The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1920. CRIME IN IRELAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 103, 30 April 1920, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1920. CRIME IN IRELAND.

Far the (nil thft lacks <M«t«tonc«. For the wrong that needa retietance. For the future in the distance, And tin good that tee can da-

A murder a day is the average in Ireland at the present time, and Lord Robert Cecil asserts that the position is more eeriovs than it. has ever been during the last hundred years. It would seem to be steadily growing worce, for a previous return gave sixteen murders for three ivceks, while for the period from May to Decoinber of last year the murders only totalled twenty. Uhoujzh there were seventy -seven cases of attempted murder, and forty-one cases of firinß into dwelling', while the total of outrages amounted to 1520. There has also been a great change in the character of the crimes committed. The last great wave of serious crime in Ireland was in the eighties of last century, and was mainly agrarian in character: now theft 6ccme to be the main motive for many of the more serious crimes. Houses are raided for money, and the occupants shot if they offlT resistance: post offices are raided on daye when it is known large sums of money arc in transit: bank clerks on their way to local branches are waylaid in "road daylight, and their money stolen, and in many cases the victims make no complaint to the authorities for fear that they may be eubjected to further outr.-.ge. It is impossible to believe that politics can have anything to do with many of the crimes committed, since Nationalist;, Home Rulers., and Unionist* alike have been the victims of outrage and murder. It is ratKer an outbreak of wild lawlessness and a total disregard for the rights of property and the sanctity of human life.

The cause may perhaps be partly found in the peculiarly irresolute system of administration for the ten years from 1906 to lnlß, the year of the Dublin rebellion. During this period the machinery .of Irish government had steadily deteriorated, and consequently a spirit of insubordination and crime had been allowed to grow up unchecked. This is made clear in the report of the commission set up to inquire into the causes of the rebellion. The commissioners said that from the evidence before them it would scorn that lawlessness had been allowed to grow up unchecked, and that Ireland had for several years been administered on the principle that it was safer and more expedient to leave the law in abeyance if collision with any faction of the. Irish people could thereby be avoided. They went on to cay that such a policy is the negation of that cardinal rule of government which demands that the enforcement of law and the preservation of order should be independent - of political expediency. And when things get out of hand through a clack administration of the law, it be-

comes necessary to adopt stern measures of repression that often inflict much hardship on individuals, and consequently arouee resentment amongst many who are not by nature inclined to be otherwise than law abiding.

Admittedly the Government is in a difficult position. The greatest difficulty is in the direction of getting evidence against persons suspected of crime, and in getting juries to convict where such evidence is forthcoming. A trial by judgee alone would t>vcreome the latter difficulty, and would go far to overcome the first, since there must be some evidence to justify suspicion and arrest, and a judge would be in a position to weigh this evidence and assess its value. Such a departure would not ue a greater violation of the liberty of the individual than the system adopted of detention without trial of any kind. Mr. Bonar Law rightly deprecated the idea of changing the venue of trials to England, since the difficulty of obtaining evidence would still remain, and the Irish would bitterly resent the proposal. We believe the majority of Irish people themselves would welcome any measures that made for greater security of life and property, and adequate protection of thoee who would "he on the eidc of law if only they felt that it was eafc to be so. The affording of such protection is such an elementary duty of government that almost any measures are justified in securing it. In the meantime, the outlook is about as dark as it can be. It lias not been brightened by the announcement of Sir Horace .Plunkett's 'Dominion Home Kule" party condemning the Home Rule Bill. Sir Horace, Captain Stephen Gwynn, and others of that group, are now the best friends of EngInnd in Ireland, and their disapproval, following on the nttitude of other parties, leaves the Bill without any organised support among the Irish people.'