MR. BARTON'S INCARCERATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 554, 9 February 1878, Page 2

MR. BARTON'S INCARCERATION.

The following letter from Mr. Barton's son, published in the Post (We"ington), has been published by the Star:— Sir, —My father having been committed to gaol under the same regulations as criminals, he is therefore precluded from issuing an address to the electors of Wellington, as also from making any other communication to the public; may I therefore ask your permission to make known the fact that he intends to stand for the coming election for this city ? The evening papers are so loud on what they term my father's " monomania for think- 1 ing himself exceptionally treated." The warrant for his committal, of which I have a certified copy, is an " exceptional one it does not specify what the act of contempt was, but merely says that George . Elliott Barton has been judged guilty of "a contempt of Court." Inconvenient people have been sent to Cayenne 011 such warrants, but Englishmen arc .v 0 ~ "t to - boast that they live under ...nM" of regime, and late cases in England show that the particu'avs of contempt must be ' stated, as otherwise there is no ground 011 which to appeal should the nature of the punishment be improper. On the occa- 1 sion of my father's committal he had reiterated a statement which believes to be true, a statement which he had lately - offered to prove in the proper place to be " true, a statement which he has been sedul- . ously prevented from proving tp be true, a statement which for anything shown to the contrary he will yet succeed in proving to be true. His offence, if any, is not a crime, yet he is treated as a criminal.

I am informed that ho was handed over to the governor of tho gaol " withom special instructions"—which moans thi| ho is to be treated a as criminal withom hard labour. In England a person fo, contempt is simply deprived of liber 1 -- nothing more ; friends being allowc" access. The very recent case of tho rtt Arthur Tooth is a well-known instance' Will the public believe that my father j, in a tin a white-washed cell, on cnaty half rations served up in a tin billy mj on a tin plate, and' that ho daro not even smoke a pipe beyond the " two per diciti" prescribed by tho regulations for crinij, nals I Added to this, ho is without wash, ing apparatus beyond tho pump in tli ( yard. Will the moat prejudiced person dare to say that this is not "exceptional treatment" for so shadowy an otfunq as contempt of Court I His friends liavt no access to him except under a permit, sion from tho Visiting Justices, and Mr, Pearce to-day refused someleadingeitizom even clients on urgent business) permission t>> see him, stating that in his opinion j| was improper to grant so many onion nod that he had called a meeting of t) 1( Visiting Justices for to-morrow, to deal with the question. Is ruining a nian'i business by cutting oil' his consultation with his clients part of his pnnishniont or is it "exceptional treatment'/" Is con, victs' fare a lawful punishment, or is it "exceptional treatmentTho law in England is the same as ; n New Zealand with regard to contempt cascfj, and 1 say without fe ir uf contradiction, that if mj fatlieii were in England, and were com mitted for o< .n tempi, ho would bo allowed to provide his own table, and to receiv< his friends and transact his business— in short, he would be deprived of nothing but permission to Jo: »e his place of con. linement. And now 1 ask tho journnliati who deny the "exceptional treatment,' is it in accordance wil li British fair plnj to write r, man down while his mouth j closed by tho ivjulaiion for thirty dayi, or whether they will own that this toou "exceptional troaiment'{" And now] appeal to the electors oc this city, in tin interests of justice, to stand by my father in the coming election, and not to alio* the attack's of tho Press, though unat: swered during tho thirty days, to projii. dice his candidature. I ask them at lead to preserve their votes until they hoar liii statement. —I am, «&c., Elliot TyEsTitAMJu Baiiton,