The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, OCTOBER, 18, 1912. FOOLISH QUESTIONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 47, 18 October 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, OCTOBER, 18, 1912. FOOLISH QUESTIONS.

On more than one occasion Mr Witt; has displayed surprising want o! knowledge and lack of wisdom in hi; utterances in the House, but possibl; he has made no worse exhibition thai he did when for some occult reason r. occurred to him to suggest that “tin sentences passed on the Wailii strikers” were too severe, and asked wlie ther the “sentences” should not b< mitigated and the law amended sc that in future “the punishment inflicted should be more in accordance witl the alleged offence.”As the Prime Minister told this very ill-informed person, no sentence was passed in tin cases referred to. An application foi sureties of the peace j s made by com plaint, not by information, and at order to find sureties is not a conviction or a sentence. No fine or pen alty is inflicted, but Section 18 oJ the Justices of the Peace Act empowers the magistrate who makes sue! an order to issue his warrant for t-lu detention or custody of a defendan: who refuses to fi id sureties. Surel; this is perfectly plain, and unless anarchy and disorder ai-e to prevail anc peaceful citizens are to be always liable to lie terrorised by such cowardly tac tics as those resorted to at Waihi ii the name of the Federation of Labour, the law must be upheld. If any single individual had transgressed one half as badly as these misguided miners, and had then refused to merely promise to behave decently, not one voice would have been raised at hit detention. If a body of men led awa; by agitators can do something with im punity which the law forbids, and which the individual may not do, then we have reached a very bad place in the road of progress. But it is to the Government’s great credit that, deeply as it deplores the strike and the labour difficulties which have arisen, it has in no way weakened in its determination to uphold the lav and protect life and property. Mi Witty plainly did not know what In was talking about—but he was desir ous of talking. As above stated there were no “sentences,” and M Massey put the matter very plainly when he told his questioner Ilia whenever sureties of the peace are n quired the order must name the period during which the defendant is requ’r ed to keep the peace, and that period must necessarily.be determined by t! w discretion of the magistrate who mat

the order. It is obvious that it never bo a merely nominal period. These men are detained in custody only -o long as they refuse to find sureties Their detention i« due solely to their nvn decision, and their release can i obtained by themselves at any mo-

incut. Surely if only for the sake ol the women and children the prcon trouble at Waihi should be ended as quickly as possible, and Party cavilling should be put away in deakng with it. But whatever happens m section of the community must be permitted to insult, coerce, or terrorise those who fail to see with them, and law and order must be maintained.