A TRIBUTE WELL-EAENED.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 51, 2 July 1879, Page 2

A TRIBUTE WELL-EAENED.

■*■/"' ■ r - -.*cv'tt 's^'i-^-S > J? . ''■'.-'■ Our readers^ will-learn with feelings or! pleasure that steps are about to be; jtjta^n by> the 'townspeople to- give .ex- : pres^on to tKe hearty Sympathy wKirl\ is fftlf; ftyi jail roE*Mr ; ; Snbl§pn- m the; trjnng position m which he is- placed. --lnith«S '.whole of the. Manawatu there is no man -who bas/been so long iai!ntJni»il .with the interest!? of the County, or who •flia's sacinflced so 1 much time; for- it,« progreps and welfaite as Mi*. ,SN7?i.' ; >oif: Moßb men mate municipal andypolil,ical .ppsitinnß^iie steppln£C-Rtone«;to... their personnUbenefit uand j igsn^ndisement, but with oitr present worth vJMayor the vpry cftntiiaryi h*a thpiicasc, for others ;Were v**ry prudently atr feridiniK to 1 fheip individual 1 interests^ lie has been de'FQt.infl^his time; attention, and ; ef.ergien to fKe of tlie comin.unity* tp the detriment of- his own privatei^lairns/ If he sought thanlfs oir srratitqde, or. if either of the commodities would pass curjiept a.s a tnarlc etable coini then we f<«el he has been -m some.' jnea^ure compensated .';■■-. but m addition to that grflfitude which we feel sure has

now arrived when some sabstantial recognition of it should take place. As is well known, a circumstance has oc-ic-urred v^hlch places him m a most inyidious position — one which not only .;threatjens;tp. render him powerless for good m the future, but to cast a shadow upon that; fair game which he had so deservedly won. He now stands comr mi tied 'for trial, and although the caijse for such a position has been vexatious and frivolous m the extreme, still the effect is by no means tri^iug. Tjtose who are acquainted with the nature of the sorcailed offence for which Mr. SsBLSoy has beeji committed to answer, • are well aware that it is one into which ni'iety-i^ine oi}t> of every hundred of colonists 5» p ould beled most unthinkingly. The AVrns Act, under which he is charged, has been drafted m such' a j style that were its provisions parried I out with cast-iron firmness, no one's liberty ;> r ould be safe, a-nd that one statute- wonld be a perfect patent for the perpetration of the grossest injustice,; inasmuch as an offender through ignorance, without the slightest orimi: nal intention, would be liable to loss of liberty, or being mulcted m a heavy penalty without hope of appeal. Although m the framing, of the Act the mover allowed no loop-hole for a breach without punishment, still, as it I was known that fo administer it strin- i cently would be .nothing more nor less' than legislative persecution and irif justice, consequently:; a clause was appended as a kind of safety-valve against oppression . It read s as folio ws :-rr Itishall be lawful for the Attornoy-general afc any step of anyproeeediHgs for an offence under the Act,. to'entcx.A riolle prosequi, or to dißcbntihuo any procqodings. m any Oourb, op before any Justice of the Peace, and thereupon all further proceedings ghall b.e stayed m such prosecution. The officer who prosecuted, the Bench before whom tlio charge was heard, and the entire- Press of the Coast— with the one notable exaeption of the notorious Wiper i oi Marton— have been unanimous lii acquitting Mr. Snelsox tif the slightest intention of knowingly evading the Act, and ii drawing attention to the 58th 'Clause, which formed a safeguard against oppceiision,--'t'ie-''c6mmit-ti ngf. .Magistrate, not ■ only advised. Mr." •SHBtiSbijr io shelter himself "ufider a provision- which was specially enacted io nieefc cases such as his, but Mr, Ward further stated that if such step were taken- he would njost heartily giv.e ~\ it his support. In another column' it is notified that a monster meeting will be held m the Tdtvn Hall on Monday evening, to take steps to have a mer morial forwarded .to the £aw- Officer of the Crown, and we trust to see on. that occasion such a muster as bag never been seen within its' walls before: Independently of the fact that a fellowsettler — whom police, Bench, and public acquifc o£ all intention of guilt— is pla ced m a most iuvi dioup position, his pfficial position,- and his great claims upon the community, demand that there should ho a hearty response to the 'appeal. He has. always been the leader when any publicgood or private charity Was :to be carried out, and for that pea son, biit more particularly to sympawith\ ail innocent man who /finds himself saddled, with a serjbus crime, we say let not one nian^top a*^,y from the meeting. ' ; - ..,.;. „