Evening Post. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1876

Evening Post, Volume XIV, Issue 56, 4 September 1876, Page 2

Evening Post. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1876

Had Charles E. Haughton succeeded in effecting his escape— a thing of which there recently appeared to be very little doubt — then a grave miscarriage of justice would have occurred. It is not necessaiythat we should allude-to the nature of the charge made against him, save to say that it was one of so serious a kind that under no circumstances ought bail to have -been allowed to the accused after he had once been apprehended. The very fact that Haughton, when arrested, was in the act of absconding-, terror stricken last the law should be put in motion against him, should have at once indicated to the Dunedin Justices that to release him 011 moderate bail was simply to afford him another opportunity to escape. If Messrs. Mercer, Black, and M'Dermid, the Dunedin Justices before whom Haughton was brought up, could not perceive the danger of defeating justice by granting bail in such a case, then they showed a degree of obtuseness almost unparalleled even amongst Justices of the Peace. If they did perceive the danger, and yet chose to risk it with their eyes wide open, then their action merits the severest condemnation. After reading the Police Court proceedings in the Dunedin newspapers with respect to this case, it is impossible to avoid thinking that there was no particular eagerness evinced to secure that the accused should- have no 'opportunity afforded him" of escaping. The police only formally opposed bail being granted, Inspector Mallard merely observing, " Obviously the police oppose bail." Then the question was raised as to the power of the police to oppose, when it was eagerly ' explained that the matter was entirely within the discretion of their worships, and one for which they should take the entire responsibility. There was no effort made by the police to show that this was emphatically a case in which granting bail implied favoring the escape of the accused ; there was nothing urged to the. j effect that the accused had already attempted to quit the Colony, aud that there existed a strong presumption, that he might try to do so again it the opportunity were afforded to him. Clearly it was the duty of Inspector Mallard to put this view of the case strongly before the magistrates,' and then 'left the responsibility of deciding to rest upon them. Why Inspector Mallard .did not, do. this we cannot tell. Strictly speaking, he is in no way responsible for the action of the Justices in granting bail, and, indeed, lie was careful to point this out at the time. Nevertheless, we are, strongly of opinion that a moral obligation rested upon, him, as an officer of the law, to have protested in the strongest possible terms against a proceeding which was likely to result in a gross miscarriage of justice. Of the conduct of {he justices it is scarcely possible to speak in terms of sufficient censure. The discretionary power given to them of granting bail, was most improperly exercised in this case, and it is open to question whether gentlemen so blind to what was their obvious duty, are possessed of sufficient judgment to quality them to occupy seats on the Bench with advantage to the interests of justice and of society at large. The natural result of Haughton's being set at liberty on bail was that he attempted to escape. Why, indeed, should he not have done so? Even were his sureties indemnified by him, the actual pecuniary cost of doing so would only be £400. It appears that Haughton secretly left , Port Chalmers in a cutter, in order to board a vessel outside the Heads, which was bound for Australia. But his plan was doomed to be frustrated.' Adverse winds prevented the vessel leaving the coast, the police took alarm, and the abscohder was re-arrested, and we presume 'will indue course be sent to Wellington. We confess that had this man got clear away from the Colony when he first absconded, no one would have been particularly sorry. There was a general sentiment that, if guilty, he deserved all the punishment the law could award, but that it would perhaps on the whole be well that the community should be spared the scandal of his apprehension and trial. From the moment, however, that tbe law officers of the Crown directed that criminal proceedings should be instituted, it was incumbent on all concerned to see that every precaution should be taken to bring the accused to justice. Had Haughton been unpossessed of money, influence, and friends, he would have been dealt with in a somewhat different manner. There would have been no talk of bail or lengthy remands at all. He would simply have been kept in custody at Dunedin till the first steamer was ready to sail for , Wellington, and then, still in custody, he would have been sent back here. In the eye of the law, every man is theoretically assumed to be equal. This, unhappily, is not practically the case in New Zealand. Under the gross abuse of the system of allowing bail to prisoners charged with serious offences, a door of escape is sometimes opened to the criminal possessed of money. In effect, this means that in New Zealand there is one law for thft rich and another law for the poor. Surely this anomaly should no longer be permitted to exist. So long as it does, and the powers of Justices' to grant bail' remain uncui tailed, it will be possible for a man to commit a most serious offence, and yet escape all penal consequences by timely flight and incurring a moderate pecuniary loss. Clearly there is urgent need for a radical change being made in the system of granting bail on the part of Justices in- grave criminal cases.

The telegrams -received by the police ottth'e one hand, and the Press Agency on the other, relative to Haughton's arrest are a little con1 flicting. The police telegram represents that he tried to get away by a yessel, but owing to its being detained by contrary winds- he' -was Tei" arrested. The Press Agency telegrams, however, simply indicate that he made ineffectual efforts' to. get away, being -closely watched by tlio. police after the Taranaki sailed whithout him. ..,.'.,

The inhabitants of iCarterton have followed the example of ..those of Masterton by appointing! a committee to promote, by all possible and legitimate means, the early undertaking of the Valley, portion of the Wairarapa railway. In fact, they have excelled r Masterton in the expression of their interest in the matter, by holding two meetings simultaneously, by attending them- numerously in the face of unfavorable weather, and by appointing two committees. This last, however, happened more by mistake than by design, and considering that the same conclusions were arrived at, and that several gentlemen were nominated on both committees, an amalgamation will, no doubt, take place, and a united effort be made to carry out^ the object in view. Members of the Masterton committee were' present, and 'explained that the proposal was that a deputation should wait upon the Wellington * Chamber of < Commerce, to . secure their co-operation, and, in that event, that a joint deputation, consisting of the members for the district, the members for tbe city of Wellington, members of the Chambers, and, members of! the, committees, Should 'w|ait 'unon, the 'Minister, for Public Works., ' At' both meetings it wa& resolved that a committee should co-operate with the Masterton committee, • and there was much 1 ' expressionr'giveri to th* 'feeling' that, in thismatter, there is close identity between the interests of the two places, as there may also - be said to be between those Of the city fend the country. 'In f short, 'there are substantial reasons in the circumstances — in the promises . made, in the delay that has occurred, and in the prospective , position of the. public works — •tha'tr an undertaking ; of such importance as this should not- be .allowed to give place to others of possibly far inferior value, and, that full and early representations should be r made on the, subject. ' ""

The-Jtton. Mr. John. Hall, though not at presentr holding a portfolio,, is expected to relieve the; Hon. Majo^ Atkinson, of. the supervision of the postal and telegraph departments, -Major, Atkinson confining himself; to the duties more immediately allied with the Premiership. Last night's partial eclipse" of fhe moon turned out a total failure so far as concerned the terrestriaL .'spectators of the celestial phenomenon;, 'for 'the sky was so densely overcast that! lie' lunar _ eclipse, instead of being •Apactia^" proved a total one, neither eelipoe nor mpQU'besng visible. , , A smart shock of earthquake is said to have been felt at 12116 aim. yesterday, and a slighter shock about 5 o'clock. The former shock was felt very distinctly on board the ships- & ;hHrbor.' - "•/> •• l~l ~ ¦ . - •'• , < : JScl K'Moeller'wm address the electors of Tec Aro 1 Ward, this, evening, at the Victoria .HoteVat^o'cloefc.;. '.. , ; „ . , '-Utr'. C;' J: Tokward, who, was so severely injured in the recent coach AecHent on- the Runutaka, wjuJ^Ugitt info tSwn last evening,

arriving about six o'clock. We regret to learn that bisjniuries are of a more serious nature than staft«BQ by telegram. The right leg J* N broken in two places, the upper fracture beujjr, cdmpouod;> and^the -Sower jgtay badlyr^cog^-' wptnl^- the bWei^fact^^' sepralrinclSee' being completely, sfitashed "to piece?. ¦ Dr. Diver, on beingi summoned telegram, promptly., proceeded-^ Feathersion, and arranged" for Mr. Toxward's conveyance to Wellington, slinging the shattered limb in what is technically known as a "Salter's cradle." Mr. Toxward was brought down in a waggonette, starting from Featherston at 9 a.m., and reached town at 6 p.m. Through Dr. Diver's skilful arrangement of the "cradle" all jolting was avoided, and Mr. Toxward hardly any pain during the trip. Dr Diver obtained from the Minister of Public Works authority to despatch a special train to meet Mr. Toxward^t the" Upper Hutt, but Mr. A. D. Smith the stationmaster, said it would take two hours to get up steam which would have made it too late to be of any use. The patient, however, reached town all right, and to-day is going on as favorably as could be expected. A ; Gazette Extraordinary, notifiying the Governor's acceptance oi the resignation of the Ministry of which Sir Julius Vogel was Premier, and the appointment of Major Atkinson's Ministry, was issued on Saturday evening. The several appointments are as we stated them' to be on Saturday. The Hon. J. Hall's name does not appear, he having accepted a seat in the Cabinet without portfolio. The Canterbury football players are expected to arrive here by the Hawea to-morrow morning, but the secretary of the Wellington team received a telegram this afternoon from the Canterbury captain to the effect 'that he was endeavoring to have the steamer detained until next day. Thus the date of the match is still uncertain. If the Canterbury players come on, by the Hawea to-morrow morjning, the match will take, place; the same aftef-t noon, but if the team "waif for the next ¦ steamer, or. as has been proposed, return to Taranaki before coming on hither, the Wellington match will not come off until the end of the week. 1 Up to the time of our going to press, no definite information had arrived. Mr. Nathan, of Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Co., of this city, in passing through the United States, . secured several ¦ , important trade " agencies, and among .them, .the agency for the celebrated " Waltham " watches, manufactured by a Massachusetts firm, whose works, are said to be the largest and most complete in the world. ' A meeting of freemasons under, the Scottish Constitution was held at the Provincial Hall this afternoon with a view to the formation of a Provincial Grand Lodge for the North Island of New Zealand. Bro. the Hon. F. Whi taker has been mentioned as the probable R.W.P.G.M., and Bro. A. Johnston, 1 M.D., R.W.M. of the Waterloo Lodge, as R.WJD.P.G.M.of the new Grand Lodge. We understand that the agency for the sale, of Udolpho Wolfe's celebrated Schiedam Arb- : matic Schnapps has been transferred to Messrs. Jacob, Joseph and Co., of this city. We learn from the Otago Daily Times of the Ist inst. that another batch of summonses has just been received by the head bailiff of the Resident Magistrate's Court for presentation to the unfortunate shareholders in the notorious Titanic Steel Company. The bailiff, who has to regularly attend the court, and his assistant, seem to have a very lively time of it. The former arrested no less than three men, and provided them with gaol accommodation on Monday last. On Saturday evening the chess mateh — House of Representatives ,v k City of "Wellington — was resumed at Mr. Budge's rooms. Five games were played, of which three were won by the City and two by the House. This makes the total number of games played twenty, of which eleven have been won by the House and seven by the City, the other two being drawn. The list of games played on Saturday night is as follows : — FLAYJBRB. WON BY Lusk v. Benbow . Benbow (City) Ballance V. Orbell 1 Ballance (House) Bryce v. Reeves . Reeves (City) Greenwood v. Brown . Greenwood (House) Greenwood v. Skey . . Skey (City) Five more games now remain to be played, all of which the City team will require to win in order to escape defeat at the hands of their parliamentary opponents. Play will be resumed next Saturday evening at half-past seven. The Wellington Philosophical Society held the second meeting of the present session on Saturday evening in the lecture hall at the Colonial Museum. There was a large attendance of members and their friends, including his Excellency the Governor. The President, Dr. Buller, C.M.G., occupied the chair. There was only time to read two papers out of about half-a-dozen set down. The two which were read and discussed were (1) "On the Botany of Kawau Island," by J. Buchanan, F.L.S., and (2) " Remarks on the Volcanic Phenomena of the Aucklaud Lake District," by W. T. L. Travel's, F.L.S. Both were very ably written, and elicited much .remark. Mr. Travers' description of the hot springs and lakes of the North Island was particularly interesting, and no doubt will be published in full in the TransI actions of the Society. The papers left over will be read at the next meeting of the Society, which will take place on Saturday week, the lGthinst. We may remind our readers of Mrs. Palmer's concert, which takes place in the Willis-street i schoolroom. The programme, which is a very attractive one, appears in another column. The new rush in Westland appears to be attracting a number of miners' from this province. To-morrow the steamer Matau leaves for the West Coast, via Foxton, carrying about fifty passengers. We have been requested to direct attention to Mr. George Thomas' sale of drapery ana" clothing t on Wednesday and Thursday, 6th and 7th September, as per advertisements, at the S remises lately Levy's auction mart, next the idd Fellows' Hall. The auctioneer intimates that this is one of the largest and most important sales of drapery, that, has taken place m Wellington for a very long period, and as it is a bankrupt stock, and for sale without any reserve, we have no doubt but it will be largely attended, the variety of goods to be offered being very extensive. ' The bridge over the Taueru will be cqnv pleted in the course of a few days — within the contract time. It is reported to be a very good ¦ job, and "wiH be a great convenience to the traffic going towards Castlepoint and the East . Coast. The Wairarapa News Letter says : — We learn that Mr. W. H. Beetham contemplates making a trip to Europe at an early date, the route selected by him being by way, of. Australia. Mr. Beetham has so thoroughly identified himself with every public'm'ovement in the district that his presence will be missed by almost everybody. We may rest assured, however,, that on his return it will be found that he has ' made' good use of the opportunity to make such additions to the stock of the district as, will amply compensate for the temporary absence of one of our leading settlers. ; 'At 4he Theaitre Royal on Saturday night, the , Hegarty Globe Combination Troupe again performed to a capital house, and with entire success. The same' programme will be repeated this evening. Another heavy landslip occurred on the Hutt Road, .at the excavation- works, the day before (yesterday, and again, happily, without beingattended with any loss of life. A vast quantity of earth came down, and completely blocked up the road for a short time. Luckily no one was passing, or the result might have been a coroner's inquest. Tfls evident that more care is needed in the manner of carrying on these works. It would appear to be plain to the meanest mental capacity that if you dig away the supports from a heavy mass of earth and rock; the latter will fall. ' " Yet tbisiis done constantly, and unless the twice-repeated warning received by these two slips be .heeded in time, we very much fear we shall have a harrowing tale of death and damage to. relate. It is reported, says the Standard, that the Te Ore Ore natives have threatened to destroy the Wangaehn Bridge at the upper crossing, on, the ground that they have some claim to. the land in which it is built. Perhaps it would be as, well for them to carry out their threat and then see whether the consequences would be a general life pension from the Native Department to each malcontent. .Alfred Minifie, a young lad employed in the Post-office at Masterton, was, on the 31st ult.i charged before the Resident Magistrate's Court there with -Staving stolen' certain ' letters .containing money, &©., from- the said Post-office. He was remanded until -Thursday nextj bail being refused. — | Mr. Coker opened Ins TteV dining-room at. the Occidental Hotel this afterboon^with'a^ree ! luncheon served in' a style never ytt^ualled

in^Hfellmffton. About forty sat down to a moit§%unl^tuoii.> and recherche repast, to which" ffpll was done. This over, theVhp^p.^liealtli was proposed by Mr. >> BftUbgi r and -I drunk in bumpers of champagne," Mr. Coker responding in appropriate terms. The room, as we have mentioned in a previous i^sue, is probably the, handsomest of its. class in New Zealand. It measures 36ft. by 30ft., and Is furnished and fitted up in really'splendid style. The table, which is horse-shoe shaped, will seat 50 persons comfortably at one time. The decorations of the room are singularly tasteful and artistic. We wish Mr. Coker the success he deserves in his new venture. Terrific westerly gales have been raging over the whole colony during the last two days, and still continue. At the Bluff last evening the barometer was as low as 28.64. The gale was very violent in Wellington last night, but otherwise the weather here has been brilliantly fine amid all the storms which prevail in nearly every other part of the colony. On Saturday afternoon, Kaiwarra presented quite an animated appearance, as there must have been nearly two hundred persons present in the enclosure adjoining the Waterloo Hotel, at the time the i-mile running handicap took place, which resulted as follows: — F. Jones (15 yards start), Ist; Moran (scratch), 2nd. The winner's time was 2mins. 33secs., which was not bad, considering the smallness of the course (19 times round to the mile). After the handicap, Mr. Wiltshire appeared, walking his 190 th mile, and was loudly cheered by those present. He is beginning to look rather fagged, but is manfully sticking to his task. The distance walked at 6 o'clock this e<¦ ening will be 216 miles. On Saturday next, there will be a two mile walking handicap for a silver watch. Mr. R. J. Duncan, who was badly cut and bruised in the late accident to the Wairarapa coach, arrived in town last evening. During the trip of H.M.S. Nymphe to the Heads on Saturday, there was some target paactiee, the improvised target being the Pinnacle or Steeple Rock. Seven shots were fired, at a distance of a "mile and a halt!, and there was some very close shooting, the ' rock' being occasionally struck. It may probably be suggested by some who have written on the 1 "jagged rocks" at the entrance of Wellington harbor, that this is a new method of removing them. The widow of the late Henry Webb requests us to thank her friends for their kind assistance and sympathy. She wishes us to mention that she received.£B 14s from the Hutt and £23 10s through Mr. Kebblewhite. Mr. 1 J. H Wallace will hold a sale of town and country properties at his sale-room tomorrow, at 2 o'clock, when some valuable properties will be offered as advertised. The return football match between the respective colleges of Wellington and Nelson will be played on the Botanic Reserve, Nelson, on Wednesday or Thursday next. The Wellington College team, who left here this affernoon in the s.s. Taranaki, are— Barton, Butts, Brandon, Dransfield, Martin, Lockie, Taylor (2), St. John,' Luxford; Webb, Cooper, Kirk, Morrah, and Burnes. , ¦ Recent reports from Reefton are much more favorable, regarding several of the mining' claims. The prospects of the Fiery Crown Company have improved considerably; the Hopeful Company are crushing with good prospects ; and 950 ounces have been obtained from the top plates of the Golden Fleece Extended, during two weeks. The Jaokson's Bay Fishing Company, an enterprise undertaken about' a year ago, has not yet proved much of a success, but the fishermen, who have shifted their -quarters, say good prospects are ahead. The Union Company have offered to convey the fish to market tree of charge for six months. It is stated by the local paper that Mr. J. Ingrley has disposed of his butchering business in Carterton to Mr. J. Barlow, of Wellington, the price given being £750. This includes the premises, with the acre' on which they stand, and the goodwill.