LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1141, 31 May 1911, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE MACDONALD CASE.

S:r,-I have read with interest your comments oir.-tho so-called "Secret Case, and I must agree with you that a bad precedent has been established in the decision arrived at regarding this writ of attachment. Harm? had a largo and varied experience as an officer in .-owing all kinds of civil and criminal precepts, I do not know of any power vested in a Jiulze or Judges of tiio Siipreso Court or any other Court to release a defendant from the custody of a- sheriff *;hen ho has served a writ of attachment by attaching the defendant's body. The only ono who has authority and power to release a defendant is the Governor of this colony or Dominion, and I fail to seo what valid roturn. tho sheriff can make on his writ of attachment. Hereto annexed find sheriff's return as it should read, and as it must read:—

Sheriff's Office, Wellington, N.£.

I, A.8., Sheriff of the City of Wellington, in tho Dominion of Now Zealand, horeby certify that by virtue of the writ of attachment hereto annexed, issued out of the Supreme Court at Wellington, in the Dominion of New Zealand, I this day attach the body of tho within named-- —.and on the same day I committed the body of the said —■■ to tho custody of the gaoler at tho Gaol in the City 6f_ Wellington aforesaid, ami tho receipt of the gaoler is hereto annexed, and I hereby return this, -writ into Court V/ satisfied as to said arrest. ' ' . ' A.8.. Sheriff of the - -. ,; : -'City of Wellington. Sworn before me, J.JI.D..

J .P. for the Colony of N.Z. The only return the Sheriff can now make must be v6id, as follows:—

I, A.8.,/Sheriff'of the City of Wellington, in the Dominion of New Zealand, hereby certify that by virtue of the writ of attachment hereto annexed, jfisuod out of the Supremo Court at Wellington,' in tho Dominion of New Zealand, I this day attached the body of •the , wittifa named T.K.M., and on the same day I placed a keeper over him at his residence in said Wellington, nnd that on or about tho — day of May, bv order of two Judges of the Supreme Court of said Dominion, I released.th«,said T.K.M. from custody, nnd I hereby return this writ to Court unsatisfied.. : • ~ ■; A.8., Sheriff of the ' ' " City of Wellington. Sw.orn before me, J.M.D., J.P. for the Colony of N.Z. I maintain tho plaintiffs in this case have a good cause of action against the Sheriff, he .being.a bonded officer, for unlawfully releasing this defendant's body from attachment, unless he can find any law 'which' gives the Judges of the Supreme Court, tho power to release a defendant after a writ of attachment has been .served upon his body, and I further etate that this defendant can never be arrested .again on civil process for this cause' of action.—l am, etc., VIDOG.

[Ou-f correspondent may to right, but we suspect that' ho has overlooked Section i of the Judicature Act of last session concerning which we shall have something *o say later.]

POLITICAL METHODS IN THIS DOMINION. Sir,—Th? theory of this land is free, speech and free tnought, but the practice is the muzzling iof both , . There are men here, and elsewhsre, who,, because they write and speak what they believe, without reference to their personal popularity, by this very putting into practice of the national theory, are harshly criticised, ridiculed,: and stornied at, byj every newspaper in the Dominion bearing the Govjrnmerit hall-mark. Most of the supporters of- the present, wastrel Government , db"riot want m'ei' iv t6° represent them in Parliament who can stop and think, they want men who can twist and somersault. The- fact; that domestic, 'politics •nre' managed arid directed,' not by the people, but by professional politicians, makes it unnecessary—futile when they do—for the mass of the peo'ple to learn about their own political questions from their newspapers'. So far as foreign politics are concerned, tho mass of Dominionites—people of this Dominion—take little interest in them, and give little h-ed to what is. written "on such subjects. Hence the newspapers are not looked to for teaching of a . direct" and valuable kind, as they are in other countries.; It is a sad fact, that a man well known to be a rogue and a giver and taker of bribes may bo appointed to. high office in this land, while a man known to be absolutely above reproach, so far as financial and political integrity is concerned, may bo defeated by any slander touching the purity of his life.

One dare not■ s«t down here the truths that are floating round as regards some cf our politician?, r.nd .their . methods towards our press, as the law of libel precludes one" from so doing,'but it will be a grand d?y—and may it come to pass soon—when Tammany is .banished from this grand country, and those responsible delegated to the depths of obscurity whence they came.

Trusting you will giye this letter due publication, and thanking you in anticipation therefor.—l am, etc., - . . . DREADNOUGHT. . ' Wellington, May 26.