TRIAL OF SIGNOR NASI.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1908, Page 7

TRIAL OF SIGNOR NASI.

SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT.

By Telrgraph.— l'rcss Association.— Copyright, ROME, 25th February! The trial of Signor Nunzio Nasi, who v/as Minister for Public Instruction in 1903, has endod. Ho was found guilty of misappropriation of public funds, under extenuating circumstances, and was sentenced to imprisonment for 350 days and barred for fifty months from holding any public office. In addition, Signor Nasi was fined 200 lire (£7 10s), and ordered to pay the costs of tho action. Signor Lombardo, his official secretary, was acquitted, on tho ground th;it thcro was insufficient evidence against him. Tha scandal ol 1 which tho trial just ended ia tho outcome was brought to light in 1904, and since then has boon the occasion of various dramatic events. Suspicion was first aroused by the attention of the Houso of Deputies being called to tho excessive expenditure of tho Ministry of 'Public Instruction during Signor Nasi's term of office As the result of obßorvations made in tho Houeo by tho Socialist Deputies, Signori Bissolati and Ciccotti, the ' Budget Com- , » „uit instructed Baron .Saporito, a Sicilian Deputy and ex-.Uinister to hold an enquiry. His rcpovt was presented to the Chamber at thy, sitting of 23rd March, 1904. It was regarded as so gravo that the Houso decided to appoint a commission of five Deputies to pursue tho investigations. Tho rovelatiohs v of the second enquiry being more serious, Signor fearing that tho Chamber would .uithorise proceedings against him and that an order for his arrest would be iisueel, left tho country in disguise by motor-car with Commendatore Lombardo. The accusation against Signor Nasi ranged from the most trivial and absurd wasto of money to serious speculations and falsifications. For examplo, it is alleged that tho Minister had his .speeches printed and bound in an edition of 64,000 volumes, with several thousand more copies still in proof, at the oxponse of the State, and that during his thirty-two months in office he purchased out of Govornmont money 67,900 visiting cards and 219 locks ot various kinds for his own purposes. Thvs more serious accusations concern the distribution of the fund for the extension of primary instruction, for tho encouragement of agricultural education, for providing subsidies to necessitous teachers, etc., amounting altogether to several million lire. This sum, it is alloged, was employed for other purpo&es, and in many cases unlawfully disposed of by tha Minister or his secretary, although appearing in the accounts as havijuf been used for legitimate purposes. It is further stated that almost every expense incurred by Signor Nasi in journeys, missions, receptions, etc., Mas charged to the State. Although, after being denounced in tho ordinary couita, Signor Nasi ceased to bo a member of Parliament, his constituency during his three years of exile, had repeatedly and unanimously re-elect-ed him, so that when tho Court of Cassation proclaimed tho competence of the State to try him, ho was again legally a Deputy, and protected by Parliamentary immunity. Ho had not, therefore anticipated arrest. The Chamber appointed three of its members to sustain tho accusations against tlfe late Minister, beforo tho Senate, as Crown prosecutor?. Na»i, wo are told, is still worshipped by the Sicilians, who regard him as a hero and martyr. They contend that ho is tho victim of political intrigues.