The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 11.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 393, 11 May 1880, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 11.

The two late abortive criminal prosecutions for libel having now long passed the stage of sub judice demand a passing notice at o*r hands., possessing, as they do, a three-old interest in their relation to the Press, the Public at large, aud that privilege which Englishmen are supposed to prise so highly—personal liberty. Wi.h regard to the first of these relations we are not going to indulge in an; platitudes or truisns about '• Liberty of the Press" and " Palladium of our liberties," &c. As a matter of fact, the

Press is absolutely free. Any man may speak, write, print, or publish exactly what he thinks fit, subject, of course to the necessary condition that if what he publishes is injurious to his neighbor or to the public weal, he may be called upon to justify his conduct, and if he can be proved to have maliciously in jured his fellow citizens or the State, he may bo punished for the act, cither criminally or by being mulcted in pecuniary" damages. So far all is p?ain sailing, and any journalist whom twelve of his countrymen find guilty of such wilful and malicious conduct has only himself to thank for whatever may befall him. It is as reasonable that he who filches his neighbor's good name should suffer for the act, as that the more igno--1 rant thief who steals a purse should expiate the same.

The two cases referred to, however, show that, if the rending of the law laid down by the prosecution in each of them be correct, any malicious bully, without a shadow of a case, may subject a journalist to all the annoyance, expense, and, to a certain extent, degradation, of being sent for trial like a common pickpocket, and when he is called upon to substantiate his accusation before a jury of his countrymen and a learned judge, instead of some Justice Shallow, may turn tail and run away, thereby confessing himself in the wrong, but at the same time chuckling at the annoyance he has been enabled to inflict, and expressing himself publicly, as was done in one of the late cases, that " his object had been attained " —presumably that his victim had been sufficiently worried. Each of them might exclaim, in the language of the poet— "Thrice armed is he who has his quarrel just, But more so he who gets his blow in fust." Our readers are probably sufficiently acquainted with the main features of the cases " Crisp v. Ivess," and " Stead v. the proprietors of the Otago Daily Times" as to render it unnecessary for us to recapitulate them ; and, in fact, the details of each case are immaterial to the point at issue—which is the undue facility at present offered to any unscrupulous person to inflict great injury upon any journalist, and then turn tail and run a "ay when called upon to substantiate his case—in fact, to emulate the conduct of the small boy who flings a stone at another whom he dare not face, and immediately bolts round the corner. We have referred to the law, as laid down by the prosecutors in each of the cases, and we have no hesitation in saying either the law as so laid down is incorrect, or else it stands in need of immediate alteration. It was contended that it was sufficient for any person to come before a Magistrate, and say that a paragraph in any given newspaper was, in las opinion, libellous ; in' fact, was in any shape or form annoying and distasteful to him, to make it the duty of the Magistrate to commit the publisher of the paper to be tried as a criminal. In the case of" Stead v. the Otago Daily Times." a still more monstrous doctrine was laid down. It was then gravely and successfully urged upon the Bench that they must hold a number of gentlemen criminally liable for the act of some one in their employ, no guilty knowledge or complicity on their part being; ; even averred. If a servant, acting undeft , ' any general orders, damages any bore property, it may be fairly arguable that his employer is pecuniarily liable, but to say that because my servant steals a watch, I should be sent to jail, is such n, stretch of impudent absurdity that we wonder that even the intelligence of the average J.P. did not revolt at it. It was contended then practically that the prosecutor need only complain that some article wae calculated to damage him, even to the extent of " hnrting his feelings," to make it incumbent on the Bench to put the accused to the annoyance, expense, and we may say ignominy of appearing as a an'minnl before a judge and jury, and in the interval, in default of bail, to send him to herd with felons. Neod we say that such a course is radically wrong ? It is the plain duty of a magistrate when he is asked to send a case for trial to satisfy himself—(l) That a crime has been committed; (2) that there is a prima facie cese against the accused ; and (3) that...there is a reasonable probability of a ju'y convicting on the evidence. JNo amount of bullying ou the part of a third-rate attorney can divest the magistrate of this responsibility.. Now the very fact of the prosecutors in. these two cases turning tail and declining to face a jury \ shows that certainly these three conditions had not l<een complied with ; probably they w«re aware that they could not even prove the first.

We have said that this matter had a ithree-tbW aspect. We will only point out, in conclusion, that a fearless and independent Press is a great public advantage —that if journalists are intimidated in the execution of their duty by anscrupulous prosecutors, ignorant attorneys, and incompetent magistrates, the public can but lose, and quacks, impostors, and evil-doers generally be the gainers. As to personal liberty, our readers may remember that a person committed for trial is bound to be incarcerated up till the sitting of the Supreme Court if he is unable to iind bail—a not unlikely contingency, so that a malicious prosecutor might enjoy the vision of the insm whom he wished to ruin being caged with malefactors as well as undergoing the other annoyances of the position to whichije has been brought. We shall be very \nuch surprised it the two cases to which>e have alluded do not draw

such an amount of attention to the law of criminal libel as to cau,se some modification of its provisions.

It is one thing to be able to point out an evil, but. an entirely different thing to be able to prescribe the remedy. We have lately done much to draw the attention of the ratepayers to the wretched state into which Municipal affairs have drifted in Akaroa, and we are not surprised to find that they have been awakened from their lethargy and startled to find themselves so near the brink of a financial precipice. The result of this discovery has been that several of our leading and most influential citizens have resolved to take immediate steps towards setting affairs into their proper groove again. We only regret to find that the unanimity so necessary for the success of such a praiseworthy understanding is wanting ; our citizens are divided in their opinions as to the best remedy to adopt, and for the greater part ot Saturday and all day yesterday the Borough was put in a state of excitement through two petitions which were being presented to the ratepayers for their signature, the one being promoted by Mr G. W. : Nalder, solicitor, and the other by Mr W. H. Henning. The first praying the Government to send down an auditor to overhaul and andit the Council's Books, stating that irregularities of every description had been countenanced and performed by the Council, and that for the interests of the ratepayers, some competent person should be appointed to investigate matters, and quoting several clauses of the Municipal Corporations Act. The latter praying the Government not to interfere in the matter, drawing attention to the great outlay such a stop as the one petitioned for by Mr Nalder and others would entail on a Borough already in debt and likewise stating, and as we consider truly, that although affairs municipal may be in a bad state, still that there are honest and true men to be found in the Borough who are perfectly competent and would be willing to undertake the duties. The matter is a most important one, and wo consider, to do justice to it, a public meeting of the ratepayers should be called in order that their opinion might be heard ; but so far as we ourselves are concerned we cannot too strongly express any disapprobation of the petition pre pared by Mr Nalder. None in the whole Borough are more willing to admit, than we ourselves are, that our municipal affairs could not be in a much worse state than they are at present; but we consider that the cause is not hard to be found, and when the cause of an evil can be found.and overcome, then the evil itself will disappear. We have no hesitation in saying, and we cannot help whom it may offend, that the wlioln cause is owing to the persistent *ray in which the very men who are most fitted for the office of councillors lmvo refused to allow themselves to be elected —have done even more thrfH that—have , , in a self-satisfied sort of way, been content to allow things to go on as they have, and have even laughed at the follies committed by tlu; they have put in authority. 'We believe now, however, they see tkCur uptake ; they have found out that'playing with edged tools is a dangerous "game, and. have at last made their minds to come out of their shells and assume the reins of power in their own hands ; ancl if a few of those who at present form; the Council, and who are utterly unfitted for the post (it would be invidious ■ (to specify any 1 by name), would but haye the good sensti to resign their seats dnd male, room for good men, we have little ')qubt the Borough could hold its own with any other. This, however, is somewhat wandering Com. the!point.at issiJe.. We would wish io point out ;to tfie ratepayers firstly the" direct'insult such a petition as Mr Nalder's is to efory ratepayer in the Borough of Akaroa'.v.ln all fairness to that gentleman, we would observe that a loophole has certainly been given for such an insult; but stifl no other interpretation can be given for such a petition than that no one can be found in the Borough both honest enough aniflcompetent enough to undertake such a 1 work. {Surely it is enough to make all J Akaroa hide their heads, if, by putting their names to the petition, they; tacitly acquiese in such a sweeping condemnation. Surely it is not absolutely necessary that because up to the present moment competent auditors have not been obtained, they are not to be found. We think it is merely because they have not been looked for, and we are »f opinion that it would be no impossibility to produce men amongst us quite as competent for the undertaking as any the Government would be likely to send us. Secondly, we would wish to draw attention to the heavy expenditure such a step /Would be entailing upon the Borough. We have little doubt that £100 would not cover it. Surely any of our ratepayers looking around them and seeing the urgent and manifold wants the Borough has of money to carry out repairs, would hesitate before putting their names to a petition which would swallow up such a sum, when it might easily be saved and put to far better advantage. In conclusion, dare we for one moment lift the veil of futurity, and give our ratepayers a peep into the probable result of such a step were it once carried out ? We could not, perhaps, more forcibly explain the probable result of such an intervention us is prayed for, than by directing the attention of our readers for a short time to events chronicled by history, and which took place in the year a.d. 449. It was at that period that our ancestors, the ancient Britons, finding the protection of

the Romans withdrawn from them, that' people having affairs of their own of importance to attend to, and finding themselves persecuted by enemies, and their powers weakened by civil factions, called in the assistance of the Saxons to aid them in overcoming of their difficulties. The Saxons did so, but were afterwards so pleased with Britain that they refused to leave it, and in time took the whole of the couutry for their own. Or again, we might quote the fable of the two cuts applying to the learned monkey for jurisdiction, the point of contest being as to the equal division of two portions of plunder. The monkey willingly undertook the task, and began swallowing a piece off one, then off the other portion, until he deemed a fair division had been arrived at, and then swallowed the remainder as his fee. In a word, we consider the step taken by Mr Naldor a most injudicious one. The Government allocate certain rights and privileges to a Borough, and certain functions aud duties to perform, and are by no means anxious to step in and wrest those powers from it. But one thing may certainly be looked for, should the matter be forced upon the Government and it becomes necessary for it to step in with its intervention, the result will be much as in the similes quoted. , We may certainly have our financial affairs put straight, but that we should be stripped of all municipal privileges and functions, that all subsidies would be cut off, that our reserves would be taken from us, that, in fact, we should cease to be any longer a Borough, as the Frenchman would observe cela i)a sans dire, in other words, is an incontestable fact. We very much hope the ratepayers will be persuaded to see the matter in the same light as ourselves. We fully appreciate the energy displayed by Mr Nalder, and we doubt not that gentleman is in all conscientiousness acting according to his ideas of right and wrong, but at the same time we consider them mistaken ones, and we trust that none of this new energy which has sprung up like a mushro.mi may die out, that our ratepayers nuiy not be in a hurry to abdicate all power* iwtftftW in them, but may for the future take i sufficient interest in municipal matters as to elect competent mea buth as councillors and auditors. As a last should any be wanting, we would urge the loss of time that would be entai'ed in such a step, and at the same time point out the injustice it wooai be, seeing that the Finance Committee, or we might more properly say tue Chairman of the Finance Committee, have worked hard during the last fe» days to vanquish the numer-ous-obstacles which they have hud to encounter, and we certainly consider, before any step be taken in the matter, they should have an opportunity.granted them of laying before the Council the result of their labors.