South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2348, 25 September 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1880.

Skvp.kal weeks ago, when c ov tire second lime, an enquiry into tiro treatment of prisoners in lire Nelson gaol was going on, wc stated that like all enquiries of tiro kind,,tins one would probably lead (o nothing. Commenting on the composition of lire new Board, wc mentioned that the rigid steps had beeir taken for rendering the enquiry “ barren, ineffectual,and unsatisfactory.” Exactly what wc predicted Iras happened. The colony Iras been put to the expense of another mock inquisition and the result is demoralising. The gaol authorities at Nelson, who skewered and gagged an unfortunate prisoner, driven mad by the inhumanity of his previous treatment, have been exonerated. Not only exonerated, but they arc encouraged in a course of conduct that is revolting. The gaoler and his friends have been justified not so much by the badly assorted tribunal that they were called upon to face, but by the alleged victim of; their disgraceful cruelty. It may seem strange to the uninitiated that a prisoner who has been skewered, gagged, and maltreated till insensibility supervenes and bis life is despaired of, should endeavor to screen his tormentors, but nothing is mure natural. Ho is still in their custody. 11 is liberty and life are in their hands. That as the result of several days isolation from the other prisoners, and subjection, presumably, to influences of which we know nothing at present, prisoner Thompson should tender in writing; a withdrawal of charges which he originally made against his gaoler, is not nearly so astounding as is the fact that he should have had the courage to prefer these charges at all. An impartial and satisfactory enquiry into the allegations of brutality made against the Governor of the Nelson gaol and his immediate friends wasGurely demanded ; yet the most eifeetivc means were taken to bnrk the proceedings. The man Thompson, still in the hands of his tormentors —subjected to their keeping—with the fear of further maltreatment or deprivation of liberty for an indelinite period before his eyes, was requited to prosecute. If this was not a renewal of the skewering and gagging process we .should like to know what it was p A poor wretch still on the rack is asked to prosecute bis tormentors! Surely in New Zealand wc have a worse Inquisition than ever was known in Spain !

This is the second enquiry that has been held into the condition oC affairs in the Nelson Gaol, and which has ended in smoke. If half the allegations of cruelly and mismanagement connected with this prison arc true, a third and genuine enquiry is demanded. We have no hesitation in designating the late enquiry like the one that preceded it —a farce. In the first place the tribunal was not a satisfactory one. Despite the circumstance that a second enquiry was demanded because the previous one was believed to be faulty, one of the justices on the original Board was placed on the now one. We care not how trustworthy or estimable this gentleman may be, bis sitting on an enquiry that was subsequently declared to be farcical should have disqualified him from again presiding. Virtually this Justice was asked to condemn his previous finding—to admit that the alleged attrocities bad been hushed up and that be bad been a party to the transaction. But not only was the enquiry conducted by a Board which by virtue of its composition could neither be considered impartial nor above suspicion, but a prisoner who bad still a portion of bis term to servo was ajqmintcd to prosecute. To prosecute who ? His custodian the gaoler who, although unable perhaps to diminish his sentence could add very materially to it, and as his past cxj)eriences had shown,could make things very lively iu his cell. That the evidence

taken under these circumstances, should have been chiedy evidence for the defence, and that no attempt should hare been made to cross-examine the gaoler’s cronies, is no more than could have been expected.

Wo think a third examination into the attrocilies and abuses alleged to have their homo in the gaol at Nelson, is, in the interests of humanity, and for the sake oC the good name of the colony, demanded. A further attempt should be made to shed some light on this matter. This time, however, care should be taken to select a thoroughly impartial tribunal, and, if it is necessary to select the prisoners concerned to conduct the prosecution, they should be placed beyond the reach of the influences under which they arc stated to have suffered. Nothing could possibly be more farcical that to ask a prisoner to prosecute proceedings against his gaoler, and it is a disgraceful thing that the man Thompson should have bad mental cruelly added to physical suffering by being placed in this extraordinary position. If no mitigation of sentence can be allowed so as to obviate the necessity of converting prisoners into prosecutors, then the complainants should be removed to a strange gaol where they will be out of the reach of those who arc implicated. If a change of venue is desirable in any ease it is surely in connection witli a gaol enquiry like that which has just taken place at Nelson.