POLICE OFFICE.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 61, 19 March 1842, Page 2

POLICE OFFICE.

Thursday, 10th March, 1842. Present the Chief Police Magistrate. Archibald Scott, charged with having obtained from D. Nathan 20 pairs of blankets, value £ls, by false pretence. —On the day previous the prisoner Scott purchased from Mr. Nathan the blankets alluded to, the terms being cash. He (Scott) stated, that he had plenty of funds in the Bank, and drew a cheque on Mr. Kennedy, the Manager, in favor of Mr. Nathan for the amount. It was after bank hours at this time. Mr. Nathan being informed by a friend, that Scott had no funds in the Bank, made the necessary enqu;ry, when the manager gave Mr. Nathan's Clerk to Understand, that the prisoner Scott never had an account with the Bank. The case of fraud being proved to the satisfaction of the Chief Police Magistrate, the prisoner Scott was accordingly committed to take his trial.—Much credit is due to the Chief Police Magistrate for his attention on this occasion, he having issued a warrant for the apprehension of the prisoner at a very late hour. Tne Chief Constable, according to his usual promptitude, lost no time in securing the prisoner, who was to be off to the interior the same night, as also the goods. Robert Wheeler, charged with neglecting to find his two infant children with food, clothing, &c. Mrs. Kitchen, Mrs. Davis, and Mrs. White attended to support the charge, and after a long statement of facts by Mrs, Kitchen, of the greatest cruelty used by the said Wheeler to these unfortunate children, their mother having recently died, —the Chief Police Magistrate directed, that proper persons should be sought for who would take charge of the children, to be paid weekly out of Wheeler's earnings, he being a carpenter. The above named ladies were kind enough to offer their services to procure competent persons. Saturday, 12th March, 1842. Present the Chief Police Magistrate. Mr. Sawler, of Manakau, charged with refusing to pay a servant, named Henderson, wages to the amount of eleven pounds.-—The dispute arose in consequence of the wording of the agreement between the parties. Mr. Brewer being employed by the complainant, Henderson, satisfactorily proved to the Bench, from the agreement produced, that Henderson was entitled to the amount demanded. Mr. Cleghorn appeared as the agent of defendant; the Bench ordered the amount to be paid to Henderson.

On Tuesday last, the 15th instant, His Excellency the Governor was pleased to close the Session with the following Speech : Gentlemen, I cannot allow the Session to come to a close, without congratulating you, and, through you, the Colony at large, on the result of your labours. I believe that the Statute Book of New Zealand for the present year, contains a more important Code of Laws than was ever passed by any Colonial Legislative Body during a single session; and I cannot but esteem it a privilege to have had an opportunity of taking part in laying the foundation of the youngest, and most distant, but by no means the least important, of the numerous Colonial Dependencies of Great Britain. During the present Session provision has been made for the efficient administration of Justice, in all its various branches, with a due regard to the exigencies of scattered settlements, rapidly increasing in number and extent, For this purpose, the Ordinances for establishing a Supreme Court and County Courts, and indeed all the Ordinances of the Session, have been based upon the principles of localizing the machinery of the Government of each separate settlement, and of rendering them as independent as possible of the capital. Circuit Courts have been established to sit twice a-year; and local courts, to sit monthly for the dispatch both of civil and criminal Business, Though possessing but limited powers in ordinary cases, the Judges offthe County Courts are invested with the power of granting Injunctions, and other important powers, which must be exercised promptly, to secure the ends of Justice, and to prevent irreparable injury to property. By confiding to the paid Magistates alone—to men who are appointed to the office for their fitness for the efficient discharge of its duties — the important power of depriving their fellowsubjects of Liberty, on charges of felony or misdemeanor, and by securing to every man committed for trial, the verdict of a Jury of his Country openly declared, instead of the secret fiat of the Attorney-General, *1 the Police Magistrates' Bill" appears to me to be calculated to effect a beneficial alteration in our Colonial Practice. The power of dealing summarily with trifling cases of Larceny, given to the Police Magistrates by that Bill, has been suggested by the recommendation of Her Majesty's Criminal Law Commissioner. In a new Country, where land forms so important a subject of commerce, it is desirable that its transfer should be made a "simple and easy transaction." To effect this object, the Law of Real Property has undergone a complete revision ; many of the now useless forms and subtleties of that difficult branch of the law, have been abolished. Short and simple modes of conveying property have been substituted —and I believe it will be found that the Bill" to facilitate the transfer of real property, and to simplify the law relating thereto," embodies almost all the well considered amendments which have been recently suggested by the most distinguished English lawyers, but which, from the technical nature of the subject, and the opposing difference of a powerful profession, have not yet been effected in the law of Real Property in England. It is not only desirable, however, that the Law of Real Property should be made simple and easy, but that the title to so frequent and important a subject of Sale and Mortgage, should, as far as possible, be rendered secure. To effect so desirable an object, a Bill has been passed to provide for the Registration of Deeds, and Instruments affecting the title to real property. In the framing of this comprehensive measure, advan'age has been taken of the copious and valuable reports of the English Real Property Law Commissioners. If carried into execution with accuracy and skill, the Registration Bill will, I trust, prove one of our most valuable Colonial enactments. In a political point of view, the most important measure of the Session remains to be notified. If Her Majesty's Government had not pointed out the expediency of doing so, the physical character of the country would have suggested the necessity of investing the inhabitants of the various settlements of this Colony, with ample ( powers of local self-government. While it grants to each body corporate the power of undertaking, at the cost of the Borough, any works which may be required to promote " the good order, health, and convenience,'' of its inhabitants, and to render the navigation of its harbours " safe, easy, and eommodious," the Bill to provide for the establishment of Municipal Corporations, makes no requirements which may not readily be complied with. By leaving toHhe various settlements the management of their own local affairs, the General Government will be relieved of a duty it could but ill perform. The inhabitants of each of them will be interested in developing its resources, and in making it as attractive as possible to the Immigrant; and by this means, an honorable

rivalry will be created,' and the prosperity of the Colony at large ultimately promoted, ' That the opposition which this measure met I with in its most popular principles, during its progress through the Council, should have been led by one who was selected as representing the Colonists of the New Zealand Company's principal Settlement; a body of people bringing with them in all its freshness unimpaired, the English love of liberty, may well form a subject of astonishment and regret. Believing that neither the interests of the Claimants themselves, nor the future prosperity of the Colony, would be consulted by allowing Sir George Gipps' plan for the settler :)t of the Land Claims' Question to be carried into effect; the Local Government, with much labor, matured a measure which alone appeared calculated to meet the many difficulties in which the subject was involved. So beneficial appeared to me to be the general principles of that measure, that, in introducing it for the approval of this Council, I did not hesitate to incur the responsibility of deviating from the letter of my Instructions. If that Bill had become law, the Land Claimants would almost immediately have acquired a valuable, available, and marketable property. Every absentee Claimant would have had an interest in bringing before the public, the many recommendations and valuable resources of the Colony.—A numerous body of Settlers would have been drawn around the three principal Settlements of the Northern part of this Island, and the value of property in them rapidly increased. By satisfying all the Claimants Southward of Auckland, by Grants of Land in the neighbourhood of this Town, a District combining all the advantages of vicinity to the Capital, and to the two Harbours of Waitemata and Manukau on the Eastern and Western Coasts, fertility of soil, and the extraordinary facilities t>f internal water communication, afforded by the various branches of the Tamaki, it is not easy to decide whether the Claimants themselves, or those who are interested in the prosperity of the Capital, or the Colony at large, would have derived the greatest benefit. ( Believing, though it would now seem erroneously, the clamour raised by its introduction to represent the feeling of the Claimants generally, I deemed it my duty to withdraw the Bill first introduced for settling the Land Claims Question. Though the motives of the Government were then generally misrepresented, villified, and impugned, I believe the time is not far -distant when it will be as generally conceded, that the original Land Claims' Bill would not only have promoted the successful colonisation of the country, but would, at the same time, have materially advanced the interests of the Claimants. In the course of the Session it has been made a subject of complaint by one of the Members of this Council, and formally recorded by him upon the Minutes, that the opinions of the mercantile Members have not been received with " due deference.' 1 I trust and believe that such a complaint is without foundation, and thaf the charge conveyed by it rests on the unsupported assertion of its author. Throughout the discussions of the Council I have been anxious to avail myself of information, assistance, and advice from all its Members, without distinction—and I feel assured it will be acknowledged that, on all occasions due deference was paid to opinions where, deference was due, and that if no deference was paid, it was because no deference was due. Gentlemen, —I will now dissmiss you with the thanks of the Colony, for your services in Council, confidently trusting that you will endeavour to promote the harmonious working of those Laws which you have been so long and arduously engaged in preparing for the Statute Book.