The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE 1. BRUTAL TREATMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 1 June 1907, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, JUNE 1. BRUTAL TREATMENT.

We recently drew attention to a ease m (iisbornc of a mall licensed of shoopslenling, who lnid lieen imprisoned for eight months awaiting trial. Another ease, |with equally barbarous feature, has just [come under'our notice. This time it is a local one. Under British law. every mail is emiileil to be treated as innocent until he ha-, been proved guilty. But under the absurd and harsh law that seems to obtain in this country it is possible (hat a man who might be unfortunate enough to lie arrested for an alleged oll'oiice can be treated as a confirmed felon, as happened in the instance of this Cisborne man we spoke of, ami in the

,-ase of Allan Cameron, who was before !he court at "Sow Plymouth yesterday. I.el us say before we proceed further that we have no more interest in Camer-

on than we have in the Cisborne man. What is possible in these cases is possible in the ease of anyone else in like circumstances. Cameron was haled be fore the court at Auckland on charges of lliefi and false pretences, lie was remanded to .New Plymouth, and incarcerated in Mount Kden gaol for over a week". He was then sent on to New Plymouth, handcuffed to a convicted prisoner, (hi the boat itself he was 1 liberated, but on arrival a! -Vow Ply-mouth-lie was again hamlmllcd to a convict, and taken to the local lock-up. Now. Cameron in the eyes of tile police ami the world was an entirely innocent man. He should have been treated as an iuno-

cent man. Any other man in the same position should have been treated as an innocent man. We regard it as scandalous that an innocent man should be unduly kept in gaol before trial, and even more scandalous that it man should be publicly manacled to a convict and treated as one by the police. It would seem that a law that allows an innocent man to he treated iu this brutal fashion wants radical and immediate alteration. , The charges against Cameron fell I through, but we ailinn that had the reverse been the case the police or the authorities had no right to keep him in gaol the time they did and treat him as a confirmed criminal. Another thing we would like lo mention and which should be strongly discountenanced, is the frequent attempts of the police authorities to extract "confessions'' from remanded persons. Such an effort, it is alleged, was made in the case under review. No man can feel safe while this sort of thing is practised. 'The police must, learn that they are not the judges of wrongdoers aiid that until the guilt of any man is established he should be spared indignity as much as possible.