IN DEBTOR’S PRISON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 1

IN DEBTOR’S PRISON

Elderly Man the Victim of Miscarriage of Justice # JUDGE’S PROMPT RULING & . *|*HE story of a gross miscarriage of justice was related in *■ the Supreme Court this morning when an elderly and impoverished King Country farmer appealed, to Mr. Justice Blair for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus releasing Mm from a debtor’s prison where he had languished since November 29, in serving- sentence;, of six weeks’ for his inability to meet the costs of a court appeal. The prisoner, who had been committed by Mr. K. Mr Watson, S.M.. at Te Kuiti, was Francis Cairns, aged 65, of Aria.

r T'HE circumstances leading up to the imprisonment showed that Cairns’s half-caste Maori daughter, aged 14, was sent to the house of one George Rayne Bell, a neighbouring farmer, to assist his wife for some mouths. The girl alleged that Bell seduced her, so that a child was born on June 4. Cairns then made application to the magis trate for the affiliation of his daughter’s child to Bell. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining corroborative evidence, the application was dismissed. Cairns then appealed to the Supreme Court, with a like result. Costs totalling £27 were allowed against him. Poor, and faced with heavy expenses incidental to the child’s birth and his wife’s death, Cairns could not find the money. At the instance of Beil he was arrested and committed to Mount Eden for six weeks with hard labour. Taking up Cairns’s case, Mr. W. Noble put the facts before the court this morning, confident that the prisoner had been wrongly sent to gaol. Acting on instructions of Mr. H. T. Morton, solicitor for Bell at Te Kuiti, Mr. B. Beckerleg opposed the motion for habeas corpus. At the outset counsel told the court (hat he knew little about the case, and requested, a short adjournment. “I will not adjourn the hearing even for five minutes,” said his Honour. “You should have been ready.” In Opening, Mr. Noble began a recitation of the history of the case. “This little girl was only 13 when she went away from home ” “It is an insult to my intelligence to treat me as a jury,” the judge cut in angrily. “Very well, your Honour. I will not do that.” Proceeding, Mr. Noble submitted the issue of the warrant of commitment

e was Wholly’ irt-fegUlaV and illegal, and s that the magistrate had no jurisdiction s whatever to issue it. e “Can you tell me whether the costs t were awarded ’ in’ the Supreme Court 1 or in the lower court?” asked his t Honour. 3 “In the Supreme Court, your j Honour.” L . “If they had hot been they would i- not have beeii arguable —that is why I I- asked.” [. After hearing involved argument his Honour summed up in these f ; words: “This man was never brought ® up for the hearing to which he was entitled. He was not asked what he had to say, but was simply arrested , and committed under section 336 1 of the Justices of the Peace Act. The commitment had succeeded a distress warrant, to which there was a return n of nulla bona. The question is whether the costs awarded by the Supreme r . Court can be enforced by a committ ment under the Destitute Persons e Act. The procedure affects the sacred 1. rights and liberty of the subject. We '. are relegated to the Destitute Persons i. Act tb; see what a justice could do if n an application were made under that I Act for payment-of costs, v “It seems perfectlj r clear to me that a if the costs in question can be enforced. undex: a . distress warrant the n man was entitled to a hearing. As this prisoner has had no trial, it seems evident he should not be in prison. I i- will sign an immediate order for his s release.” ti “Can we get costs against anybody?” Mr. Noble inquired. e “This seems a case for substantial it costs. I will allow £ls 15s against Bell. ” it Mr. Beckerleg said he could not well j argue the case, as he had to learn it as ei it proceeded. He had received his it | instructions by phone from Te Kuiti.