Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 12, 1898. Let Truth Prevail.

Manawatu Herald, 12 February 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, FEB. 12, 1898. Let Truth Prevail.

» The late proceeding in the Supreme Court, held in Wellington, ia a wonderful instance of the irony of circumstances, for dining the trial f.-r perjury, an old man, of feeble intellect, and of a a means was pro c,Aedi-.d ugiin.it by tha whole power of ihe Orcwn, and was successfully convicted t;f iha crtnie charged. Wldesire in no way to impeach the verdict of tha jury or to object to the very valuable remarks made by the presiding judge in his address to the jury, in fact we are pleased to see the administrator of our laws setting hi 3 face so strongly against tho very prevalent vice of perjury. As .Hf* Honor the judge said "justice could not be purely administered unless the truth or something like the truth was obtained in the course of a trial of a case," but we cannot help recalling to mind the many instances that more flagrant outrages of the law have been permitted to go un punished. In the case under review vfb find that the prisoner had the misfortune to have one of -the ablest lawyers of Wellington practically as prosecutor, as he admitted in Court chat he had prepared the information and had only got a Maori to swear to it, though that Maori knew nothing of the circumstancp.3 of his own knowledge. The Crown took the prosecution up " as a public duty" and summoned the necessary witnesses without much consideration as to cost, and we do not doubt, from the finding of the jury, proved (heir case. But it is only fair to the accused to look upon his side of the question a3.well. His Counsel com plained to the judge that three witnesses he had summoned had failed to put in an appearance, they not having had their expenses ten dered, and though he bad asked the Crown to help the accused they had resolutely refused to do co. He had explained to the Crown solicitors that these witnesses were noces*ary for the proper defence of the accused, but thpy chose to think diifarently, but aa we shall take ano'her opportunity of explaining the peculiar position of the law on this point, v/v will not now dwoll upon it. We get however to this startling fact that a very old and a very poor man is convicted of a crime which every magistrate in the land" will tell you is common in the law courts, and we find the younger and greater sinners go unproaecuted. The law is often guilty of making some extraordinary contrasts, but we cannot help viewing the ponderous proceedings to oheok the crime of perjury on the part of an old man with one foot in his grave as being similar to the absurdity of employing a Nasmyth hammer to crack a nut with.