THE WELLINGTON CONSPIRACY CASES.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10095, 22 July 1898, Page 4

THE WELLINGTON CONSPIRACY CASES.

' After the experience of the recent proceedings in Wellington, in which Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.H.R., has figured so prominently, it "is to be hoped that we have heard the last of the employment of spies and informers by irresponsible amateurs for the purpose of procuring breaches of the law. It is no answer to say that the object is a laudable one—that Mr, Taylor only desired to punish publicans who deserved punishment, and to deter others from following their example. It has been clearly shown that the tactics employed are not only highly repugnant to British notions of right and wrong, but are not free from danger from a legal point of view to those who resort to them. Mr. Taylor, in order, as he thought, to expose Sunday trading in Wellington and lessen its prevalence for the future, employed two men to visit publichouses on Sunday and purchase liquor. When the same policy was pursued in Christchurch some time ago, we pointed out the very grave dangers and objections by which it was surrounded. It may be necessary, in some extreme cases, for the police to employ spies and informers for the purpose of .detecting and punishing crime which cannot be effectively dealt with in any other way, and which is sufficiently serious to be a menace' te the community. The police are rej sponsible authorities, their use of I such means is sure to be jealously Iwatched, and if they abuse j their powers they can be easily 1 dealt with. Jt is otherwise when irresponsible members of the community begin dabbling in the same kind of traffic. As Mr. Kenny, S.M., points out in his judgment, the dividj between the informer and the i blackmailer is very thin. " A spy and " informer," he says, " who is by the |" very law of his being a base and '" perfidious person, rapidly tends to '• become a liar, and ultimately a " blackmailer. If the detestable and " un-English practice of utilising the " services of such persons were to '• become general, no individual would " be safe from unfounded accusa- " tions of the vilest description." We admit that the object of Mr. Taylor was legitimate and even laudable. Sunday trading, although not a crime, is an offence against the law, and ought to ba put down by every legitimate means. There are many things, however, which are worse than Sunday trading, and the employment of spies and informers for the purpose of procuring breaches of the law is one of them. In the Christchurch cases it will be remembered " Christian young men " were employed for the purpose of entrapping the publicans. The persons associated with Mr. Taylor in his recent enterprise hardly seem to fit the same description. We scarcely know which is the more reprehensible —on the one hand to employ " Christian young men" in such work, or, on the other hand, to make use of persons who, in tempting others, may suffer from the effects of temptation themselves. In either case deceit, either active or passive, must be resorted to. We do not think that it is either right or desirable for Christian young men to resort to deceit in any shape or form, even to expose an offence against the law, and in particular we hold that it is absolutely wrong to procure a breach of the law in order to show that the law is being broken. In the case of the Christian young men, the personal harm to themselves would probably be limited to the blunting of the moral sense inseparable from taking part in such proceedings. It is scarcely likely that their prohibitionist principles would suffer. On the other hand, we can hardly understand the attitude of mind of a prohibitionist leader which would induce him to give money to a man probably not superior

to the allurements of strong drink, ia order that he might spend Sunday in visiting public-houses and " liquoring up." True, he might entrap a few publicans, but there must always be the danger that, like Samson, he himself might fall in the ruins which he pulled down about his ears. From every point of view the employment of spies and informers, and particularly the procurement of crime, is regarded as an un-British proceeding, and we think justly so. It would further appear, as we have said, from the Wellington cases that it is not free from legal danger to the peri sons concerned. True, Messrs Taylor, ' Abmisteat. and Checketts have been acquitted. It would seem from the Magistrate's judgment, however, that they escaped chiefly because they were unsuccessful in their main object. If the Magistrate had been able to accept the uncorroborated testimony of Arihstead and Checketts, it would seem that he must have convicted in the Sunday .trading cases. If he had convicted it is at least extremely probable that he must have convicted Taylor, Checketts and Armistead under the Justices of the Peace Act for conspiracy and counselling and procuring an offence punishable on summary conviction. The Magistrate would not accept the testimony of Checketts and Armiste_x> as against the licensee, and, very properly, he also declined to accept their evidence as against either Mr. Taylor or themselves. That, at any rate, was the main ground on which he based his acquittal. We fear that Mr; Taylor and his allies, blinded by their zeal in tbe cause of temperance, do not profit easily by the teaching of experience. We hope, however, that I this further lesson of the inexpediency of " doing evil that good may come " will not be thrown away upon them. Let them continue their efforts in the cause of temperance by all means. Let them try to educate public opinion not only as to the evils of excessive drinking, but .also in tho direction of compelling the police to do their duty in suppressing Sunday trading and all other offences against the law. In the name of all that is reputable, however, we urge them to leave the business of trafficking with spies and informers severely alone.