LAW AND POLICE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1090, 17 June 1865, Page 9 (Supplement)

LAW AND POLICE.

The Supreme Court has sat during the month in both its civil and criminal jurisdiction. In the former an important question has been raised and lengthily argued, with respect to the debtor and creditor relations of the Provinces into which New Zealand is divided, for the purposes of local government. The Province of Southland, having a population of some eight or nine thousand, went heavily into railway works, ■with a view to command the trade of the Lake Gold Fields, and has, in consequence, involved itself in greater liabilities than it has at present the power of meeting. A consequence has been that the Provincial Government has been sued, and that judgment has issued by default for various debts. Judgment has been followed by execution and sale, some railway plant and other effVcta having been brought to '.he hammer by the Sheriff. Whilst these proceeJings were going ou at Invercargill, the Supreme Court in Dunedin was occupied with the discussion of a rule to set aside the Ji. fa. issued against the Superintendent of Southland. Some years ago an Act of the General Assembly wis passed, enabling Superintendents of Provinces to sue and be sued, and defining what should be held to be the " property of, the Provinces," for the purpose of satisfying ! the claims of public creditors. The questiou discussed, and upon which the judgment of the Court is awaited, is whether that Act has any practical meaning or substantive force, whether there is anything in the shape of " property of a Province" liable to seizure. One of the Judges interrupted the argument by saying that the expression to hi 3 mind was as pertinent as would be the mention of " the property of the Pacific Ocean." The question as it at present stand*, is a very intricate one, but it is full of practical bearings upon the present system of Provincial Government in New Zealand. Pending the conclusion of the argument, the Court issued an order to stay proceedings ia the matter of the fi. fa. against the Superintendent of Southland, but notice of this beiug received by the Sheriff at Invem». r' r'"> on'y through the telegraph, he proceeded! w't'l tne sa*c- How far the validity of this rction will be affected by whatever judgment .fhe Court may pronounce upon the general question raised is at present a matter of doubt. An application for a new trial in the case in which the jury awarded heavy damages against the owners of the Pride of the Yarra, as compensation to Mrs Frost for the loss of her husband's life, in the fatal collision in the harbor, in July 1663, has been refused by the Supreme Court.

The Criminal sitting of the Court opened <m the lßt June, before his Honor Mr Justice Richmond. The calendar was unprecedentedly heavy, embracing a list of 23 prisoners and of 20 cases. There were three charges of murder. One of these was the case of Won. Andrew Jarvey, late master of the Titania steamer, who was tried at the last Criminal Sessions lor poisoning his wife. The trial lasted for several days, and the jury were locked up for forty-9ix hours, when they were discharged, bavuig been unable to agree to a verdict. The new trial of Jarvey will commence on Monday next. The other two cases were the murder of" German Charley," in one of the ofF streets of the city, on the 30th March last, and that of a woodcutter, named David Stewart, by his mate at the Mataura diggings. The calendar included two cases of cutting and wounding, one of house breaking, two of burglary, one of robbery of Government property by a Post Office clerk, and one of concealment of birth; the others being minor or ordinary offences. In hi i charge to the Grand Jury, Mr Justice Richmond made the most of this exceptionally heavy calendar, as an evidence that the Province, which has hitherto rejoiced in a great immunity from serious crime, was being gradually " sucked down" to the level of the criminal statistics of other countries. His charge has been severely commented on, as implying a prevalence of serious crime in Otago, which actual facts do not by any means establish. As compared both with the old countries of Europe aud with the neighboring colonies of Australia, our criminal annals have been wonderfully clean, and it is felt that the occurrence of one calendar more than ordinarily heavy does not justify the sweeping generalisation of the Judge, or afford any proof that Otago is rapidly sinking into wickedness. The feeling has been fully sustained by the actual results of the session.

In our last two summaries we mentioned the case of Charles Pearson Fox, lately a post office clerk, who had been arrested on a charge of having effected a robbery of L 370, from the cbief post office, Dunedin, in the month of December last. After several remands, and the production of voluminous evidence, the accused was committed for trial, but one of the first acts of the Grand Jury was to ignore.the Bill^igainst him. The Crown Prosecutor has since stated that it is the intention of the Government to arraign him on another indictment. We briefly summarise the more important cases tried, passing by others of little general interest.

John Riordan, arraigned lor an attempt to set fire to certain cottages, his own property, which were mortgaged and ju-

uured, plesded Not Guilty. One of the houses bad been vacated by a tenant, by i whom the key was delivered to Riordan. , Later in the day the accused visited the " house and exposed a " notice to let" in the window. Subsequently a light was seen 1 by the neighbors, and on bursting open - the premises a candle was discovered, : ignited and fixed in a heap of combustible . rraterials, including an old pair of troueers , saturated with spirit. Several persons swore to the presence of Riordan in the vicinity of the bouse at an hour which would account ' for the depth to which the candle had burnt when the discovery of the flame was | i made. The defence set up was an alibi, j , and the substantial question which the jury had to try very much resolved itself into one of credibility as to the two sets of witnesses. After a brief consideration, they concurred in a verdict of Guilty. On the ! verdict being announced, the counsel for ' the prisoner gave notice of motion for ar- ' rest of judgment and tho motion was argued on Monday last, the Court reserving ' judgment. Two objections were urged against the validity of the trial; the first ! being that sufficient proof had not been 1 afforded of the incorporation of the In- ! surance Company, which the prisoner was charged with attempting to defraud '■ by his incendiarism; and the se- '■ cond, that the offence alleged being 1 felony, the indictment should have set • forth the means by which the alleged ■ crime was sought to be committed. The Crown Prosecutor at once admitted that the indictment wa9 bad, the offence having been charged as a misdemeanor, instead of as a felony. Prisoner's counsel claimed to have him discharged, but the Court remanded him to custody, pending its decision on the points raised. A novelty in criminal administration in the Middle Island occurred on the trial of a Maori named Ti Tira, charged with assault upon another Maori, named Andrew Pori, near Moeraki. The criminal availed himself of an Act of the General Assembly, and claimed the privilege of being tried by hia countrymen. A jury of twelve Maoris was accordingly sworn in, and the proceedings were conducted through the medium of an interpreter. Mr Wilson undertook the defence of the prisoner. The whole of the jury professed Christianity, and the oath was administered to them in the usual form. They seemed to be an intelligent set of men, and paid great attention to the case throughout. It was put to them whether the prisoner had committed the assault ; whether, if co, he had done it with intent to kill, or with intent to do grievous bodily harm ; or whether the offence resolved itself into a common assault. The jury, after deliberating for some time, brought in a verdict of guilty of assault, and the prisoner wa9 sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, with hard labor. After a trial, extending over two days, the man Ford and the woman Anderson, charged with the murder of the German " Charley," in Dunedin, have been acquitted. The evidence was of a purely circumstantial character, embracing a number of small facts leading naturally enough to the inference of the guilt of the accused, but not sufficiently conclusive in the judzment of the jury to justify a conviction. The facts attempted to be established by the prosecution were that the prisioner Ford (who was tried separately) was one of the last persons in the company of the deceased; that property, recognised as having belonged to the deceased, was found in and near the house of the prisoner ; that bloodstained garments belonging to the prisoner were similarly found ; that small portions of woollen fibre, found on the stick with which the murder was undoubtedly committed, corresponded with the fibre of a woollen scarf or belt which the prisoner wore; and that the fatal blows were struck in a mode such as would probably have been used by the prisoner as a left-handed man, and a man of lesser height than the deceased. If the identity of the pieces of flannel fibre had been positively proved, the Judge put it that the other circumstantial evidence would have received an almost convincing weight. But His Honor suggested to the Jury that microscopical science had not been sufficiently prosecuted in the Province, and had not experts sufficiently skilful, to justify an implicit reliance on the evidence tendered upon this point. After a very careful and discriminating summing up from Mr Justice Richmond, the jury were absent from Court for an hour, and then returned a verdict of Not Guilty against Ford. The woman Anderson was then formally called on to plead ; but the Crown declining to offer evidence, a verdict of acquittal in her case also was recorded, and both the accused were discharged. As we have stated, the trial of Jarvey, charged with poisoning his wife, is set down for Monday next; but as it is ascertained that Dr Macadam, the Victoria Government Analyst, whose evidence is important, is not amongst the passenger? from Melbourne by the steamship Albion, by which he was expected, it is at present doubtful whether the trial will be proceeded with during the present sessions. In the only other instance in which murder has been charged, a verdict of Guilty has been returned. We allude to the case of Whitehead, who killed his mate by striking him on the back of the head with an axe. That the unfortunate mac died from the effects of the blow, and that the blow was inflicted by Whitehead, are facts beyond dispute. Whitehead was condemned to death without hope of mercy; but since the sentence a movement has been set on foot to obtain a mitigation of punishment. The man appears to have suspected that his mate had robbed him of some sixty pound", and insisted on searching him. This the deceased resisted. After an interval the altercation was renewed, and the blow was 6truck. The judge laid it down to the jury that a fatal assault committed with a murderous weapon, under such circumstances, made the crime clearly murder, and the verdict was returned accordinglj'. It is at present impossible to say how fur public opinion is in favor of the movement made to procure a commutation of sentence. ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES. Two. very sudden deaths have taken place in the Dunedin Hospital, one in the case of a woman named Elizabeth Kay, and the other of a man nam«d Daniel Murphy. A man named M'Lean also died very suddenly of heart disease, in his own hoifte, on the 15th instant, whilst putting on his coat to take a walk with his wife. A report has reached town that a man perished in the snow on the night of the 11th instant, at Hindon (the Taieri diggings.) No particulars have come to hand. A fatal accident occurred at the Planet Saw Mills, Cumberland street, on the 29th ultimo, by winch a workman named Fred. Augustus Allen lost his life. He was employed in cutting laths by a circular saw, and through some means a heavy piece of Umber was lifted up on its upper edge and i

dashed in his face, smashing in the left temple and causing the brains to protrude. Death was of course instantaneous.

Mr G. P. Clifford, Manager to the Acclimatisation Society, was knocked down and robbed while on his Way home on the night of the 30th ult. He had been employed that night at the Philharmonic Society's Concert taking money at the pit entrance, and it is supposed that the robber or robbers thought that he would take home with him the money which he had received at the concert. As it happened, however, Mr Clifford paid over his receipts, and had only a small sum of mouey about him at the time of the outrage.