SUPREME COURT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 24, 10 June 1868, Page 3

SUPREME COURT.

CMMINAL .HITTItffIS. Tins Day. (Before Mf Juetlcc amnion,) Tho adjourned sittings of. tho Court woro opened at eleven o'clock thlfc morning, MALICIOUS INiTUJtY, Chnrlos Jnrvls wns Indlotbd for malicious Injury to property, The prisoner pleaded " Not Guilty .» Mr Duncan prosecuted on tho part of tho Crown, and Mr Garrick appeared for tho dofon co. / Mr Goorgo Wnrdon wns chosen foreman of the jury, / Mr Duncan briefly stated the case lo tho jury, and callod tho following witnesses :— Georgo Holm os 1 I amafarmor at Hlcciirton, I know tho prisoner, I rent some laud At Rlcoarton. I was In possession of the laud in May last, and am still hi occupation. When I got tho land it was hi Its primitive state I broko up nbout 30 acres j I put near 10 acres of it in wheat, I. was in tho paddock on Friday, tho 2,'lrd May last, finishing harrowing in the scod, On tho following Sunday, about eleven o'clock in the foremen, L took a walk Into tho field, and found all to bo right, I roturnod to it on Monday morning, about half-past oight o'olock, and on going down tho wheat ground I observed hogsweed seed, sorrol scod, rye grass seed, and flomo quantity of oats, sown partly on thp ground whoro my wheat wns, and partly on j ground adjoining, wliich had licon turned up for oats, Tho socd was no thick t hat I oould l uoo it plainly, I judged that about five sons ! wore covered with these seeds, The person who sowed thorn seemed to havo travorscd I tho hind in tho figure of «« 0," Tho sobd was sown Yory thlok— thicker in somo plucos than in others, T, B, Bain wa« Called, and produced tho flccda which wore scaled up in his pro- 1 oonco in tho Magistrate's Court* I

Goorgo Holmes ro-eallod • I oxamlnod tho scod which was sown on my land, and took away part of it j put it in a small tin box, and produced it iv tho Resident Magistrate's Court, Chrmtchureh, I was present when the seed was scalod up. [Identifies the tin box containing 'tho 'flood.] Tho sowing of thatsoi'd would rendor the land quite usoloss for agricultural purposes. I consider that it lias done mc damage tc the amount cf £50. Q£ e<)Ui'Ho, Ig'avo no onopormlßsion, to bow tlio nood. Thoro was no buuli seed ns this nmonßHtf tho grain I sowed. I saw tho tracks of a man's boots, step by stop, in tho sowing of tho scod, The tracks appeared to bo those of a heavy, labouring man's boot, with a wide lip, and tho lust nail of tho middlo row of nails camo closo up to tho tip, Constable Mulllnfl compared a boot with the tracks in my presence Tho boot Boomed to correspond with tlio Impression on tlio land. Tho hoots produced are liko tho ones com pared with tho impressions on tho land, I livo nbout half-n-mllo from tho Held, Tho prisoner lives about twenty chains away from it j his house is south-east from the field lv question. We followed up tho trucks, and thoy led up to a gateway leading out of my field. Tho prisoner's , houso is about 18 or 20 ohnins from tho gateway, .1 trdcod tho niarks past tho gatoway, across the .South tiWk towards the prisoner's rcsldouce, and where tho South track joins tho prisoner's land. Cross'oxnmlnod by Mr Garrick i Tho seed, providing It had beon whelit, would not have been sufllolcut lv qumtlty for tho amount of land, It was thicker in places than anyone would have sown grass-seed, and in other places It was llglil|or. lam hot on bad terms with any of my neighbours 1 I don't know but that I am on friendly terms with them, l (hlnk I said ln the Magistrate's Court that about threo.bushcls of seed had been sown oyer tlic land, I uovor heard anything against tho prisoner's character, After furthor evldonco, his Honor dircotod the jury to acquit tho prisoner, and ho was therefore discharged,