South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2390, 13 November 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1880.

A soMKWit.vr interesting: prosecution for larceny occupied the Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The upshot of; the proceedings, taken in conjunction with the whole of the circumstances. seems decidedly unsatisfactory to everyone concerned. The persons accused have been discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence ; the owners of the stolen property have suffered a substantial loss : and the police have the poor satisfaction of having apparently failed in an exceedingly simple case. The circumstances, briefly related are as follows. At the corner of Church and Sophia streets is a substantial two storey building, which was originally designed for a wholesale store, but which to meet the exigencies of the times has been split up into three distinct divisions. Under the same roof, divided by screens of wood and plaster, with doors, windows, and ventilators innumerable, we have a bakery and confectionery establishment, a boarding bouse, and a general store or branch repository carried on by the National Rank. A few weeks ago the apartments used by the Rank being unoccupied, and apparently ‘‘to let” were broken into by some juvenile Aiaddins, and shortly afterwards precious stones and jewellery began to turn up in all kinds of unlikely places. One of the prison gang who are levelling the approaches to the Government buildings, picked up a silver watch among the fk-hri -v ; a baker named Drayton, in the employ of J. R. Witt and Co., found a similar article in a lane at the back of the bakery, and precious stones wrapped in brown paper were banded round like pebbles. The fortunate prisoner was of course promptly relieved of his good luck by a vigilant warder, but the man of pastry was placed in a dilemma, lie exhibited the watch to his friends, consulted them about it, went to a watchmaker, and being assured that the owner if found would have to bear the expense, left it to be repaired, and dually seeing that the store alongside of the bakery boro evidences of having been pillaged, be went to the police station and gave information of the occurrence to the police. The result was, that acting on the information obtained from Drayton, the police discovered that certain boxes of valuables bad been broken open and rilled, and on visiting a bouse occupied by Osborne (the boardinghouse keeper) a quantity of the missing property was found. Suspicion naturally attached itself to Osborne,and he was arrested a few days ago on the charge of burglary. Su far the police seem to have acted with the utmost circumspection. Rut for some reason best known to the police authorities, on the morning of Monday last, when Osborne was to figure before the Bench,the man Drayton, who, throughout the whole proceedings, had been doing all lie possibly could to facilitate the ends of justice, who had originally put the police on the scent of the burglary, and who bad given them every assistance in developing the affair in his power ; this

man Drayton, against whose character no taint or imputation had ever previously been raised, went to the police station for the purpose, as he was led to believe, of being utilised as a witness for the Crown, and, to his intense astonishment, found himself arrested and placed alongside of Osborne in the dock. We need hardly say that the conduct of the police in this matter demands a searching investigation. If men like Drayton arc to be arrested, the ends of justice are bound to be frustrated. Here we have a man, whose character and conduct have never been impeached, rendering an efficient service to the police by disclosing an evident crime, and how is lie treated ? By being arrested after a peculiarly mean fashion, without a moment’s notice, and placed in the dock alongside of the man against whom he was to bo called to give evidence. The treatment of Drayton, absolutely trapped ns be was, arraigned and placed in the dock at the very moment when be anticipated being called on to give evidence for the Crown, demands the fullest enquiry and explanation. If this sort of thing is tolerated, crime will soon become rampant, for Crown witnesses will be afraid to open their mouths. If crime is to be prosecuted and discovered, the informer who gives information to the police must be protected. Why was this man Drayton arrested ? Not because the watch which he discovered was presumably stolen by him, for there was no concealment, no identification, nothing to show that his simple story as to the linding of it was not correct in every particular. Had he acted wisely he would no doubt have surrendered it at once to the police, or else have advertised it, but be acted as wc believe nineteen out of every twenty honest but ignorant persons would have done. He showed it to his friends, consulted a watchmaker, and eventually, when he found presumptive evidence of a robbery, be went to the police. As the result of all this, to the astonishment and indignation of Ids employers and fellow-workmen, he is placed in the dock alongside of the individual in whose house the stolen property lias been discovered. In the annals of the police prosecutions of New Zealand wo believe it would be impossible to discover such a glaring instance of a witness in the interests of justice umlerging the ignominy of a criminal prosecution because he lias rendered valuable information to the authorities.

In directing attention to this singular alVair, we are animated not so nmcli by iinv regard ior tbc wrong that tlio man Drayton lias suffered in being liberated with a grave stigma attached to his character, as by a concern for the public interests. If individuals like Drayton are liable to treatment of this kind, then nobody is safe. More than that, property is rendered insecure by the jeopardy in which persons giving information to the police are placed. The police had they acted in a straightforward manner, had clear evidences of a burglary, and should have been able to have sheeted home the crime to the proper quarter. But justice, in this instance, has been apparently defeated, not through any overzeal, but through a mode of procedure, which to us, seems inexplicable. We are informed that on hearing of his arrest, such was- the indignation of Drayton’s acquaintances and friends, including his employers, that they resolved among themselves to raise a fund for his defence. The proceedings in connection with this burglary persecution present from Jirst to last such a scandalous and disgraceful aspect that we trust the public, the Bench, and the civic authorities of Timaru will take the matter up, and demand a most searching and thorough investigation.