SUPREME COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 17

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL. SESSIONS OPEN. FEWER CASES THAN USUAL. ECHO OF CLEVEDON TRAGEDY. The criminal sessions of the Auckland Supreme Court tWU'Q opened yesterday by Mr. Justice Herit»W». After the charge to the grand jury SSaa® OMR against Trevor Grafton Smith, charged with the theft of money from the Onehunga Borough Council, by which he had been employed as clerk, was taken by Mr. Justice Adams and was not completed when the Court rose late in the afternoon. After the luncheon adjournment Mr. Justice Herdman proceeded with the hearing of three cases in the upstairs Courtroom. The following comprised the grand jury:—Messrs. Henry Thomas Garratt (foreman), H. T. Goldie, George Hogan, J. H. Hutchison, R. J. Inglis, J. L. Lucena, G. Neville, G. R. O'Halloran, Samuel Oldfield, A. H. Pascoe, Walter Pavitt, G. G. Pollard, K. Nick Rutherford, Alfred Thompson, Ralph Thornes, R. C. Tilly, Cecil Trevithick, Malcolm Wiseman, Elon Bond, T. A. Brown and C. F. Gardner. In his charge to (he grand jury, Mr. Justice Herdman said he felt some satisfaction in announcing that the duties of the jury would be comparatively light. Although Auckland was the largest judicial district in the Dominion, there were not more than 21 cases, and of these one only exhibited unusual features. The case to which he referred, said His Honor, was that against Septimus Page, charged with the murder of his two children at Clevedon early in March. His Honor reviewed the circumstances of the tragedy, recalling that it occurred in the absence of the wife and following an assault said to have been ma.de by Page on a young woman employed in the household, who, however, contrived to escape. "It is one of those shocking cases," said His Honor, " which fortunately are not common in New Zealand. There may be some medical evidence that will deal with accused's meutal condition and his responsibility for the crime. The depositions show that the man was composed and in his right mind at the time he took the liver, of his two small children, but medical evidence will be called on that. You will have no difficulty in returning a true bill." The jury returned a true bill in every case except a charge of horse stealing against James Nash, who was accordingly released.