THE COURTS

New Zealand Times, 12 September 1907, Page 7

THE COURTS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER IT. SUPREME court TlO ARO RECLAMATION. His .Honor Mr Justice Cooper continued tho hearing of tho case of his Majesty tho King ,v. Messrs Halley and Ewing, timber merchants, of "Wellington, which was commenced last week. Tho action was brought by the Crown to recover a small strip of land included in tho To Ato reclamation situated between Victoria street and tho site of the old To Aro or Taranaki Maori Pah, and between tho high and low water marku. Mr M. Myers, with him Mr Fell, appeared for the Crown; and Mr C. li. Treadwell for the defendants. Tho evidence of Mr E. W. Seaton, C.K-, who was called on the previous day, was concluded- Mr G. E. Fitzgerald, C.E., and Mr M. O. Smith, Government Surveyor, also gave evidence with relation to the position, of the line indicating high water mark on Lno contract plans for the construction of the reclamation work. Argument was commenced, but was not concluded when the Court adjourned for tho day. A PRISONER. SENTENCED. A lad eighteen years of ago named Charles McCauley, who had pleaded guilty in tho lower Court to having stolon a sum of upwards of £2O Trom his employer, George Jones, was brought before his Honor _Mr Justice Cooper for sentence. His Honor • directed that tho prisoner should bo imprisoned for six months with hard labour, and should as far as possible bo kept apart from other prisoners.

COMPENSATION COURT

AGREEMENT REACHED. The widening of the Hutt road at Potone, by tho Railway Department,' resulted in a case being brought in tho Compensation Court before Dr A.» McArthur, S.M., who had on tho bench with him as assessors, the Hon. T. K> Macdonald and Mr A. H. Miles. In tho course of the widening operations tho department found it necessary to compulsorily acquire the fron-»‘i tag© and part of the verandah of thel Grand National Hotel, tho area amounting to a little over eight perches. As compensation for this, Messrs J. Staples and Co., lessees of the land, claimed £360, and Mrs* Ahern, sub-lessee, claimed £l5O. . The Railway Department was repre-! sented by Mr H. Gully, and the claims ants by Mr Weston and Mr Devine.* Immediately after tho case was called Mr Gully intimated that there was some likelihood of t a settlement, and proposed an adjournment of half an hour. This was agreed to, and tho case was settled out of Court, the claimants accepting £l5O. on condition that tho alignment of the road be altered to clear the verandah of the • hotel.

MAGISTRATE’S JURISDICTION

(Before -Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M.) John Nutter, for drunkenness, was l fined £l, or seven days, and ordered to pay expenses amounting to £1 9s 6d, OBSCENE LANGUAGE. Hugh Campbell and James Glover : wore jointly charged with having used obscene language on the Queen’s wharf on the night of September 10th, Campbell pleaded guilty and Glover not guilty. Evidence showed that there was a disturbance on board the Devon, ending in the removal of Glover from the ship by a constable, at the request of the ship’s officers. A crowd collected, and the language used could be heard by a largo number of persons. Both accused were fined £5, in default one month’s imprisonment. A. SERIOUS CHARGE. Annie Whittaker and William Burford wore charged on remand with having, on August 17th, used an’ unlawful instrument with intent to procure abortion. Inspector EllisOn applied for a further remand for a week, the principal witness being still too weak to undergo examination. A remand was granted till September ISth, bail being allowed as before. ALLEGED WIFE DESERTION. Thomas Brownlee was charged with having deserted his wife, Lilian Garay Brownlee, within the last six months. Mr Luckio, who appeared for the complainant, stated that negotiations had just been set on foot which might lead to a settlement. Accused was therefore further remanded for a week, the same bail being allowed. THE RESULT' OF AN ACCIDENT. George Dromgool pleaded guilty to having, been found by night without lawful excuse on the premises of the Stewart Timber Company. Inspector Ellison explained that accused, a young man, had entered the yard, no doubt with the intention of sleeping there.. He was unfortunate enough, however, to upset a stack of timber on his legs. The uproar he caused attracted the notice of a constable, who arrested tho accused. His Worship entered a conviction, and ordered the accused to come up for sentence when called upon. ALLEGED INDECENT ASSAULT. William Thomas Raymond, for whom Mr Jackson appeared, was charged with having carnally known a girl fourteen years of age. Tho accused pleaded not guilty and was committed 'to tho Supreme Court for trial. CONVICTIONS FOR THEFT.

Mary Watson (Mr P. W. Jackson) and William Courtenay pleaded not guilty to a charge of having stolen 16s from Buchanan Scott, an assistant bailiff. Inspector Ellison prosecuted. The case for the .prosecution was that while Scott was having a drink in the Cambridge Hotel ho was asked by the female accused to “shout’-’ for her. Scott refused, whereupon she put her hand in one of Scott’s pockets and abstracted the money. Scott requested her to hand it back. She refused, and made off, while Courtenay detained the complainant from following her for a time. Watson went up Lome street, and then hack into Cambridge terrace and walked into 1 tilsou's stables, where Scott overtook her and bold lien until Constable Oarmody’s arrival. Watson’s defence was a denial that she bad stolen the money. Courtenay offered no defence. Wat- ’ son acknowledged having been in trouble bofore. Inspector Ellison stated that Watson hnd previously been convicted of theft and other of-, fences. Courtenay had been convicted of assault and robbery, and had just como out of gaol. His Worship sentenced each accused to seven days’ im•prisonmont. 1 Walter Gerber, alias John Hill,

pleaded guilty to four charges of theft of two overcoats, a rug, and a Winchester rifle, valued in all at £3 15s. Accused was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with iiard labour on each charge, tho sentences to run concurrently. BANKRUPTCY CASES. '

William George Tustin was charged that being a person adjudged bankrupt on May 19th, 1907, he could not have had at tho time when any of his debts were contracted, i.e., after January Ist, 100(3, any reasonable or probable ground of expectation of being able to pay the same as well as all his other debts, and, also that within three years before the commencement of Jiis bankruptcy did fail to keep such books of account as are usual and proper in tho business carried on by him, and such as to sufficiently set forth his business transactions and disclose his financial position. On tho application of Mr Fell, representing tho Official Assignee, the accused, for whom .dr Neave appeared, was remanded for a fortnight. Percy Stevens (Mr Neave) pleaded guilty to two charges of having, within three years of tho presentation of his bankruptcy petition, obtained goods and stock-in-trade from A. S. Paterson and Co. by false declaration and false statement of his affairs, without paying for same. Mr Fell, for tho Official Assignee, stated that in February, 1906, accused purchased a grocery business from one Blair, the X>rioo agreed upon being £220. Blair introduced Stcvons to Paterson and Co. Upon a statement by Stevens that ho had paid £220 cash, lor Blair’s business he was allowed to obtain goods on credit. Accused owed Paterson and CV>. the sum of £179 16s Id. On April s,th, 1907, Stevens, upon his own petition, was adjudged bankrupt, and in tho course of his public examination lie admitted that he had only paid Blair £l5O in cash, bills being given for tho - other £7O. Therefore tho £7O had to come out of Stevens’s income, and was money rightly belonging to tho creditors. Tho department asked for a conviction on only one information, and did not press for a heavy penalty. Mr Neave, for defendant, put forward a plea for leniency on account of extenuating circumstances. His Worship convicted accused and ordered him to come up for sentence when called upon.

PALMERSTON SUPREME COURT—CRIMINAL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) P ALMERSTON, September 11, The criminal sittings of the Supreme Court were continued her© to-day before Mr Justice Button. WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK. A Greek named Apostolos Rapteleswas charged with assaulting a fellowcountryman, G. Gambetsis, at Feilding on June sth last. He pleaded notguilty. , The medical evidence was that on the day in question Gambetsis had received an incised wound on the forearm an inch long and an eighth of an inch deep, probably from the application of a knife (produced in, Court).-. Gambetsis said that when 1 he and accused mot on June sth they had words together. Rapteles struck him with a knife, inflicting the wound described by the doctor. ;

Counsel for the defence f told the jury that they would have to* consider just two points—first, was the wound inflicted by any outside agency? and second, was it done by accused ? Accused in his evidence said that he and Grambotsis were rival fishmongers, and that the latter had threatened to break his (Rapteles’s) neck if. he found him trying to do business at a certain house. ’He denied, that he had struck Grambotsis with the knife or anything else.. The jury acquitted the prisoner afterten minutes’ deliberation. ALI/EGED FORGER, Y, OTTERING, ETC. Richard Bushett was charged Svdth having at Foxton, in 1902, forged the name of his father on the back of a cheque for £3l, and with theft of the document and the money. vTho Crown Prosecutor said there were four counts in the indictment—forgery, uttering, stealing the letter containing the cheque, and stealing the cheque itself. The verdict of the jury was not guilty on all counts.