SUPREME COURT.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11662, 22 January 1902, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

THE ARIADNE CASE. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, January 21. On the hearing of the Ariadne case being resumed to-day, Mr Skerrett cross-examined Captain Willis, who said that the agreement was shown to him on June 7th in his office. Christchurch, by Mumford, in the forenoon. He asked Mumford to reconcile the agreement with the letter he wrote to Kerry, and Mumford replied that the letter referred to the fact that Kerry refused to give a second agreement at

which' at- first was thought- to be Ic..':' Oh June Bth; Mumford allowed witness take the agreement to be photographed?' Finally he returned it on June 11th. Tire' document was clean on the face but soiled and frayed on the back. The document- was produced in Court, but had been gummed to a sheet of blue paper in the lower Court, and the back could not be seen. Witness examined the agreement critically at the time, but had not noticed some words which had been gone over twice in the agreement, and wJiich read—" Sydney, February 25th, 1901. I, T. C. Kerry, agree with G. Mumford to pay as wages the sum of £l2 per month lor services as master of the yaciifc Ariadne from the date of signing tbe articles at Sydney, and a further sum of £4OO if the vessel be totally wrecked. (Signed) T. C. Kerry, owner, E. J. H. Freke, witness." On using a magnifying glass witness failed to see signs of retracing. Before June Bth, witness repeatedly cross-examined Mumford as to his statements. He paid Mumford £IOO in gold on May 30th and £l5O on June 21st; on July 29th another

£l5O, and in August, September, and July £lO, £7, and £2O, for board and pocket I money in Christchurch. Witness detailed his knowledge of Mumford's movements and his meeting with Wynd ri a member of the crew who overheard the incriminating conversation between Kerry and Mumford on May 30th. Later on Wynd made a statement- (produced) in German. Mumford was arrested on October Btli. Witness recommended lawyers to him, guaranteed his costs, and offered to share iu providing bail. He went to Sydney about the middle of November to see Mrs Downing at a detective's office. He arranged no jjecuniary terms with her. He saw Warner and Pollock, and asked the latter for a valuation of the Ariadne, but could get none. Any letters or copies of letters handed by witness to the Crown must have been handed to him by Mumford. After the. evidence as to the valuation and na-

vigation of the Ariadne, a document produced .by Mr Harper by Mumford was ackhowledged by witness. It held Mumford free from any consequences of statements made in connection with the loss of the Ariadne, and was dated May 30th, 1901. Witness had been assisting Mumford since the- hitter's- arrest, because his hand having been forced he felt bound by :the agreement to help the man. He was ija J.P..

Frank: Kochnitz, a German sailor, "one of the crew,.gave.evidence-as before as to tilt removal of goods to the Ariadne before sailing from-Sydhey; the equipment of the lifeboat,, and thee wreck of the yacht. William!Henry-Ives-,-.proprietor of Daws' Point Swiimnihg -Biiths, Sydney Harbour, said that- at the end: of. February, 1901, on a Sunday morning, accused Kerry came to witness and asked permission to leave some goods he was bringing from the yacht Ariadne in Neutral Bay, about a mile'and a half away. Witness said that he could leave the goods if' Ke removed them nest morning. Kerry-brought goods in a fair-sized ship's boat tliatc evening, with four or five of a crew. Witness saw the goods unshipped—portmanteaux, j boxes, bags, barometer, and some sails or awnings. Later on he noticed a chronometer in one box, two binnacle lamps, and some rifles, altogether about a ton of goods, some of . which were very weighty. Mary Beck repeated her evidence as to the stowing of the goods, and Herman Wynd, another member of the yacht's crew, gave .evidence as to hearing a conversation on board between Mumford and Kerry as to the agreement. Thomas Henry Clarkson, a new witness, captain of the ship Sir Henry, said that on March 22nd last, he was off Bank's Peninsula. He saw a schooner inshore of him sailing under so very short canvas that lie stood by her for two days to help if needful. He did not know her name. He sailed close because he thought she wanted sails. He asked if she was in trouble but got no reply. Had he been in the same case lie would have asked for assistance. He had spare sails if they had been asked for. It was not safe to' proceed along the coast as in the state the schooner was.

A. T. Bosworth, bank clerk, said that the signatures on the alleged agreement by' T. C. Kerry , and on the nautical enquiry depositions were written by the same person. He saw nothing to indicate that any portions of the agreement had been written at a different time by a different person. The unsigned agreement <was not he thought written by the person who wrote and signed the agreement. The Court then adjourned till 10 a.m. next morning.