CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND MR. JUSTICE GRESSON.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1866 Session I, D-13

D.—No. 13.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND MR. JUSTICE GRESSON.

(Return to an Order of tJie Rouse of Representatives dated 3rd August, 1866.) That there be laid on the Table of this House—" All Correspondence between the Government and His Honor Mr. Justice Gresson, on the subject of the remission of Mr. Armstrong's sentence." (Mr. Walker.)

WELLINGTON. 1866.

D.—No. 13.

No. 1. Copy of a Letter from the Hon. Henry Sewell to Mr. Justice Gresson. Mt Dear Judge,— "Wellington, 14th September, 1865. Will you excuse me for transmitting, somewhat irregularly, an application respecting a prisoner under sentence. The mail will leave so early to-morrow morning that I cannot send, it in the usual form. lam now writing after office hours and my clerks arc gone. Mr. Johnston, who writes the letter, is a merchant of this place, upon whose statements I know great reliance can be jilaced. Could it be proper to commute the sentence for a money payment ? Pray pardon me for thus troubling you in an un-official way. I have, &c, His Honor Mr. Justice Gresson. Henry Sewell. Enclosure in No. 1. Copy of a Letter from the Hon. John Johnston to the Hon. Henry Sewell. Sir,— Wellington, 14th September, 1865. I learn to-day that Mr. Armstrong, an old colonist at Akaroa, has been found guilty of a common assault, and sentenced by Mr. Justice G-resson to six months imprisonment with hard labour. 1 have known Mr. Armstrong for the last seventeen or eighteen years, and know him to be a very industrious, well-behaved person, always anxious to improve his social position and to earn the esteem of all those with whom he comes in contact. This worthy man, for a comparatively venial offence, finds himself sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six months, and to the loathsome companionship in hard labor of all the scoundrels who may be undergoing their sentences in the same gaol. lam told he seems quite heartbroken. I have no doubt that Mr. Gresson did not design to inflict so cruel a penalty upon Mr. Armstrong, and under the circumstances venture to request you to interfere, so far as you may feel yourself justified in doing. lam sure Mr. Armstrong would cheerfully pay any fine which Mr. Gresson might think fit to impose as a proper penalty in lieu of the sentence already given—indeed, so high is the opinion I have formed of Mr. Armstrong in the very long time I have known him, and so sensible am I of the extreme misery he will endure under the existing sentence, that I would willingly myself pay any fine which it may be held right to inflict instead of it. I hope that both yourself and Mr. Gresson will recognize that in making this application I am moved solely by a strong feeling of sympathy for the sufferings of an old and worthy colonist. 1 have, &c, The Hon. Henry Sewell, Attorney-General. &c. John Johnston. No. 2. Mr. Justice Gresson to the Hon. Henry Sewell. Sir, — Judge's Chambers, Christchurch, 19th September, 1865. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, enclosing a letter from Mr. John Johnston, of Wellington, expressing his views upon a sentence lately passed by me on the prisoner named in the margin, at present undergoing sentence in Lyttelton Gaol. I beg to decline expressing any opinion on that letter, which I return herewith. I have, &c, H. B. Gresson. The Hon. the Attorney-General, &c, Wellington.

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'CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT AND MR. JUSTICE GRESSON.