THE FAULT OF OTHERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9053, 12 February 1908, Page 4

THE FAULT OF OTHERS.

It seems rather hard that a man should be severely punished for merely escaping from gaol, but according to our law an escape from legal cus- , tody is adding crime to crime. It is so natural for a man to seek his liberty, and it is usually the most inoffensive of offences. The law on the subject seems to have been devised to make the task of the gaoler and his assistants as easy and pleasant as possible. The fault really lies with the authorities and not with the prisoner if the latter gets loose. The" gaols are nut strong enough, or the guards are negligent; so that on purely logical grounds the escapee should not be penalised, but rather those who by their actions or lack of action encourage the prisoner to set himself free. A short time ago a man named Joseph Thompson escaped from the New Plymouth gaol, and was re-captured. Whilst fleeing from pursuit he found ] a Maori lying wounded from a fall j from a horse, and took the risk of going to a store and giving informa j tion about the affair. The Maori died, and at the inquest the jury very , properly ami humanely commended the action of Thompson. The j prisoner had escaped on a previous i occasion, and would under ordinary circumstances now have been severely punished. In view of his humane action, however, the Magistrate did not inflict the full penalty, but mitigated the sentence to the loss of three months' marks—a very severe deprivation. The very fact that this prisoner had twice escaped from prison ia prima facie evidence of the carelessness of those who were responsible for his safekeeping, and they are the persons who deserved to be penalised rather than the man who, having escaped, showed his goodness of heart by risking recapture in order to succour an injured follow-croaturfi- )