A Wellington Boy

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 45, 25 September 1886, Page 3

A Wellington Boy

A peculiar case waa heard before the Police Magistrate at Hobart on the 15th instant, arising out of the recent general elections. Colonel St. Hill, whom the electors of North Hobart have chosen as one of their representatives, charged the returning Officer, Mr Davies, with a criminal act in not handing over to him his deSosit of £25, which had been impounedin consequence of the hon. member feeing an uncertificated bankrupt. He knew, of coursc,'that the Returning Officer, who is the Mayor of Hobart, was acting 1 strictly in an official capacity and by the advice of the law officers ; hut he chose to pretend that this official had been guilty of a criminal offence, and sought to get him convicted of it in a Police Court. The result was, of course, that the case was at once dismissed without the defendant heing called en to make any defence, and the Magistrate expressed an opinion that "there was no ease. The Mercury says that the revelations made during the hearing show the necessity of the law of the colony heing so- altered as to prevent bankrupts, without a certificate of discharge, being allowed to become candidates for a seat in Parliament.