The Evening Star. MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 80, 11 April 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1870.

Anything more .distressing than, the circumstances attending the death of Mr. Lawrence Lazard, on Saturday evening, in the Police Court, it is scarcely possible to conceive. Well known, universally respected, an up-! right and rising business-man, '-lie'"got; involved in. the. complexities of ouii Customs Regulations, iarLd' the -result, has been fatal.. Mr. Lazard had beenj but a comparative new arrival in the; city, having been in* business.*- herd about twelve months; but from his natural activity and energy,' and frank genial manner,-he was fast assuming a position usually won by years of] patient plodding. In tbis. unhappyi Customs prosecution, the unexpected! close of which .will be so deplored byj all, there is no judgment passed or reflection on the integrity of tbe deceased. In that Draconian Act of tbe Legislature, guilt "'and innocence are undistinguished, r and whether, the consignee has been misled by hist invoices, or whether he . has wilfully attempted fraud, it is all the same. The Customs Act;.takes no knowledge, of the motives or intentions of the! accused, but of the simple fact of pas-j sage through the Customs. So far, from Mr. Lazard having had any intention to defraud, he at once pointed; to the goods on the shelves as havingl been taken from the casks sought for, and voluntarily placed, and left for! several days in -the hands of tbe Col-; lector of Customs the, invoices, and thej only; evidence of tbe goods he had re-; ceived. Mr. Lazard died with a sen-; tence of imprisonment upon him ; but: as for any,wilful intention to wrong! the Customs, his character 'is without a stain. THe circumstances are inves-i ted with peculiar sadness ; and there is a feeling of'great regret not only1 among Mr. Lazard's cO-religionists and personal friends, but throughout the: wholetcommunity.. ..T ' 'A\ '-1:17. \