NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1599, 2 July 1887, Page 4

NOTES.

That " there's many a slip 'tween the cup and the lip" has its illustration and proof every now and then by the escape from punishment of those who richly deserve it. No doubt it is better that ten rogues should go scathless than that one innocent person should suffer, but for all that it is not without regret that we read of the gaps m the meshes of the law which so frequently permit of unmistakable rogues getting scot-free. Such gaps are very often caused by flaws m indictments, and although it does not follow that a person indicted is necessarily guilty, yet to the person indicted, if he. be innocent, escape by such means must be wholly unsatisfactory, as leaving him m the same position as a person whose guilt or innocence is left m doubt by the Scottish verdict of " not proven," while if he be guilty, the fact that he should escape by such means is a ihing to be deplored by society at large. Of course we have no means of knowing whether it was an innocent or a guilty person who was advantaged at Auckland the t>ther day by such a circumstance, but m either case the result is eminently to be deplored. The case referred to was one of a very novel character. The prisoner was one Alexander Campbell, and the charge on which he was j arraigned before the Supreme Court was that of perjury, and this as what occurred — we quote from a telegram to a contemporary: — "Mr H. C. Brewer, registrar of the Supreme Court, testified amongst other things that defendant upon being sworn, was sworn on the Hebrew Scriptures and with his hat on. As the indictment stated that he was sworn on "the Holy Gospels of God," his Honor stopped the trial, saying he considered it a fatal objection to the progress of the case ; and a short time was given to the Crown solicitor to consider the position. On the Court resuming Mr Earl cited cases m support of his contention. Mr Williamson contended that there was no variation between the indictment and the fact. The mere fact that the defendant was sworn on the Jewish Scripture did not vitiate it. After a long argument his Honor said the variation was vital. He could not say that the Holy Gospel meant the Pentateuch upon which the defendant was sworn, and he had therefore no alternative but to direct the jury to acquit the prisoner. Mr Williamson then asked to be allowed to enter a. nolle prosequi, which after some argument was allowed. His Honor then discharged the prisoner from custody." The Crown having entered a nolle prosequi, we imagine that it is not competent to proceed by a fresh indictment, and hence either a guilty person escapes upon a technicality, or an innocent one is debarred from obtaining an acquittal at the hands of his country. Truly a "most lame and impotent conclusion."

But with all its hair-splitting refine- 1 ments of legal suV.lety, English criminal procedure is vastly preferable to that of France ; and, dense as is the average English juryman, his instincts of justice are apparently infinitely more true than are those of M. Jean Crapaud, For a French jury seems to have a tenderness towards murderers, especially, which is absolutely incomprehensible to the English mind, as witness the almost invariable adden dum of " extenuating circumstances " appended to a French verdict of " Guilty." Nine times out of ten the circumstances attending murder m France are of peculiar atrocity, and merit rathei a rider expressive of horror than a recommendation to mercy. Witness a case of child murder which has been tried at the Nancy Assizes. Here three wretches — a grandfather, an uncle, and an aunt, named Norroy, were placed m the dock, charged with having tortured to death a little girl, aged four, to whom they respectively stood m the relationship mentioned, and who had become dependent upon them by the death of her mother, who was the wife of the son of the elder prisoner. It was shown that the three Norroys agreed that the child was an encumbrance, and must be got rid of, and that they set about killing the poor little thing by slow degrees. The uncle set her to thrash out sheaves of wheat with a heavy bat, and stood over her and beat her with a rod when her strength failed. Neighbours deposed to being wakened at five m the morning by her screams, while the grandfather was cruelly beating her with a bundle of rods, and it was shown that the aunt, when the poor little creature ran to her for protection, kicked her violently and held her between her knees for the grandfather to fbg afresh; that the old man lifted her up by the hair and then dashed her violently to the ground, and that on other occasions he rolled her m the filth of a pigstye, and flogged her with nettles ; that she was thrown down m the ruts of the road with the intention of allowing her to be driven over by a cart, but was saved by a passer-by ; that during winter weather she was taken from before the fire and placed under the pump ; that she was half-starved, and beaten with a burning brand, the doctor counting sixty-two burns on her body ; that she was confined m a kind of press under the stairs of the garret ; that she was tortured and ill-used till her very face had no longer a human appearance, and that finally she was murdered by being smothered with a pillow ; and that the uncle then stuffed a bun down her throat with a view to show that she had suffocated herself m eating it. And m face of all this a verdict of guilty with extenuating circumstances was returned by the jury. If these are extenuating circumstances then we should like to know what are circumstances of aggravation, and we can imagine the possibility of a mere ordinary murderer being looked upon as actually a praiseworthy individual. It may be added that m the case referred to the two male prisoners were each sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude and the woman to twelve. Had they been tried m any part of the British dominions they would' have been sentenced to death, and they would have richly deserved it.

The curious notions which some of our friends at Home have of the way m which to prepare for colonial life, are often productive of much genuine amusement to those of ua who know

what colonial life is. Upon this subject the writer of Notes m the " Dunedin Herald " thus merrily descants : — " A gentleman m England writes me that he thinks of making his son a New Zealand colonist, and by way of pre paration for his intended life pb-e means to send him to some Colonial Training Farm which has been set up, ii appears, m some one of the shires. Bless the man's heart and verdancy, I knew a young man once, who before emigrating, and while on the voyage, set himself to learn Maori, and with the aid of a grammar and a sort of dictionary made great progress. He could talk to his fellow passengers with the eloquence of a Parihaka native, but unfortunately when he came to speak to the Maoris themselves he might have been speaking Greek tor all they could make of it. He spouted and gesticulated and made various s : gnificant signs. The Natives' faces wore a grave smile, they shook their heads, and there an end. English training for colonial life will fare very much the same. :I should like to see the piece of forest m which the young farmers can learn to fell trees and split them into posts and rails ; then the bush track, tortuous, greasy, soft m mud, and hard m stump, is wanted, through which the young men, can draw their load to the open, with a team of young bullocks ; I hope the necessary oaths will not be thrown m, though they incite and cheer the bullocks wonderfully. An occasional morning ride through some scrub on a buck-jumper will also be found a necessary part of this agricultural training. I shall welcome my Iriend's son on. his arrival, and be glad to find his acquired attainments put forth on a fine bush farm on Catlin's River."