CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND.

Southland Times, Issue 544, 20 August 1866, Page 6

CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND.

The past month has brought to light an fttnonnt of crime almost too awful to be recorded. Durinfjt the abort space of a tew hours no Icsb than six murders wore I committed on the high way to the West Coast, by n ganj? of douhly^convioted criminals* They have been arrested, and one of the band has turned Queen's cvi* denee, and speedy juatioo will no doubt overtake them all. Still, we cannot hut feel that we are now reaping: the bitter fruit of the seed sown by the home country. The recent outrages, and cold-blooded murders, which have been nerpetrated between Nelson and the "West Coast, bring vividly before us the evils of the old transportation B7stem that brought to the neighboring colonies the mosthardened, demonaie-minded men that ever loft their country for their country's good. The account of the murders, to which we allude, present features of a character more ferocious than can be found in the annals of crime eveu in New South "Wales. Tour doubly-con-victed villains, of the blackest description — men who were not deemed fit to live in the home country, wero forwarded to a neighboring colony, to be let loose, and with greater latitude carry out their infamous propensities among a scattered population. ThoNewZealandeai % eerofthe blood-stained criminals, Burgesa, Levy, Kelly, and Sullivan are unparelleled — all known criminals, previously convicted of crimes that should have earned for them, at their first conviction, such a sß'.tence as would have for ever excluded the possibility of again boing in a position to become a terror to their fellow-meu. What are the facts ? Four British convicts, guilty of crimes of the most aggravated character, are transported, they are soon set at liberty, and find their way to Victoria, and again perpetrate foul and murderous deeds. Here again, the strong arm of the law overtook them, and penal servitude once more became their lot. Hut what good did this all do ? They afterwards gained their liberty, and agnin returned to their evil ways more hardened, and bloodthirsty than ever, and the result is that six valuable lives have been sacrificed. The Mungatapu murders have no equal in the nnnals of crime. The contemplation of the fearful tragedies creates thoughts as to the system of penal punishment. It suggests painful reflections as to the culpability of England in deluging the colonies with a ffood of her own wickedness. What right has any country to turn even a wilderness into a school of sin — to pollute a young nation from its birth, and to saturate, with its own corruption, the source from whonce countless generations are to spring ? Yet this is what England has done. As long as it was possible to thrust into the colonies the scourings of her prisons, either openly or covertly, she did so, and what is the consequence? Tn New Sonth Wales the seed o^ crime w,is so lavishly scattered that even now a daring criminal is by a large portion of the population worshipped as a hero : in Victoria penal establishments of L*'Vantie proportion have to be maintained, and since the discovery of sold. New Zealand has become prolific of eri:no. and we think we are justified in savins: that nin«?-tenths of the criminals have bo^n importations from some of the once penal settlements of Britain — either Tasmania, New South Wales, or Swan River-— and still the Imperial Government persist in sending to our doors (Western Australia) the most hardened and desperate of her criminals. But to come nearer hotne. The system of punishment through the whole colonies is rotten. Sentences »re scarcely ever carried out ; the vilest convict is seldom compel! e 1 to do more than a third of his time, the prisoners are well fed. and but light] v worked. We have heard a statement to the effect that in the early days of Or.a-.jo, that as a punishment, the prisoners, if they did not return at a certain hour, would ba locked out. The laxity of punishment at the present time is not equal to this, but it is of a character that demands alteration — as lonsr a* professional criminals believe that by duplicity they can persuade the chaplain and the authorities that they repeat, and by so doing their sentences will i otr be enforced, so long will crime be on the i acreage. This is a question of serious noraent. The General Assembly is called upon to consider this subject — a j ringont Convicts Prevention Act, -.iipHVnhie to the whole colony, and a law, •i-aking a Jn^ge's sentence a positive - ality. ' Tb? murders of Mathien, Kempthorn, L : adlnv. Pontiu3. "Battle, and Dobson. it robe hoped, will receive the- Teward ■*y so richly merit; still -that will r alter the system whicn is now .-. "intod. ant working with so pernicious : enV -t up n the community. The • ::>rnu\:?> r* of cold-blooded assassins has rt i a fa'lnre. and to quote from one of l2»l-;fd> nhlest Jndges (Blaekstone), ■'-■-- c^vitrst prevent aHve to crime, ere rest terror of tne evfl-doerfwas tbe thnf ttsr passed upon ■:-■.. \ vs 'he •'•&rtn?i!t- of it being carried TTkncTi'o." -one of the marked v ~eter:<?u-s ef Xew Zealand's judicial ;•■ ~-rniv.'*nt hns been lenienev, and if ha 3 - .'e-i a fhilar?. The tirae oas come ■■'-': :-::i si»r>t!:er conrse must he adopted. .:' 'ir- e t? to be sunpr^sse-;, the criminal ■ : ; ;.v. Ye tnsflf" ~o fe^l that a sentence r - ?>fi"?- T . is R* cf^ain to be exeenred . -i . !.nr-« -'rf xh^ Mfd«s and Persians. rhne '- be prevented, i^eremust ? re ]>o!?-*e rrga^izatioa for the whole • r. -5-. We f^srmni believe th::t had the •-, : . ' c ~ N"e??on eonstabuL»rr t>een an ?. '.*-n*b(i&T.thz.ti}r&}xißd of hellish erraii- ■-'.- c -aMffer nearly ;» year have earr^efl out -.' ■ tfs-rr mirzeroua acts of : --?t sr»^ mn'ner. The fearfnl v f-H ■* fr'.re heen mnde by t r- \f^,t^ "a i\kh c-OR' ir Io5io(B that the .- ' r* f rr"t" r '.*-r? *»y tTj?s : • = " <!£-?■-•«■. -:y;G-* > sns<^t be determined. ; -nwi the <rhorfc s|»aee of time it ■ : -ra v ■■■ <•],■-■:: rt re ?ix fellow i-reatwres ': v* i<* -MrsMe to euppoee the

Humbfctf fcotually destroyed, may havo f been tt& titnea a* ninny* The Gbneral 1 Government has intimated an intention ; to bring in ft' bill to make the whole 1 colony one judicial district. This i* a i wise resolve, but something more is re- i quired There must bo a colonial police i foroe. The rapid ohanee In the position i of the provinces — the sudden discoveries of new G-oldflelds to which the desperate delight to resort — renders it essential that those officers of the police, who, from experience can " spot " a dangerous i man, should be removed from place to place as exigencies arise. The great secret of the comparative freedom from crime, and the speedy punishment of criminals that has marked the G-old History of Otago, may be traced to the fact that her police force were picked men from Australia — men who knew the career of most of the expire^ convicts, and had constantly a watch upon them from the moment they arrived in the Province. Had this been" the case on the West Coast, we venture- to affirm that the recent tragedies would never have become a historical record. In order to prevent crime in New Zealand, a colonial police foree — detectives especially — must be formed, removeable from time to time as population migrates from one district to another. This is a question demanding the immediate and serious attention of the General Assembly.