SUPREME COURTS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3357, 7 January 1884, Page 2

SUPREME COURTS.

[By Teleqeafh.] Wellington, Jan. 7. The Supreme Court criminal sessions opened this morning before Mr Justice Richmond. In his charge to the Grand Jury His Honor said the calendar was not longer than usual, yet there were two or three cases of a serious nature. One charge was that of arson, in which the principal evidence was the statement made by the accused himself. Another, of attempted murder, was one in which the man inflicted a serious wound on bis paramour which might easily have been fatal. Another serious case was that of an unfortunate girl charged with the murder of a newly-born infant. His Honor said as the law stood at present it did not discriminate between cases of this kind and those of ordinary murder. If the jury were satisfied that the child met a violent death at the hands of its mother after birth it was their duty to return a true bill of wilful murder. The other cases were of ordinary larceny. Dunedin, Jan. 7. Judge Williams charge to the Grand Jury this morning was brief. Ho said the cases presented no special difficulty, though some of the crimes charged were of a very serious nature.