RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 912, 22 November 1864, Page 5

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Mohdat, November 21. (Before A. C. Strode, E-q-, 8.M.)

Drunkenness —Bdwil Carrol!, Neil Douglas, ftewart Lekir, John Orey, Patrick Symoi.iis, and Kdward './'allnghan were each fined 20* or 48 hours' iraprsonment ; and Catherine Mills, an habitunl drunkard, was fine') 40-i

(IFPBNCB AGATNSC THE PoI/ICK ORDINANCE. — Bobert Cumuiiims was charged with being absant from his horos and dray, und fined 20s and costs.

Larceny. -Win. M'Donald was charged with feloniou-ly stealing a roll of fhnnel mid other g-cods the property of Messrs Ai-kle and Thomsou, drapers, Geors-e sl.'oet Detective Weale stated tat about 9 o'clock on tho evtriincr of the li)tU instant, Detdive Rovley observed the prisoner lurking about the premises of *>Tes«rs Srkle and Thomson, and shortly afterwards he saw him running away with the bundle of goods in question, and he immediately took him into custody The value of th< goods wa3 about L 5 The prisoner pleaded guihy to the charge, and the Magistrate sentenced him to imprisonment for four months with hard labor. —Ellen Js<iwards and Kllen Burk-. were charged on the information of Francis Hageity, with having, on the 19th insraur, stolen n box containing china ware of the value of 10<. The prisoners denied the charge, and stated that the complainant, whi had been visiting them, -as drunk when he gave them into custody. Cisc dismissed. Fobgery.—John Hurst (in remnml) charged with having forged two you hers or orders for the payment, of the sums of Lls Is and L 2 SK with intent to defraud John Hyde EUrris, wa-i committed to take his trial at the next Criminal Sessions. The prisoner was then charged with having mi orabout the 18th October last, unlawfully conspired with John Crossley Kent and other persons unknown, to defruud John Hyde Hani*, Superintendent ot the Province of *^tago, of the sum of Ll3 16^. The prisoner was als > committed to take his trial on thin charge, bail being ace pted. CIVIL CASES. Steilman v. Brown —This was an action to recover the sum of L2O for los* sustained by ths plaintiff in conspquence of having had his leg broken, through the neglteer.ee of the defendant. The plaintiff, a blacksmith residing at Cavershsu), stated that on the 23;h July la t, the defendant, a cab driver plying on the road between I'unedin and Caversham, brought his vehicle (which had been dnmaged by a collision) to his workshop for repair, and while engaged in doing the work required, the plaintiff, throach negligence, allowed the horse to run away, while the plaintiff was hanging on to the cab, and the insult was the accident referred to. he defendant had frequently promised to pay part of the bill of his medical attendant. The defendant denied having given the promise state 1 l>y th^ plaintiff, or that lie was in any way to blame for the occurrence, which arose through the hors-j Retting frightened while the plaintiff was repairing his car. .fUintiff uonsuited.

Calder v. Coleman- Claim of JA. Judgment for the pliintiii for the amonnt witii costs. Dick v Smith—This was an action to recover the sum of 114 os, balance of account due to the plaintiff (a patent agent) for preparing a speci fication fir obtaining a pitent for a gold washing machine, drawing up a prospe-turi for the formation of a company, engrossing petition to the Coloniaf Secretary, and pr ;p a-ing copies of a.l vertisem^nts Tas caae had be«n partly heard on a previous occasion, and had been adjourned to enable the plaintiff to furnish a bill of particulars, and produce evidence a- to the reasonableness of the charges. In reply to questions from Mr Harvey, who appeared for the defendant, the plaintiff staled that he had charged II 10s for correcting the orthography of the specification, which had been prepare!) by the defendant. Had had a great deal of trouble with it, as it was full of errors in the spelling when given to him for revision. The defend-mt was quite incapable of putting it in an intelligible shape himself. He hid for instance spelled the word '•wheslharrow" without the letter H. (Laughter). Might, perhaps, have made some mistakes in the spelling himself, and believed he had spelled the word "inac;es lble" without the letter I. (Laughter). Had charge 12 fordrawing up the petition and LI for engrus-iiig it. There were nine folios in the petition Denied that he had told the defendant that he was the only Patent agent in Dunedin. i-i c had charged five shillings for drafting ati adverthement, and two shillings each for twelve copies of it. He also charged L 3 3^ for drawing up a prospectus for the formatiou of a company, five shillings for preparing form of application tor shares, three shillings for copying the sura", five shillings for preparing form of rifp sit rtCr-ipt, three shilliues for a copy, and LI 15l fr>r loss of time occasioned by the defendant failing to keep business appointments with him. He had received L 2 on account. Did not agree with the defendant to do the work for the sura of 1.3. The defendant denied that the plaintiff had done anything beyond rendering him assistance in preparingl 'the necessary documents for obtaining the patent, for which he had agreed to pay him L 3. AH that the plaintiff had dons', he could have done very much betor himself. Mr Darvey submitted that the plaintiff mu>t be non-suitec), as according to his own showing he had done the woi kof an att rney. As a patent agent he had no right to make (hirges for some ot the work which he had perforate'l, in proof of which he would state that it had been found necessa1 yto pass a special <- ct of Parliament to enable Parliamentary agents to recover their fees ; but this Act did riot in any way apply to Patent agents. iSupuosing, however, that the plaintiff had a right to make charges fjr the work specified in the account, the amounts were exorbitant and greatly in excess of what an attorney would have charged. More than one half of the work charged for wa3 wholly unnecessary, and hnd apparently beau (Joae by the plaintiff for no other pur.-iose than to run up a heavy bid of expenses. The Magistrate was of opinion that there had been a special contract entered into for the performance of th<j whole of the work for the sum of L 3. The weight of evUeucs was at all events in favor of ihat supposition, as that would be a fair amount to charge for it. Thsre appeared a credit in the acciunt for L 2, and he would now give judgment for the plaintiff for LI, the amount paid in'o Court.

A Train in a Hurricane.—A railroad trim ' recently on its way from Cincinnati tr> Chicago was blown from the track, at a point near Wirt nell'd Bridge, li mile* below Lawrencsburgb, by one of the most tcrriOc tornadoes that have ever visited that section of the country. As the train approached the bridge, the atmosphere seemed filled with brunches of trees and missiles of various kinds which the wind had taken up in its path, nnd the engineer, thinking the bridge unsafe ; increased the speed of the engine so as to reach the protection of the bills beyond. He was too late, for the hurricane, resistless in its energy, lifted the entire train into the air, ami hurled ths rear portion of it ovar a steap batik, the baggage ca,", which was very heavily laden, being whirled diagonally acrosi the track, and the rear of the first passenger car, still unoccupied, being suspended over the precipice at the side of the track. The train which happened to arrive at such an untimely moment, in the very focus of the wild hurricane, was he.svi!y loided with passengers, many of them being bound fjr tl.e Chicago iJonvent.ion ; ytf, strange to relate, notwithstanding tlie increased sp ed with which the train was moving, and the height of the em^ankraaut ''own which the cars weru burled, not one person was killed. This may be c)asiileied a most miraculous esoapp, two of the cars h-ivinsv been completely wrecked and jvnmcrlto piece?, the seats dislocated and shattered into fragments, and everything left iv the most chaotic condition. From 30 to 40 persons were more or less injured, and two ladies, names not known, probably fatally, one of them, it is though*, having suffered a dislocation of the spine.— Cincinnati Qazette. AND 40 TONS