A CRIMINAL CAREER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 239, 8 October 1880, Page 4

A CRIMINAL CAREER.

The NZ. Herald gives the following report of a case_heard in the Supreme Court at' Auckland on Monday last t — Wiliiam Smith (28) pleaded guilty to forging a cheque for £20. The prisoner also pleaded guilty to four pre. vious convictions. The career of this prisoner is extraordinary. He is said to be of a wealthy family in the Northwest of England. His father was proprietor of one of the most influential j newspapers, which sold after his death • for £40,000. The prisoner was entitled to large sums which he received from-, time to time, r He-has not at air tlie appearance of belonging to the criminal ! class. On the contrary^-his appearance jis rather mtelljge^fcatid gentleman-like. jFrom the moment he. landed New 'Zealand he appeared to ha've\ placed jhitDself in the hands of moneylender*. He bought a farm at Papnkura, and 'another afc Whafca-wba f .a.^\When in jMounb Eden Gaol about three years ago, he got sight of a female-prisoner, jwbom he married after they were x both released. There is a child issue of this marriage. The woman was undergoing a sentence for concealing the birth of; an illegitimate child. He pleaded guilty yesterday to no less than four previous convictions of forgery, and bbrainjng. money Abj false pretences. His -Honor, in /pronouncing sentence, said : afc \\he bar, — -a case like yours is one of those things which ho one would believe unless Jia had obtained experience of it as I do in a Court of justice. Vou- seem tp .be absolutely vtrirhoul the power 'of refraining from this species: of crime. Tour history discloses a career of crime. In 1873 you came to the colony. ; In 18.74. --early in 1874 — you were convicted pf three offences, to which you pleaded guilty. For these offences you received concurient sentences of two years^hard labour. Tou must have been liberated b 1 efore"the ' expiry of your*, sentence. Some time in 1875 (4th February) you vjrere again convicted of obtaining money^by false pretences. At tho latter date you received a sentence of tnree years' penal servitude. The (fate of your last discharge was the 20th Jianuary, 1878. Xou come here again without a word to say for yourself, and plead guilty to three other offences of the same description. What am Ito do with such a man as you ? You appear to be a man actually unfit to be trusted wtitb .the exercise of yquj\ own will. If I had a place to send you where your liberty might be restricted to tbe extent that you could use it withoutharm, I would send you there. But I Irnve no such - place at my disposal, "yjour will appears to be so weak that one would be disposed to deem you not wholly responsible. I have no means of judging whether that is so or not, but I au^bburid by my duty "to the pub-

lic to visit your offence with a sentence "that will prevent you, for some time to . coiiie, from repeating it. lam consoled, while passing sentence, that you are acquainted with the Stockade, and that you do not find residence there absolutely intolerable. Such a doom as I am about to pronounce would have some terror for an ordinary person; The sentence on you, is, that you bfe kept In penltl servitude for five years.