HEAVY FINES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3017, 13 October 1908, Page 3

HEAVY FINES.

SENTENCE OF MILE-END GUARDIANS. After a trial which has lasted 20 days, each of the ten Mile-End guardians and ex-guardians has been found guilty of one or other of the indictments brought for conspiracy and receiving bribes and advantages in connection with what has bean termed tne Calcit ring, writes . a London norrespondtnt under date August 14th. Six members of the "ring" each received'a.. sentence of nine months' hard labour"" together with a fine of £25; Thomas Gould, aged 70, was fined'£2s and -sentenced to 15 months'hard labour; Joseph Gilson, butcher, was fined £250; Alderman Rowland Kirst, thrice Mayor of Sfepney, licensed victualler, was fined £250, and sentenced to two years' hard labour; J. C. Warren, J.P., grocer.was fined £250, and sentenced to one year with hard labour. In addition to the above each defendant is to lose his right of citizenship for seven years, and to forfeit any public office he holds. Gilson was recommended to mercy by the jury, but the learned judge said he understood ...he had the means to pay the £250 There was no demonstration when the foreman resumed his seat after stating the jury's verdict: several women, however, seen to be weeping at the back of the court, and all the defendants were seriously affected. "And the rest I have to say is to you men in the dock,". continued Mr Justice Phillimore severely. A good part of their punishment has already come to them while they had been sitting there hearing their conduct held up to the seem of their fellow-men. If they had any manhood in them they must have suffered. He quite agreed with the verdict of the jury, and it was time that corrupt proceedings of the kind were stamped out with a firm and vigorous hand. When at enormous expense to the country they had been brought to justice they mus.t be made examples of, to deter others from following their course, In the first place, each of the defendants would lose his right of citizenship for seven years, and forfeit any office he might hold. In the second place, he thought it right they % should repay what they had received as bribes, buc he could not' enforce that for two reasons—first, in the case of many of them it had been no fixed sum, and second, to some of them it would mean ruin past redemption in this world. As he suspected, like other ill-gotten money, it had lightly gone. But he intended to follow the spirit of that provision in some respects. He intended to line each defendant a sum of money which he trusted the Crown would be advised to grant to the ratepayers as some relief from the burdens which defendants had imposed upon them. Further, they would be imprisoned until those fines were paid. The sentences which he should pass would date from the beginning of the trial—June 23rd. The defendants'listened, some with blanched faces, others apparently e::deavouring to brave it out, to the [ judge's remarks, and then they l stepped back, allowing each one to go forward as his name was called, / as Mr Justice Phillimore sternly ad- i dressed each man in turn. He| called Gould "the tempter," and! would have passed longer sentence, I but for his years; when Hirst's turn came, the judge, speaking in a very severe tone, said: "You are an old guardian, and I can find no excuse tor you. Thrice Mayor, by virtue of your office as magistrate taking a prominent part as leader of the ring, despotic, and possibly taking advantages out of other contracts; you will be sentenced to two years' imprisonment, with hard labour, and will pay a fine of £250." As this sentence was ponounced a woman sceamed, and someone called out' Shame!' But the interruptions were soon stopped. The great trial thus concluded is the second of its kind in the history of the new regime at the Local Government Board. During the past two years a firm attitude has been , adopted at the Department, of which Mr John Burns is the head, with a view of clearing away every taint on the public life of the country. It j first found expression in the trial and conviction of West Ham guardians and officials in May of last year, for conspiracy. Sentences were at the West Ham trial passed varying from J two year 3 to six months' imprisonment. In that case also the men convicted were disenfranchised for various periods, and one of them was ordered never again to serve on any public body; no fines were then im- . posed. The Mile-End trial has been remarkable for its length, its costliness, both to the defendants and the prosecution, the number of witnesses sailed, and the number of counsel engaged. For the prosecution there have been five counsel, headed by the Attorney-General and the SolicitorGeneral ; while for the defence of the 10 defendants 20 barristers were briefed; 45 witnesses were called for the prosecution, and 43 for the defence. In all, including the police court proceedings, the trial ha 3 cost more than £17,000, £9,000 being spent by the defence and £B,OOO by the prosecution. Hirst's defence cost £2,500, Warren's £1,200, and Gilson's £1,050. The official shorthand notes alone cost the prosecution £I,OOO, the evidence at the Old tfailey having reached the enormous total of nearly a million words; while the defence spent £259 for notetaking. Mr Justice Phillimore, who writes equally well With his right and left hands, also took a voluminous note, extending to over 60,000 ■ words.