The Globe. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 722, 12 October 1876, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876.

There is one of the many contributions by the Government to the periodical literature of the country which deserves more than passing notice. The publication referred to is styled " New Zealand Q-overnment " Gazette, Province of Canterbury, " Police Department." Unlike common newspapers this sees the light at uncertain intervals, and has no fixed date of appearance. So far as one can see, however, it is not intended for private circulation, at any rate no difficulty exists in any person becoming acquainted with its contents, hence the remarks we feel it our duty to make concerning it. It has always been held as one of the maxims of English law—indeed as the very corner stone of the edifice —that every one is deemed innocent until proved to be guilty. The administrators of the law in England and in British colonies are exceedingly careful to see this maxim is carried out in its entirety. But here in Canterbury the Provincial G-overnment, under whose authority the publication spoken of is issued, seems to us consistently to violate what we have always been taught to look upon as a fundamental rule of practice in criminal law. From time to time notifications of robberies and other offences committed appear, in which after giving a description of the property is also given the name of the person suspected at full length. For instance we will suppose the notification to run thus :—" Stolen on the 2nd " inst from John ■ , property as " described. William , height " and general appearance given is sus- " pected." Now the portion of which I we complain is contained in the last I paragraph. Here we have the name, appearance, height, &c, of a person set out at full length in a publication accusing him of a crime. The unfor- ! tunate object ot suspicion is branded at ! once, it may be entirely without foundation, and that too in a public manner. What can be more unfair to say the least of it ? It may be that the prosecutor is instigated by personal spite or malice, and that the suspicion is totally unwarranted. What redress has a man under such circumstances ? None whatever. Only a short time back we had the case of a man being arrested in Wellington on a charge of wife desertion, and brought up here only to find that he in no way resembled the man wanted. This unfortunate man was treated as a criminal, imprisoned, and taken away from his business and family, and the only redress he received was that his passage was

i paid back. But in the cases alluded i to by us there is no redress whatever, j A man may have the stigma of crimiji nality affixed to him, and published j abroad in the community wherein he

| resides, without any opportunity of \ vindicating his character. Such a state of things seems to us to be perfectly unjustifiable. It places any one most completely at the mercy of an unscrupulous person, who from vindictive or other motives may choose to ' trump up an unfounded charge. "We I are not aware whether the practice of

publishing notices of a similar nature in Police Gazettes prevails elsewhere. If so, it is quite time it was put an end to. The telegraph and postal service are at the disposal of the police department, and if it is necessary for rhfl ends of justice that the police should be made aware of the names of suspects in connection with offences, let it be done through these channels. It is quite subversive of all notions of the liberty of the subject that the names of persons who may ':.o entirely innocent of the charges preferred againgst them exparte, should be blazoned forth to the world. When the charge is made the subject of legal investigation the party accused has the opportunity oc .defending himself, and of explaining how be became in acy way connected with the affair. But by the mode adopted by the department, over which Mr Commissioner Sheai -taan rules, he has #o such chance. We all j^ o * T m how P* P er " fectly innocent own have by a train of circumstances become objects of suspicion. But when matters came to be looked into and explained, the suspicion was at once cleared a.way. Such Un* fortunate mist ikes are at times unavoidable, but it becomes quite a different matter when, on the statement of a prosecutor whose recollection or powers of identification may be none of the clearest, the) reputation of a man may be thus taken away without the remotest chance of exculpation. We must strongly protest against such an evil system being perpetuated. It is one thoroughly un-English in its character, as being totally opposed to that love of fair play which is the characteristic oi Englishmen wherever they may be. We trust, therefore,

that the authorities will see their way clear to substitute some system for the present which, while not impairing the efficiency of the police force in the detection of crime, will yet prevent a possibly innocent person being publicly branded with the suspicion of crime.