THE CHIEF JUSTICE ON THEFT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10157, 29 November 1910, Page 4

THE CHIEF JUSTICE ON THEFT.

The Chief Justice, speaking at Wellington the other day, laid it down as an axiom that the politician who .obtained for his district more than what he was entitled to was guilty o ftheft. Sir Robert Stout has evidently been a student of current political events, though he occupies a position from which he is supposed to be beyond the pale of politics. Ho

may have had the disclosures made before tho Hine Commission in his mind when lie quoted the anecdote oi ; President ltoosevclt saying to his cowboy, who was putting his brand on a cow that did not belong to him, "You steal for me, then it will not !)o long before you steal from inc." Sir Robert pointed out that if they elected a member of Parliament only for the tilings lie got them they were going to reward him for stealing for tin •-.■. "And,"' added Sir Robert Slor.r, "tho time will come when he will steal from you in politics. You arc doing a dishonest thing if you a.k your member to help your district simply because it is your district. If you train your men to get everything for your district, caring little how it is got, you are training dishonest politicians, and .the' time may come when they will think it necessary for them to do something lor themselves."