The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1883. The Longhurst Case.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1015, 3 December 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1883. The Longhurst Case.

At last, it is to be hoped, we have do.te with the Longhurst case. This nauseous business has formed the subject of much discussion and a good deal of strong feeling has been manifested in the matter. From the time when Adams, the father of the child upon whom the assault was alleged to have been committed, was found not guilty upon what appeared to be a merely technical law point, a considerable amount of sympathy has been expressed with the prisoner who was serving his sentence. Public meetings were held, petitions were presented to the Governor praying for Longhurst’s release, and finally the case was made the subject of a debate in the House of Representatives. This last feature of the affair was certainly the most disgraceful, inasmuch as it was an attempt to discuss a question on a political basis which had nothing whatever to do with politics. The judges of the Supreme Court had decided that the guilt of Longhurst had been fully proved, and it was manifestly wrong to try to coerce them to alter their decision by means of a popular outcry. What the Government should have done when Mr Shaw brought forward his motion on the subject was to declare that it was no business of the House to review what took place in a Court of Justice, and we feel sure that the colony would have supported them. The idea that a representative assembly is to dictate to the Judges as to what decision they must come to in particular cases is nothing less than monstrous, and if a precedent like that established in this instance is followed, it will be a manifest danger to the State. To allow the debate to go on was practically to infer that the men who sat on the Supreme Court Bench were either corrupt or unable to properly value the evidence brought before them, and it is absurd to imagine that one or the other of these accusations could be justified. The Government, however, had not the courage to act firmly and decide the question on their own responsibility, and they accordingly agreed to the resolution of the House to have the case remitted to the Governor, leaving him entirely unfettered by Ministerial advice. Sir William Jervois might very properly have declined to go into the question, and no one could have found fault with him for so doing ; but fortunately he is not one to shirk what he considers his duty, however unpleasant he may regard it. He has carefully examined the evidence, and has come to the conclusion that there has been no miscarriage of justice, so that the friends of Longhurst must necessarily make up their minds that that criminal will not regain his liberty till the sentence passed upon him has transpired. Against this verdict there is no possible appeal, and everybody will be glad to know that there is at last an end to this unpleasant matter. That the House of Representatives in discussing this question were travelling out of their province cannot be denied, but those members who took up the affair with such energy were no doubt acting with the best intentions, albeit that fact cannot be accepted as an excuse. The final result shows how easily men unaccustomed to gauge the value of evidence may be deceived, and also the mischief that would be caused if the administration of our laws were liable to be interfered with by Parliament. The duty of the latter body is to make the laws of the colony, but the judges alone have the power to administer them, and it is to be hoped that New Zealand will never be disgraced by such a spectacle as was witnessed last session, when the House attempted to usurp the functions of the judicial bench. What probably aroused the strong feeling in regard to the criminal Longhurst was the idea which got abroad that Adams got off upon a purely technical point. The average Briton’s heart is always stronger than his head, and when he takes a notion into his noddle that an injustice is being done it is idle to attempt to reason with him. Fiat justitia ruat ccehim is his motto, and he rushes at his object like a bull at a gate. But now that this business is concluded, and the Longhurst advocates have time to consider the merits of the case more calmly than was possible before, they will probably see that although Adams was acquitted upon a law technicality, it by no means follows that he would have been convicted had the case been allowed to proceed. At all events, it may be taken for granted that the Governor did not base his decision upon the legal aspects of the case, and as it would be ridiculous to imagine he could be affected by a bias either one way or the other, the final verdict is unquestionably the right one, and if Longhurst had been released in response to popular clamour, a dangerous criminal would have been let loose on society.