TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9604, 19 December 1896, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Daylesford solicitor, J. E. The Geake, has returned to MclDefaulter bourne from his trip to Geake. South America, in company of the constable who was sent after him, and is now working off the term of two years' imprisonment to which he was ' sentenced Home months ago for fraudulent actions in his profession. Rogerson, the constable, and his. quarry arrived in Monte Video on the same day, though the latter had had a long start. When found he was in the Shipping Company'B office with his wife, looking after their luggogc, and when the question of his return to Victoria in custody was broached he denied indignantly that he was Geake, or that ho had ever met the police officer before, although the Utter knew him intimately. His protes tations availed him little, however, for tho warrants and papers were all in order, and Mr Geake soon found himself in the local .gaol, with an outside guard of twenty-five soldiers. Geake, as we have heard, assumed the name of Rodda on his journey from New Zealand to South America, while his wife, who accompanied him in his flight from justice, passed as Mrs Brookes, At the beginning of the voyage, according to the Argus, the two appeared to be strangers to each other, "but as the days lengthened their intimacy grew quickly, and at last, when Mrs Brookes fell ill, and was placed under the doctor's orders, Geake was found in her cabin, and had to declare his relationship by saying that the names were wrongly entered by the booking clerk in New Zealand." Thenceforward they passed as man and wife, but on arriving at Montevideo Geake again told the shipping authorities that hi 3 wife Was Mrs Brookes and that his own name was O'Connor. As the date of the commencement of his sentence counts from the time when his conviction was upheld by the full Court, which was several months ago, Geake has so much less time to serve in prison. It is said that on the return voyage he spoke but seldom of his frauds, and when he did refer to them -"he had the air of a man who had been harshly treated and who might prove his innocence if he thought it worth his while." Rogerson, the police Justice official referred to above, in had a queer experience South America, of the methods of conducting legal business in the Argentine. Justice, it seems, has learned tho art of taking things easy, which is so marked a characteristic of that lazy hmd. The Judge is described as a picturesquely -attired gentleman, who, by whatever arduous application he had attained his position, had certainly no intention of endangering his health and so shortening his tenure of his post by overwork. He used to stroll intotheCourtaboutfour o'clock in the afternoon and open the proceedings, and at the same time make everybody feel at home by nodding familiarly all round and shaking hands with the prisoner. "Then he rolled himself a cigarette and complacently smoked for twenty minutes or so, while the lawyers argued points of law. Suddenly, while apparently engrossed in the rings of smoke which he sent curling up to the ceiling, he would rise, and, announcing that it was warm and that they had done well enough for one day, would adjourn tho Court." Geake had been assigned counsel by the Government and Rogerson was represented by a Bmart lawyer, but at one time he had doubts as to whether he would be able to take his man back to Mcl bourne. In spite of the easy methods of the

Judge he was a stickler for formalities, and the process of extradition hung fire because he could not bo satisfied that the prisoner wasGeake. Geake himself, of coarse, had no particular reason for admitting his I identity, and Rogerson and the British j Resident were almost in despair, until at last they determined to appeal to the prisoner's conscience through his stomach. Hitherto bo had had his meals sent in by Rogeraon from a good hotel, had enjoyed much liberty, and altogether had had rather a pleasant time in gaol. It wag decided to see what effect a change of diet would have, and accordingly the outside meals were stopped, and Geake was restricted to prison fare, which was coarse and not more than sufficient. The plan succeeded. Geake still refused to admit that he was the man wanted, but he no longer opposed the granting of extradition. This was done, and the constable and his prisoner were soon on board a steamer for England. They missed the Rimutaka in London by some six hours, and were thus forced to wait a fortnight, which time Geake spent in a London lock-up. They then took the Orizaba, and landed on Thursday last week in Melbourne, where Rogerson handed over his prisoner to the authorities, heartily glad to see the end of a troublesome business. A Correspondent of the Otago An Daily Times recalls to mind, Old-Time apropos of the recent victory Election, of Mr J. C. Wason for the Selwyn seat, a little bit of ancient history in which the father of the member for Selwyn was interested. Mr liigby Wason was in 1840 the Whig candidate for the Ipswich seat in the House of Commons, his Tory opponent being a Sir Fitzroy Kelly. It seems to have been a most exciting contest, as, indeed, were many eleotion contests in those days, for the "free and independent" were not so seriously hampered by all sorts of laws to govern the conduct of elections as they are nowadays, and needless to say candidates had also considerably more liberty. A contest was a contest then, and hot merely an affair of speeches and canvassing. In this particular fight it was the "Yellows" (Whigs) against the "Blues" (Tories), and the correspondent describes a miniature battle round the polling place, in the centre of the city, between\the two opposing forces, which he watched from the safe coign of vantage afforded by an upstairs window At about 10 o'clock, he says, the sides began to muster forces. " A party of about 150 horsemen (Blues) had got possession of the square, each man with a big blue rosette in his coat and a bigger stick in his hand. Soon the cry was raised, ' The Yellows are coming!' and come some 200 horsemen of them did, down upon the Blues like an avalanche. The fight for possession commenced, and was carried on most fiercely for half an hour, when the Blues gave way, and down Bury street they went like mad. But after a bit they returned, and the fight recommenced. This was repeated several times during the day; but I think the Yellows never really lost possession, and at the end our man (I was a Yellow), Rigby Wason, went in with flying colours. The next day the bruises and fractures had to be looked to, but I fancy the poor horses got most of those. But what a contrast it was to our peaceful election last week 1" The writer concludes by expressing the hope that "the Selwyn Mr Wason has some of his father's grit in him ; the country wants the services of his sort badly." Those who know Mr. Wason will recognise that in this respect he does resemble his father. There is another characteristic in common between them. Mr Wason senior spent his leisure in improving a wilderness which he had purchased in South Ayrshire, close to the mountainous moorland corner of Galloway. One could hardly say that Corwar, before it came into Mr J. C. Wason's possession, was so much of a wilderness; but it was a good deal more like one than it is now, for Mr Wason has indulged his hobby of tree-planting to an almost unlimited extent, and, if he has not made the wilderness blossom like the rose, it is only because the bluegums, pines, &c, are more useful than roses. There is one circumstance A connected with Mr Rigby Benefactor Wason's life which should to cause him to be held in Journalists, affectionate remembrance by I all English and colonial I newspaper men. He was the Wason of the famous case Wason v Walter, on which I rests the doctrine of the newspaper privilege of publishing reports of Parliamentary proceedings. That he achieved this result unwillingly is nob to the point; the main fact is that had it not been for his action newspapers might to this day have published, and commented upon, proceedings in Parliament at their own peril, whereas now, unless a report is published maliciously, i.e., with any corrupt or wrong motive, or personal. spite, or illwill, it is privileged just as a report of proceedings in courts of law is privileged. The case primarily arose out of the action of Mr Wason in 1868 in presenting a petition against the appointment of his old opponent at Ipswich, Sir Fitzroy Kelly—then Chief Baron of the Exchequer—to the position of Chief Justice, on the grounds of Kelly's political miscondnct. Lord Russell, who presented the petition, made a severe attack on Mr Wason, as did several other speakers, and the London Times, apon these speeches, published a violent attack on Mr Wason. The latter then proceeded against The Times, and under the common law as it stood then the paper without doubt would have been found guilty of libel, but the Lords exercising their power overruled the common law. They held that a newspaper fairly criticising a speech in Parliament was not held liable even though the speech were libellous and thereby for the first time was established the liberty of the Press. The protection thus established to reports of Parliamentary proceedings and comments thereon has ever since been recognised, and can only be destroyed under the circumstances which we have mentioned. The earthquakes mentioned Earthquakes in our cable messages this in morning as having occurred England. on Wednesday in England are certainly the most severe that have been experienced since 1884, and further accounts may show them to have occasioned more damage than did the shocks of twelve years ago. The latter, we believe, occurred about nine o'clock in the morning, and the greatest force was felt at Colchester, where a church steeple and many chimneys fell and some £10,000 worth of damage was done. The shooks were felt, however, over a large area, and great damage was done in suri rounding villages. Langenhoe Church was wrecked, and in Essex many farm houses and barns were twisted half round. A large j number of people were rendered homeless, and so great was the distress that a Mansion House fund was opened. Since then slight shocks have been felt in various parts of the United Kingdom, but little damage has been done by any of them. The occurrence of earthquakes in England dates back at least to the year 1089. A severe one took place in 1318, and in 1580 parts of St. Paul's and the Temple Churches were thrown to the ground by a shock which seems to have , bean confined to London and its vicinity.

A slight shock is recorded to have occurred in February, 1750, and it apparently greatly alarmed a number of people, for on a madman predicting that another one would ocScur on April Bth of the same year, thousands of persons, particularly, it is said, those of rank and fortune, pafsed the night of the 7th in their carriages and in tents in Hyde Park. Their fears were, however, groundless, and the method of predicting these unpleasant phenomena has yet to be discovered. The effects of the fearful earthquake of 1755, which swallowed op the greater part of the city of Lisbon and 50,000 people, were distinctly felt in Scotland, which, indeed, with Cornwall, shares the questionable, privilege of experiencing more shocks than any other parts of Great Britain. At Coinrie, a little Perthshire village, earth tremors are said to be of comparatively frequent occurrence, so much so that it acquired the name of "Quaking Comrie," and the unhallowed reputation among the superstitious of being the back door to the lower regions. Visitations like that of Wednesday are, as we have said, of rare occurrence, and no doubt those who feel its effects do not care how long it is before another happens.