Law Not Justice.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 644, 24 May 1882, Page 2

Law Not Justice.

The “ glorious uncertainties of the law” are proverbial, and here in Now Zealand the law is as gloriously uncertain as elsewhere, if two Supreme Court cases lately tried at Wanganui and at Auckland, respectively, are to be taken as any criterion. A week or two ago all Wanganui was startled and horrified by the act of a wretch named Reuben Bason, who, without the slightest provocation, or the semblance of a reason, other than the gratification of his brutality, deliberately ripped open his wife’s abdomen with a knife, causing the entrails to protrude. The unfortunate woman literally hovered betwixt life and death for some time, and although she has recovered it has been a miracle. Bason was caught redhanded, and duly made his appearance at the late sitting of the Supreme Court of Wanganui, before the Chief Justice. The indictment against him contained two counts one of attempted murder and one of malicious wounding. The intelligent jury, in the face of the remarkably conclusive evidence (Bason, it was shown, had threatened, before he so murderously assaulted his wife, that he would “ do” for her), merely convicted the rufifian on the minor charge, that of maliciously wounding, and the Chief Justice, with what was surely mistaken and uncalledfor leniency, sentenced the would-be wife-murderer to two years’ imprisonment with hard labor ! And now let us cite another case. At the last Oxford (Waikato) races, as will be remembered. a drunken row occurred, as not unfrequently happens at such gatherings, and in the midst of the disturbances one of the parties concerned received a slab, subsequently succumbing to the injury. The man who struck the fatal blow was a young Maori, who bore an excellent character in the district. This native was tried at the last session of the Auckland Supreme Court for the offence, and was found guilty, after a protracted trial, of manslaughter, the jury, however, accompanying their verdict with a strong recommendation to mercy on account of the extenuating circumstances surrounding the case, 'the blow, it was shown at the trial, was not preconcerted, as in the case of Bason, but was struck in the heat of passion. His Honor Mr Justice Gillies sentenced the wretched prisoner to penal servitude for life. Contrasting these two sentences, one is forced to the conclusion that there must be some truth in the time-honored joke that the result of the case may be largely influenced by what the Judge has had for breakfast.