RELEASE OF PRISONER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 203, 16 November 1927, Page 1

RELEASE OF PRISONER

Eighteen Years in Gaol

SPECIAL LEGISLATION FOR INQUIRY

By Cable. —Press Association. — Copyright. Received 10 a.m. LONDON, Tuesday. OSCAR SLATER was released from Peterhead Prison, after serving 18j years of a sentence he received when he was convicted of the murder of Miss Gilchrist at Glasgow. The case created a controversy in Britain at the time of the Sacco-Vanzetti sensation.

OLATER declared that he would say nothing about the case at present. He had friends who would believe in him and he would try to justify their faith in him.

Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Leader of the Labour Party, said he hoped the authorities would recognise the i>isatisfactory state in which the matter was left, and grant an inquiry.

Asked in the House of Commons whether it was intended to institute an inquiry into the case, Sir John Gilmour, Secretary of State for Scotland, replied that if a conviction had occurred since October; 1926, he would have been empowered to submit it to a Court of Criminal Appeal. He was willing, if necessary, to make legislation obtainable and thus refer the Slater case. Only a singleclause Bill would be necessary, but it

could not be passed in the present session, except without discussion. The Government would welcome any effort in that direction. —A. and N.Z. A section of the British Press and many prominent men have long sought the release of Slater. The German Foreign Office points out that it cannot take up the man’s case until he applies for repatriation. He forfeited his German citizenship by going to live in Scotland in order to avoid conscription. At the time of the Sacco-Vanzetti sensation in Boston considerable discussion took place in England concerning the fate of Oscar Slater. The “-Nation” said: “Slater was an alien, a German Jew, a man with few friends in this country, none in a position to help him. Nor was there anything in the alleged crime—the battering to death of a defenceless old lady, presumably for the purpose of robbery—calculated to arouse sentimental interest on the man’s behalf. • * ‘Nevertheless, so strong was the impression that his guilt had not been proved that reasoned representations were made to the Scottish Secretary on his behalf—there was no Court of Criminal Appeal. As a result Slater’s sentence was altered to penal servitude for life (he was only 37 at that time). In England such a sentence is in practice reduced to a limited number of years we believe 15. But in Scotland no such practice is recognised, and in spite of repeated attempts to have the case reconsidered, Slater is still in prison at the end of 18 years. In the light of this story, what right have we to throw stones at Massachusetts?”