[PRESS ASSOCIATION TKT.JOTWAM.j

DUNEDIN, April 1. The Criminal Sessions opened to-day, Mr Justice Williams, in his charge, said there were not many cases to consider, and none of them were of a serious character. John Graumann pleaded guilty to passing a valueless cheque, and received three years. The Graud Jury returned no bill in the case of Emma Brooklyn for child abandonment and the accused was discharged. Michael Penny, aged thirteen, pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing, and was committed to the Industrial School. James Jones, charged with indecent assault, pleaded guilty to a common assault. The Crown accepted this plea, and sentence was deferred till the afternoon. The rela tives of the prosecutrix then concurring in the reduction of the charge, prisoner was fined £5, and he was liberated. Andrew Dawson, John Horan, James Myall, and John Cunningham were found Oof robbing a miner named v as of £35, and sentenced as follows : —Horan and Cunningham, twelve months each; Dawson, who had been previously convicted, to two years; Myall, previously convicted of a serious offence, to three years' penal servitude. This concluded the criminal sittings.
WELLINGTON, April 1. The ciminal calendar of the Supreme Court, which opens on Wednesday, is un usually light. As yet there are only seven cases, and none of these serious offences.
MAGISTERIAL.
