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Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 391, 16 April 1902, Page 2

South Wales the other day Judge Stephens said : “ If calamities and afflictions were visitations of the Almighty for national crimes, such as drunkenness and immorality, as they were taught, he was certain that the rampant perjury that was committed must be a factor in bringing upon them retributive punishment. He would never cease to call attention to this awful evil of false swearing. Nowhere was the name of God taken more in vain than in courts of justice. Men entered the witness box, calling upon God that they were about to speak the truth, and then in the very presence of God they lied.” Judge Stephens perhaps goes too far for some people, but there can be no doubt of the fact in regard to perjury, and apparently it will never be stamped out. The present law is an improvement on the old one, and it is now possible to occasionally make an example such as was done by Mr Justice Conolly on Monday. Misstatements are sometimes made in the belief that they are genuine statements of fact, but that is only a rare thing in the great mass of perjury. The oath undoubtedly has a restraining influence, which is perhaps the strongest reason for its retention.