THE SOMERVILLE CASE. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 46, 22 August 1895, Page 3

THE SOMERVILLE CASE. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib— l am very pleased to read " H.R.R.V letter in your columns of the 19th, containing an account of how a jury of sensible Wesl Coast miners determined John Donoghue'i sanity. I wish to say that had SomervilU been tried in Masterton instead of Welling ton there would have been no possibility oi a verdict of insanity being returned, I saw Somerville myself immediately after thi orime, and I feel convinoed that the roai knew what he was doing when he killet poor Herbert. But supposing then is a doubt about this — a doubt no shared in by Wairarapa residents — is it not a faot, sir, that "punishment fo; orime aots not only as punishment, but alsi as a deterrent f What safety will there bi for the publio if Wellington juries remov this deterrent? All that any clever lawye will have to do is to pick oat a dozen low typed men from the debased jury.list, and h will be pretty sure of an acquittal. I he lleve it is hinted at that many names on th Wellington jury-list should not be there a all. We all know that orime sympathise with, orime. Far be it for me to attack th jury system in itself. It is the palladium o English liberty, and those who attack i know not what they do. But a com plete mistake is being made in faring ing all criminal , "ages before the debaaei juries of the grea?*towns of this colony Why should not Somerville's case have beei tried in Maitortoj), where the murder wa committed P Why Bhould not our Judges to preserve the purity of the jury system, g on circuit a little more than they do t Sure]; it ia not unreasonable to ask that orim happening on the West Coast and in th, Wairarapa, in the Wellington Provinoia Patriot, should be tried at Palmerston ani Masterton. Juries sitting there will the: (now sometping of the character ani pironmßtances of the crimes committed whioh they should do if a man is to be trie by bis fellows. .The Judges go on oiroui into every English County, no matter hoi small it may be. Something simila must now be done for New Zealand I believe that the Grand Jury list in Wa lington baa been debased to the level of th common jury list, so that the rights of pre petty are not protected now as they ehoul be. SomervUle'aoase shows that the commo jury list does npt proteot life. In a lai Mattorton paper Mr. Jelliooe boosts that 1 has Buocessfully defended before Wellingto juries the fallowing oases i — Smith and Ha liion for the Eketihnna murder, Finley f < aWeUingtonmurder, Aldridge for a Pahiatr. murder, Lixzie Priae for an Otaki murde Nicholson for a Wellington murder, am finally, Somerville. What confidence are v to put, therefore, in Wellington oommi jurymen? Are they to be compared to tl sensible West Coast miners referred to 1 H.E.E.? It hasoometo, this at last, sir, that ha tr|ed by a "WeWngton jury, fooled by M Jellioqe, for a serious oharge means a qnittal. The evidence given by the medic men in the Qase was most unreliable ; n should the Minister of Justice have tak any part in the prisoner's defence, the fii duty of the membe-s of any Governme being for the protection of life and proper! I ask, sir, that our Judges make liTastert and Palmerston assizci towns, in' order minimise Wellington evils, no matter ii little more expense be incurred. I am, *0., A Eovir op Law and Obdkb 20th Angust, 1895.