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Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1060, 13 March 1882, Page 2

We have to remind contractors that tendeft for the Little Grey Bridge closes to-day at 12 o'clock noon. In the Warden's Court on Saturday, applications for leases were recommended to the following : — George Wise, William Collings, H. G. Hankin, W. Hindmarsh, L. Moncrieff, and Jameß Seymour A large number of applications were lodged for survey. As to the importance that the coming Christchurch Exhibition possesses in English eyes may be gathered from the fact of several of the leading English papers having despatched special correspondents to record its proceedings. This piece of news was cabled last week from London.

There will be a meeting of the Licensing Committee this day in the Court House, at 12 o'clock. The only business will be the election of a Chairman. Two or even three have been mentioned as aspirants to the position, but whether this be true remains to be seen.

A most extraordinary case was heard in the Resident Magistrate's Court here on Friday last. On the night of the 29th of August last, the punt at the Inangahua Landing, the property of Mr. Archer, was cut away, and drifted down stream for about a mile, damaging her to the extent of about £100, The perpetratora of the act could not be discovered, and nothing more was heard of the matte; till last month, when a sawyer namedSitjw Gibson, whilst apparently Buffering from the effects of drink voluntarily declared to Mr Boers, telegraph lineman, that he had done the deed. At his own request he dictated in the Albion Hotel the following singular confession, which he signed himself in the presence of Boers and Mr M'Guire,

the landlord, the latter affixing his signature as an attesting witness. The document ran as follow* : — " Jersey Brown said to mo, (Silas Gibson) ' Gallagher Bros. 'contract is finished and now there is nothing left to do for you or me, only on to-night to go down and cut the punt adrift.' I went that night but could not cross the creek, and returned, I said to Jersey Brown, ' I cannot cross the creek ; it is too high for me' He said : ' Why did not you cross it; you said could swim.' I replied: 'I was not going to swim for wages I had already earned without swimming.' He said : ' Don't you and me understand each other.' I said : ' No,' ' unless you pay me for work that I had done lor Gallagher Bros., and iVt 'Quillan.' I xeturned that night, and could not do it. On the following night I went down again in accordance with my employer's desire. I swam the creek ; I landed safe. I lighted no candle, but I went over to where some fallen bußh had been, I saw Wilson and Mr Archer come to the punt to see that she was sale. Charley Wilson said she would do until about 4 o'clock in the morning or thereabouts. I watched them back to the house ; % was in the old hut on the bank at the time : the time was 10*30 p.m. when they went back ; Archer said to Charley : 'Come and have a drink ;' I watched them till they had gone into the house ; I then pulled off my boots to go from the hut to the bank for fear of the dog barking; I got on the cutting and then went to the punt and being well aciquainted wf^it >the punt, I knew which lh *ope* to* cutadrift ; I cut all the ropes except one which Wast under the water fast to the trap ; I cut that at last and shifted the punt out ; she made one crack as if she was coming to her bearings ; I then went home and told Jersey Brown that I had done according to his instructions."

Conversation between Silas Gibson, a Fmbnd, and W. Boebs.

"Jersey Brown was aßked by Archer to come and fetch his mate (meaning me) to assist to get the pant up and to repair her, for which we both received wages." Silas Gibson,— Witnesss : P, M'Guire. He gave as his reason for confession that it was to inculpate Brown, his former mate, who had urged him to the act, and had not paid over a fair share of their joint earnings. On this he was arrested, and on the evidence of Mr Archer and another witness, who proved that Gibson was in the neighborhood of the Landing, on that of Boers and M'Guire who saw him sign the confession, and lastly, on that remarkable document itself, he was committed to take his trial at the next sitting of the District Court. The climax was yet to come however. The police having obtained the committal of Gibson,

produced him on Saturday as a witness to support a charge of inciting him to do malicious injury to property. The case is reported in another column, and it will be seen that Gibson then flatly denied all in his confession, at least as far as affecting Brown, and there being no other evidence againt the latter, he was of course discharged. That the punt was cut away on the night in question is a certain fact, bui whether Gibson was, or was not, laboring under a hallucination in reference to the part he had in it or not will be for jury to decide.