New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5153, 28 September 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1877.

Those who. are of opinion that the publican lives by fleecing others can console themselves with the reflection that he often gets fleeced himself, and that to some purpose, as was shown in a case at the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, when a young man named Wilson was charged with obtaining by false pretences from H. S. Swain, landlord of the Union Hotel, the sum of £l9. The case in itself was not at all a peculiar one. A young man put up at a hotel, the landlord knew him to be respectably connected, and on the strength of a cheque for £3O, purported to be drawn by a brother of the lodger, the landlord advanced the sum of £l9 in hard cash, and the balance was otherwise made up in “lefreshmonts” and board and lodging. The cheque is presented at the bank.here for collection, (and sent to Wanganui, from whence it is returned with the endorsement “no account.” The above are the bare facts. It was contended by the learned counsel for the defence that the charge of false pretences had broken down, and the magistrate said he was inclined to concur in that opinion, and would alter the information to a charge of forging and uttering. This would, no doubt, have met the ends of justice equally as well as the previous charge. But through the glorious uncertainty of the law arid the cleverness of the counsel this charge also broke down, and on what will appear to everyone as purely technical grounds. The way it was worked was thus : Late on the night of the 3rd September Wilson, who had been stopping at the Union Hotel, told the landlord that ho had a cheque for £3O in his possession, that such a document was too valuable to carry about with him, and that he would be obliged if Mr. Swain would take charge of it. The landlord accepted the custody of the paper. Next day Wilson requested an advance, and Swain gave him £ll, and various other sums in cash, in all amounting to £l9. Counsel for the accused argued that before a charge of the kind could be proved, it was necessary to show that the prisoner had tendered the valueless cheque, and he quoted authorities in support of this contention. No evidence had been adduced to show that the prisoner had put the cheque in circulation. He had simply given it to Swain for safe keeping ; in fact if anyone was guilty it was the latter, for was it not he who had first presented the cheque for payment 1 The Resident Magistrate accepted the interpretation of the law as put forward by counsel, the information was dismissed, and Wilson left the Court, as tho saying is, without a stain upon his character. Such is the brief outline of a case which unfortunately is not unique in our Law Courts. ,We do not wish it to be inferred that wo give an opinion that Wilson was guilty of any criminal offence against the laws of the country : wo accept the legal axiom that every man.is innocent till he is found guilty. But this much is apparent, that,a prima facie case of fraud was established, and that the accused owes his early liberation, to the intricacies and anomalies of the criminal law of England. Though Wilson got off scot free, Swain has not only lost his money, but during the hearing; of tho case was made almost to feel that ho was the erring party, because of the deplorable ignorance he had shown in laying a wrong information—that it should have boon forgery and uttering, instead of false pretences. Forsooth, as if an ordinary

tradesman should know the>, difficulties which surround the initiation Of ' criminal proceedings When even Gr’own Rrosecu- . tors are , constantly being-sat upon by Judges of the Supreme Court for tho want of knowledge they display in preparing cases. The duty is not one which should properly devolve upon a layman who desires to put in motion the machinery of the law, to bring to justice an offender against the laws of the land. It is tho business of those who are paid to represent the Crown to make themselves acquainted with the facts of any criminal charge, and, having done so, to see that the formal requirements of the law are adhered to. It is often said that although the law of England is more complicated and illogical than that of any other civilised nation, on the whole its practical application is comparatively the most satisfactory. It is hard to understand how a law can be satisfactory which in a large percentage of cases fails to meet the ends of justice, and where the failure is based simply on technical and not on common sense or moral grounds. The criminal law is full of loopholes, and it is a very bad case where, with the aid of a lawyer, an offender does not escape. It is no doubt right and proper to caution the accused by telling him to be more cautious in the future, and that he had just made a near thing of it. But in law, as in everything else, a miss is as good as a mile. The passing of valueless cheques is one of the most frequent offences in this colony, and it is perfectly patent that the present law, framed at other times and under different conditions, does not meet the circumstances of the colony. This has for a considerable period been an acknowledged fact, and it is strange that Parliament has not found time to devote some attention to the subject. There are certainly plenty of lawyers in the House, and there should bo no jack of legal talent in framing a law to deter people from the commission of an offence which appears to be on the increase in the colony.