POWELL'S CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 297, 14 December 1892, Page 4

POWELL'S CASE.

We regard the agitation which has been commenced for a remission of the sentenc 6 in the case of the chemist, Powell, convicted of abortion, as peculiarly ill-timed and misdirected. We will charitably suppose bhab a majority, at any rate, of those who are acting in this matter are not moved by the same impulse as the speaker at Monday's meeting who openly avowed his sympathy with criminals of Powell's class. With persons holding such views ib ia useless bo argue, bub the very fact thab a sentiment co pernicious to the well • being of the community is held, and acknowledged publicly withoub apparent shame, furnishes to our mind one- of the very sbrongesb reasons bhab could be adduced whyexetnplary sentences should be imposed, whenever a conviction is secured in the case of this crime. Such expressions lend colour to bhe assertion that the crime is widoiy prevalent, although the scoundrels svho profit by its perpetration are rarely brought to justice.

Wo are willing bo believe bhat a majority of those persons who are agitating in Powell's favour, aro instigated merely by a feeling that the sentence in tha case of this particular offender is too severe, and that he is suffering for tbe sins of others. These people, however, forget thab punishmonte imposed upon law-breakers are nob to be regarded as acta of revenge exercised by society upon individual offenders against its moral. code ; the chief, indeed tho sole object-.of punishment, should be to deter not merely the person upon whom it is inflicted but all others from committing similar acts. '* Makinga man smart for ib " or " baking ib out of him"-^to use somewhab vulgar bub very expressive phrases-r----should have no place in our penal statutes.

In sentencing Powell to ten years, Mr Justice Conolly was avowedly influenced by a sense of the absolute importance of stamping out a crime which, perhaps above all others except its near kin infanticide, is the most destructive to the moral fibre and upward -progressl of a nation. He had also to consider the extreme difficulty of securing convictions in the case of a crime in which all. the, parties concerned are ■ neceseai-ily banded "■ together by mutual interests in a conspiracy of silence and- concealment. When a man was found willing'to run the risk attending the porpetration of such a crime lor the' sum of £2 ss, ib was high time . that the judge upon whom was thrown the duty- of vindicating the law should impose a sentence which would bring home to the conscience of' this man and othors tho enormity of the offence. • On these grounds we do not consider thab Mr Justice Conolly erred one iota on the side of undue severity. He knew perfectly well that tho sentence of ten years is in the ordinary course subject to very considerable reduction it the prisoner behaves himself.

Whab amounb of BUpport this petition will receive from the community we shall not attempt to predict. We know from experience that an active, well-paid canvasser can obtain numerous signatures to any petition, and that the same signatures may be secured tor petitions- expressing diametrically opposito prayers. We shall be very much surprised, however, no matter what string of names may be obtained from irresponsible persons for the memorial, if the Minister of Justice interferes with the sentence of the Judge who heard the case and had the whole of tho facts before him.