AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14226, 24 November 1909, Page 5

AUCKLAND SUPREME COURT.

ALLEGED THEFT OF GUM.

ACCUSED ACQUITTED.

The criminal sittings of the Supreme Court were continued yesterday, before ' His Honor Mr. Justice Cooper. The Hon. J. A. Tole, K.C., prosecuted for the Crown. A young man named Thomas Goulton was charged with having broken and entered a shop near Whangaroa and stolen about 301b weight of kauri gum. Mr. J. R. Lundon appeared for the accused, who pleaded not guilty. The circumstances of the case were that Mr. Sayes, from whom the gum had been stolen, had kept it in his shop. The gum was a peculiarly beautiful specimen, and had been kept as such. It disappeared in August last year, and some time later Mr. Sayes bought from another store gum which he recognised as the specimen he had lost. It was all broken up, but ho was attracted by the quality of the gum, and the pieces fitted together (with the exception of a few chips), so as to make the original shape of the specimen. ■ The gum, it was stated, had been sold by the accused's mate, who had got it from accused, accused saying that he had found it in the creek. Evidence in support of this case was given by several witnesses for the prosecution, one of whom said that when the accused was arrested he said that he had intended to give himself up, but he wanted to be free "till the end of the football season." The principal evidence for the prosecution was given by accused's mate, who had been previously tried and acquitted of having stolen the same peice of gum, and who is now serving a sentence on another charge. His evidence was not clear, and was given in a hesitating and unsatisfactory manner. The jury were out about an hour and a-half and returned a verdict of not guilty.

ALLEGED CATTLE-STEALING.

AN INTERESTING CASE.

A middle-aged man named John Fisher Skipper was charged with having on or about .November 25, 1908, at a place near Whakatane, being then a member of a certain, syndicate or co-partnership, stolen 20 heifers, the property of the syndicate or co-partnership. He pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr. J. R. Reed. The circumstances of the case, as outlined by the prosecution, were briefly that the accused, with two men named Phillips and Dodd, formed a syndicate for purposes of cattle-dealing and runholding. Some time in October last year it had been agreed upon to buy 50 head of heifers. On November 7 following they, it was alleged, bought 39 heifers from the accused. The price paid was £2 15s per head. They. got delivery of the heifers two days later, and the accused assisted Mr. Phillips to brand them" and drive them to the syndicate's run at Owhakatora. On November 25 Mr. Phillips went to the syndicate's run to muster the cattle, and he found that 20 out of the 39 were missing. He thought they had strayed", and he made a search, but could find no trace of them. The three of them then arranged to go out to the run to look for , the cattle, but . the accused did not turn, up. It was alleged that the accused had some few days previously sold the cattle. In June Mr. Phillips had an interview with the accused,, who admitted then that he had sold 11 cattle to a Mr. Heatherington, but said' they had been replaced by others. Evidence supporting the facts as outlined by the Crown Prosecutor was given by William Phillips, a member of the syndicate. '■ • Mr. Reed cross-examined witness with a view to proving, that no sale had actually taken place between Skipper and the syndicate. . Continuing under cross-examination witness said he had made a bet, only in fun, on the result of the case. He bet that ' accused would be convicted. He looked several times for the missing cattle. The time that he went over the greater part of the run he went over several thousand acres. He did not go over the whole of it, as some was bush. Since the hearing in the lower Court witness got a request from the accused to assist him in mustering all the cattle on the run with a view of seeing what were there. They could not go' on account of a flood. The cattle that were on the run had never been mustered. He had not heard that six of the nine which were then alleged ,to be missing (in excess of the 11 which were admitted to have been sold, and, it was stated, replaced) had turned up from the back country.. ' Richard John Dodd gave evidence somewhat similar to that given by Phillips. He stated that he had made a thorough search for the missing cattle by himself, in addition to the search with the- others, and no trace of them could be found.

* John Thomas. Heatherington, a farmer, living at Te Puke, said that he bought 27 head of heifers from the accused in November last year. Some of these were from the syndicate's run at Owhakatora. ■ Cross-examined by Mr. Reed, witness said that the accused bore a good characted for honesty in the Te Puke district. The cattle which he had bought from accused had been driven down the main road; past several settlers' houses, and when they crossed the ferry at Matata they would come out in full view of Mr. Phillips' store there. Witness did not pay cash for the cattle; it might have been three or four months afterwards that they were paid for. ' The case for the prosecution had not closed when the Court was adjourned for the day. . - ■