THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1759, 9 October 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1879.

His Honor Mr. Justice Johnston, in passing sentence on McCallum, convicted of receiving stolen property, stated that he should always visit the crime of professional receiving with the utmost severity, as it afforded every inducement for the formation of criminal classes, In the case in question, however. His Honor did not think the prisoner was one of this class, and ho would, therefore, treat the case as a first offence of larceny and pass only a light sentence, viz.—six months’ imprisonment with hard lahonr. The paramount necessity of acting in the manner in which His Honor stated that he always intended to act is at onco selfevidont. It is above everything advisable that the germ of any attempt to form an organised criminal -class: shall be at once destroyed. In dlder' communities the extent to -which what; may be called “ a criminal state ” hasj been found acting within and yet apart from the ordinary body politic, is almost: inconceivable. These unfortunate people; are, as the London “ Times'” has lately; remarked “at once of and not of 'the: English people. They come tfonth from the body of law-abiding citizens. When, their sentence is wholly or partially 1 served out, they are absorbed backiinto: that body. Yet before conviction they were strangers to it; after conviction they remain strangers to it still.” Legislators framing regulations for the-control; of the criminal classes are obliged to treat them “as human and English,-and yet to remember all the time that they have the propensities of wild 'beasts.” The members of this strange society are, indeed, in open rebellion against all human laws, and the form taken Iby that revolt is an abhorrence of all -regular labor. Of course its members are not all equally bound to the imperium inimpario which they serve. Some of them are only commencing to fall out of the ranks of ordinary citizens and are only visiting the outskirts of the regions where they may finally elect to spend the remainder of their lives; but they perhaps have less chance of escaping from the fatdl-seduc-tions of their new surroundings than might he ordinarily supposed? and, for this reason, the -creed of crime -is a proselitizing creed. A hardened -criminal will not remain satisfied if he sees one on whom he fancies ho has influence -escape back into the ordinary walks of life. Ordinary professions are not .proselitizing; indeed, as a rule, they .are rather the contrary. For instance the legal profession is anything but anxious to recruit its ranks from all sides. The : less numerous are the gentlemen of the long robe in any particular city -or dis-| trict the more loaves and fishes there are! to be distributed. Doctors are not con-: stantly -inviting gentlemen to join their: hand and assist them in pouring l -piiik: mixtures down the throats of the' population at large. And so on through the; remainder of the liberal professions, and indeed through a long list of trades that might he drawn out. The Royal Com-1 mission that about a year and a half ago j was appointed by the Imperial Parlia-i meat to report on the penal ser-vi-; vitude system, and which has just sent in j the results of its inquiries, has weighed - and deliberated on all these facts withl ■the greatest care. It mainly recommends | a scientific classification of prisoners. It: - advises that “to check this recruiting of 1 ■the army of political criminals, a separate I - class should he formed of convicts, subject to certain exceptions, who had not -been previously convicted.” The alterations suggested would involve a considerable change in prison organization, hut the .extra expense would be well balanced by the check given to the increase.of crime. His Honor Justice Johnston- is heartily to ho sympathised with iin his resolve to nip in the bud any attempt at the formation of a dan-gerous.-class such as we have alluded to. But at 'is .absolutely necessary that our prison (Organization should be reconstructed. Not only in the difficulty that is constantly cropping up of disposing of youthful .offenders, do we see that the present -state of affairs is anything but desirable. If our Legislature wishes to prevent the possibility of the criminal imperium in imperio that obtains*in older countries, it must set its shoulder to the wheel and see that our gaols are not made recruiting grounds where the hardened criminal is the recruiting sergeant for his army of brigands.

The reckless extravagance of Insurance Companies in rewarding those who, by their exertions and often at great personal risk, succeed in saving the said companies from heavy losses, is likely to become proverbial in these colonies. The action of our Underwriters’ Association with regard to the services of the tug in -Lyttelton harbour during the late gale has already been commented on in those columns. A little story now comes from Sydney, which shows that this disease of reckless extravagance is rapidly becoming chronic among the Companies. A Mrs. Maclntyre, by her pluck during a fire in Castlereagh street, saved an insurance company over £IOOO, and was rewarded with a gift of 40s, As Mrs Maclntyre, in quenching the fire with counterpanes and blanketting was 26s out of pocket, she will, remarks a contemporary, if she lives long enough, probably learn the lesson that, as a rule, virtue must be its own reward. No doubt shareholders’ interests are to bo consulted, but whether such interests are in reality served by this mode of proceeding is open to question.