. Aporo said he called out to them to desist, upon which Scott got on his! horse, and the party rode away. The motive alleged for. this act: of 1 the prisoners was that Scott •, had married a Maori wife, and she had a joint interest) with, ApSro. j There was ill-feeling between them regarding the fees obtained from tourists. It was! a fact that the wheel of Aporo's buggy wasbroken; but it was under .the following circumstances : On the 27th of November,: there was an election for. the Eastern Maori; Electoral District, and Aporo was a scru-' tineer pr poll-clerk at a place called Paeroa, at the back;of Tarawera. On the 26th of' November Aporo started for Paeroa in his' buggy, in which was a bag of biscuits, and; he picked up a drunken Maori. After they had proceeded about half-a-mile past' Scott's place, in Waiotapu, the wheel of the buggy broke. The Returning Officer, who' was riding past at the time, saw the accident occur, and advised Aporo to leave the buggy and ride on, taking the biscuits in front of him. There would also be the evidence of certain natives who , were at the polling-place, at Paeroa, to whom Aporo stated that his buggy had broken down, and there would also be evidence that the damage to the buggy was niado a' charge against Wi Pere's election expenses," and yet in tho face of all this they swore j that Scott broke tho wheel on 1 the Bth of December. It was a fact that Scott and his wife did ride past the buggy on that day, but neither of them dismounted, or went to it. Roger De Lamier ' Dansey, postmaster, interpreter, and clerk of the j Court at Rotorua, gave evidence as to tho ' laying of the information and the hearing of tho charge, and the evidence given by the accused in support of it. Mr. Scott, the prosecutor, was also examined. He could not say which wheel was off tho buggy, for lie took no notice, and only noticed that the wheel was about 20 yards from the buggy, and they v rodo between them, but did not stop to examine.! Witness also gave evidence as to the .testimony . given in Roturua. by . the two ac« cused, also as to illfeeling on tho part of tho accused, Aporo, against witness and his wife, over land matters. 11. W. Neighbour, Mrs. Scott, Jletigawaka, and Kanapa were also examined, V and * Mr. Williamson closed the case for the prosecution. • The Court then - adjourned until'; ten o'clock this morning, when the case for . tho defence will bo opened by Mr. Cooper. ';

t; Ik* Chambers. Probate.—On the motion of Mr. Mahony, probata was granted to tho executors in tho will of William James Dawson, deceased. ' . • ' ' < Sauj ok Real Estatk—On tho motion of Mr. Mackeclinie, . an order was granted giving leave to the administratrix in tho estate of James Barker Matthews to soil certain real estate, the property of the lato deceased. - ' | Kaiiiij Vaiaisy Railway Company.—ln the matter of tho Companies Act, and the Kaihu Valley Railway Company,in liquidation, Mr. Mackechnie moved for an order, giving liberty to the liquidator t,o accept £100 in full satisfaction of tho liability of

John Howard Keep as a contributor of th« j said company. The order was granted as prayed. ;Vt .i■> * ' . ' *

POLICE COURT.— Wednesday. • {Before Dr. Giles. K.M.] : : 1 Drunkenness.Two first offenders were fined ss, or (in default) 24 hours' imprisonment. One charge was withdrawn ,at the, request 'the police. - Larrikinxsm.— 1 Johnston, John Cuthbertson, ; Joseph Scott),, and Gilbert Johnston, were charged with a breach of the city '■ by-laws, :by kicking a / bladder, about : in t Upper • Queen streefc. Constable' Young deposed that these .boys v were a nuisance to the public, and would not desisb when cautioned by the police. Dr. Giles . said that it seemed very absurd that a case like this should be brought 'into Court, • but it was the only, thing that could be done if the boys would take no notice" of the police. He dismissed the boys with a caution. I, Maintenance ;Cask.— Irwin was charged with failing to comply,; with Van; order of the Court that he should contribute towards the support of his s father by per-, mitting the sum of £6 103 to be in arrears. Mr. Napier appeared for the defendant, and said that he thought it strange that the defendant should have been summoned just as he was. leaving for Gisborne" in order to obtain employment. Robert Irwin, fatherof defendant, gave evidence as to , the money | his son was earning, £2 5s per week, before ; Christmas. j From- Christmas until about a; month ago defendant had no regular work'. Dr. Giles said he thought it was better to let the case stand over iu order to J give "the' defendant an opportunity of < paying something. The case was accordingly.adjourned 'for a month. •, ' > Game.. Licenses. —John Farrar was charged with having disposed of , 26 pheasants on May 6th to James Walter.Knight, without having a license to sell game. Air. Thorne appeared for. the prosecution and Mr. Mahony for the. defence. James W. Knight, licensed dealer in • game, deposed that'll© kept a book. in which he recorded his purchases of game. On the 6th of May he gave defendant £3 15s 6d to distribute amongst the persons who had - shot certain game. This amount was for 26 pheasants and certain other birds. Ho entered the purchase in Mr. Farrar's name, but! subsequently; inserted the name of Mr. Evans' in its place. He did not ascertain the name of the persons who shot the game. 1 Mr. Farrar had ' promised to send him the names of the persons who shot the game. " Cross- examined : The pheasants were brought by Mr. Farrar's man, who only acted as , a carrier. He. had never dealt with defendant as a principal in the matter. Mr. Farrar gave him the name of Mr. Evans," of Bombay, as,, the person who shot the game. 'By ? Dr. ; Giles: Witness always • gave defendant his own price for the game.;' 1 Mr. Biss : stated that William Evans, junior,' had a license to shoot game. Dr. Giles said that/ it seemed perfectly reasonable that a man holding' a license to shoot • game should employ a carter 'to deliver game. f Dr. Giles dismissed the case. He was unable to allow costs, as the case had been brought on the information of the police. • - ■ ■