Savage Sentences

This i paper takes an early opportunity to, applaud the action of the Court of Appeal In so promptly quashing' the savage sentence Imposed on the young man, Henry Richard Jeff ry, by Mri Justipe Salmond. Twelve months* hard labor,. for an offence against society, which bore all the appearances of an impulsive act. must Btrike all reasonable persons as harsh and vindictive. True, theft and forgery had beon committed, but these were of such a nature that they did not, and could not result m any loss to an Individual or to tlie State. But, surely, it was for offences of this class that the probatlonery system was adopted m this oountry. The other Judges who heard the appeal against their brother Salmond' s severe sentence recognised this by ordering* prisoner to be in'stantly\ released under the Offenders' Probation Act. The conviction stands, 'of course, and Jeffry Is ordered to come tip for sentence if called upon to do so within the next three years. Having pulled Sir John Salmond up with a round turn. In this particular case, this paper now asks that some steps should be taken to review other ; sentences Imposed \ on prisoners by this judge, since his comparatively repent .elevation to the Bench. Several times "Truth" ' has hit out at his Honor, when, m its opinion, he had gone oyer tli© odds. May we. refer to a prisoner, named John Douglas Scobie, who waa sentenced by his Honor In April last to six months' hard labor. Scobie went to look for a: man m a room, and saw some money lying on the floor. Ho could not resist tho temptation and took it and hid it. Later, however, he returned every penny pf It. Surely, 'another instance of a crime committed impulsively and m a moment of. weakness? Scobie Is! 87 years of age, and had. hitherto \had an absolutely spotless record. We understand that probation was recommended In his case, as In the more recent case of young Jeffry, but the recommendation did hot apparently carry much weight w^th Sir John Salmond. Scobie. has served the greater part of his sentence, and, should be released as soon as possible. "Truth" trusts that Sir John Salmond will be the better of this juridical rebuke. It Is well that it has come thus early m his career, for, m other directions, he is a decided acquisition to the New Zealand Bench. ID is also well that the correction has been administered by his ..brother judges (after "Truth," of oourtiel), as otherwise, it might have I been left to the juries to do. the i "spanking*' by refusing to oonylot when this particular judge was on the Bench— c condition of things that sometimes Is brought by the very tactids his Honor was pursuing. But now thefte judges have taken the "mote" out of Mr. Jusuee Salmond's eye, what about their having ago at removing, the ""beam" now m their own? Judge Salmond was harsh, but he was, , at least, consistent, which Is proof that his severity was based on some theory pr.system, however partial or warped. Of how many of our other, judges can it be said that they follow any plan or equitable theory m dealing out punishment to criminals? If there had been In existence any commonsense rule for making the punishment fit the . crltne, could such g-laring examples of the two extremes have" been perpetrated m pur Supreme Court as the sentence oh Arthur Marryatt, the embezzler of several thousands of. Government money, all of which has been absolutely lost, and that on Salmond, of the Native Lands Department, who made good. every penny he had taken (and left his wife and children penniless m doing- It)? "Truth" Is .not carping because Marryatt was treated kindly and humanely, for. after all, the greatest punishment to a man of Marryatt's type is the exposure and humiliation, but when his sentence and crime are compared, and then both compared with JUtrB M crime and sentence, it is hard to keep from declaring that m the one case undue and undeserved leniency was shown, whils In the other the lash was laid on with an utter lack of .consideration or mercy. Meanwhile, r^uu^a. is still m prison, and his wife and; children are m want. Is the Prisons' Board listening?

A member of the Clerk'B Union In ' Victoria, Is president of the Melbourne Trades Council. Yet a few, very few, years ago the euff-and-collar brigade wouldn't touch trades unionism with a fcalr of tonga. A. case of what Moleskin Joe calls "the logic of the hungry