THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15, 1879. INGREASE OF PERJURY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 83, 15 October 1879, Page 3

THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15, 1879. INGREASE OF PERJURY.

Fhose whose duty, business, or inclina.ion leads them to attend-; the various jourts of judicature m the- colony; canlot fail to be struck t w&U .the/large— -. r© n^ght 7#ell say -the appalling-=---irapMht of false swearing which is Vcontnually manifesting itself ip our Cemples of Justitfe.^^The tendency hereto seems to be ingrained m our rery nature. /We meet "jfith instances >f it m the earliest records of history, lacred or profane, .p The light m which he enormity of the crime was viewed ian best bt, gatheredrf rom the nuuishdent. /Thus wa^fitidi that m the most iighly-civilised nations of antiquity the • tensities with which its commission Fas visited were extremely and n^hp case mote /tfathin in-that of the dost ancient nation of; which' we havecy authentic : records-Trthe Jews, y Unter/the/ Mosaic dispensation we, find hat the penalty was death by-jstff.ning. Po what cause we are to- attribute- the >resent wide-spread ■prevalence of the vil. we know not/unless indeed it is to jib/ found: m theucpmparatiye immunity ifforded by modern legislation to its pmmission. / But .whatever /./be the, ausff, certain it is that . the evil is far Sore general than.super£i<?ial observers, ir those who have', habityated thenielVes to" draw ■ tf rose-tinted /.picture of »ur common humanity, are apt to imajine.v -Scarcely a week passes; by. with»ut some glaring* instance of it manigifting itself m one pr other of our sburts7 A great deal : of . this, apises, it §: true, f rom thoughlessnbss,inadyerfcince, or ignorance. How many cases ire continually arising m whjbhrTfiti'bssef flatly contradict each other's estimon'y pn questions of fact— matters ibout which there ought to l)e do nistaTce.. One witness swears that he (bard certain words uttered, qr certain icti/done, on; a particular occasion. Another witness, /who niay. have also M»n present, "shears that the words m lueahoa were not uttered,, or that the icts m question were ijdf /doUe^. simply ifecause he neither- saw /the i one nor ieard the other. Such a witness. may je strictly conscientious and 'desirous if telling the truth, and withqut wishing,- by his;- eXidence.Vto; give ;even ? the .east coloring to his version of the translation, and no doubt/i^duldihe. highly hdignant if it were alleged that he had lot spoken the-tri^th. > It would indeed >c harsh m the extßeme/to charge si*,ch witlj. perjury^ simply because ie had not been sufficiently /Sareful m 'raming his answers, to the ..questions nit lo him. But there is class >f witnesses— and, we are sorry to* say,' .very numerous class too.^foV whom 10 such palliating circumstances exist — persons who do not boggle or hesitate » go deliberately into the witness r box fully prepared to. swe^r wh^t tbey must know, an 44^ know, to be false. The motives for such condqet are not;very lifficult to traob., S,el- 7 ii}.tbre-dv tlie (creeping of a friend, or the wreaking" *»f vengeance on : a foe, frequently supplier /irresistible inducements to the sommission o.f perjqcy, ; Qther cases here are, agam, m which witnesses. nake statements on oath directly conj|»dictory th,e one, of the Mother, and imounting to legal fterj^rjr/in' which' it I impossible to detect tub least sympam of motive qh" the part of the false iwearer for committing sq grave a prime. We have been led to these remarks by a case which occurred, during the [ast sitting of $he Resident Magistrate's Court at Feilding. It was ,a.n aetib.n to ppcoTer the 'amount of /an alleged dishonored prpniissory note,! - (Jhe peculiarity of- the transaction/ \""ss, that the defendant being unable -to write, had, it waj. alleged, mqde. his marlrin the psual way.*«^The ' plaihtifE's . swore mo^t- positively .that V the , defendant Jiad made his mark, as it apt peared on the dpQuoient, jn his presence, and that h.a one Jet|e was preSbht-^-a statement which /dre"-y frotq the defendant the^ill-suppressedNohjnrgatiph^ V You scoundrel:}''^distinctly l fe to/the Bench, defendant, wheji facing examined on oath; denied having affixed his mark toi the" document, which fee repeated over and .ov*r agaih.ad /■■ ing, m most solemn terms of afflrmatio , that he had not seen the document before that day, when it was produced m ji^tjjt. magistrate declined to

undertake the responsibility of deciding as to which of the, two was the witness of truth, but granted a non-suit, ob•serving'tllilt there; was ample evidence of wilful and corrupt perjury having been committed. ; ' With* the proofs which are almost daily cropping up of the frightful increase of this crime before us; we cannot help expressing a strong opinion; •that they cry aloud for the amendment of the law regaling, perjury. It is painfully-evident that/the /deterrent" element is not sufliciently potent, and untilit be made; so, we, shall lookirf Vain for any diminution of the evil. We do hot see wrhy the range of punishment should hot be^extended.'so as to include, at the discretion of the judges, m very gross case's, "penal servitude for life, or at: any , rate for a mnch,lbnger ..period than it now sanctions. .': We are no advocates for extreme, punishments, as they are apt to defeat their object; '• '•■Tlii-f is -clearly sliowhvjh case;s. of infanticide, m which r in nine , but of ten; the capital cha-'ge is reduced to the •minora one " of Vjjoncealment'pf. birth, because* juries are loth to coiiyict ,on the former by reasbn of the diieiad^entence which such convictions would.'inyolve. We 'think, however, ;'^hat' until .somemore repressive, measures are .resorted to, we shall witness, instead of a diminution, a still further increase of an evil , which is sapping ,;the foundations of igpraptj, eating in^ iti very vitals; and tehdlngV' more jtfian any Vbthett—in'temperance alone excepted— to demoral-ise-the-inasses}by lnducihgVaii* habitual j disregard- of the l.ehes'ts off truth, and 4i of"the sanctity and ohligations of an. oath, „.- ..' -. './..: -'-- — .•-..-_- y.y....:. ._._/.