WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

Evening Star, Issue 13145, 29 December 1908, Page 1

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.

WHAT IS RIGHT? The Government resolved, In the east of Findlay, charged with the Papakaio murder, that the accused should be provided with an advocate by the State. Having failed to thus befriend the two strangers, with such serious consequence* to them, the Government should make all the amends in their power, and should not resort to ingenuity to relieve themselves from such a responsibility: True, "it is not a question of sympathy, it is a question of doing what is right" ; but what is right in thi6 case? We believe that the Government have not dipcovered it yet, that more will be heard of the matter to the Government's discomfiture, and that, if Parliament should consider the question of compensation, and an unprejudiced vote be taken upon it, the Government would be beaten. Hallinen might be little the worse for his disgraceful incarceration, but what of the wife and family of Andersen, who died probably as the rcteult of the ordeal through which he passed ? How can the Government consistently repudiate responsibility, for the unjust treatment of Hallinen and Andersen when the police, an auxiliary to the State's judicial system, used Connelly as an instrument to 6ecure their conviction even after the magistrate had emphatacally declared that, in his opinion, Connelly was undoubtedly the murderer-? ' Oamaru Mail.' 4 UNREST IN SAMOA. The decade of, tranquillity enjoyed by Samoa is the best testimony to (ho general character of the present German administration, and encourages the hope that the Berlin statement—that the unrest is occasioned by the isolated intrigues of chieftains—will be found correct. In any case the colonial difficulties of Western Governments are not made the occasion of any British display <vf animosity, and the same may unhesitatingly be said of the Americans. New Zealanders and Australians do rot like to see European Continental Powers in the South Pacific, but as lone as their flags remain here our only desire is for the peace and prosperity of the islands under their rule.—Auckland ' Herald.' . QUESTION OF COMPENSATION. If it is the duty of the Government to so liberally compensate a man who was wrongly imprisoned for sheep-stealing, surely it is still more the duty of the Government to offer some solatium to an unfortunate who was wroncly placed upon his trial for a brutal murder, who might very easily have suffered the extreme penalty of the law. and who actually was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. Those who are familiar with the circumstances of both cases will see no comparison between the merits of Mr Meikle'i claim for compensation and that of Hallinen. A good deal more will, no doubt, be he;"-rl of the matter, but if it is the intontinn of the Government that for the future no person convicted upon perjured testimony shall be entitled to compensation, that fact should be made perfectly clear.—Nelson ' Colonist.' ♦ THE CROWNING INJUSTICE. The determination of the Government to refuse compensation to the wronged men in the Wcstporf murder case will come as an unpleasant surprise to many, who had .-mticipatcd that the Cabinet would deal liberally with Hallinen and the relatives of the late Andres Anderson. The latest decision appears to be the crowning injustice to the men who have undergone injustice after injustice during the past six or eight months. Hallinen and the relatives of Andersen have a strong moral claim for compensation, even if their legal remedy is exhausted. If the decision is persisted in, wc have not the slightest doubt but that the Minister will have to face a very awkward situation when Parliament 'meets: indeed, he appears to be making a rod for his own back. Before it is too late, the Ministry should recognise tlint public opinion imperatively demands that compensation shall be' granted and that ;i searching inquiry should be held into all circumstances surrounding this extraordinary murder case.—Greymoiith 'Star.' ♦ FIAT .TUSTITIA. To justify his extreme attitude, the Minister will have to go into much explanation, and then cannot, succeed in h ; s task. The plain f il(: l is that a r.;-eat wrong was done to innocent men. ami il appears to us to be the simple duty of the State to set that wrong right wkl liberal compensation. Wo li.ivo swn wha! the Stale was prepared to do in thr Meikle case—-action whii'h provoked a storm of opposition—hut in the Wcstport case there can he none of that opposition. Then how much more ready should the Government be to provide liberal compensation in so legitimate a case.—Hokitika ' Guardian.' SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL. There are few men in New Zealand who can claim so long a record of disinterested service. For forty years he tells us that he has endeavored' to serve his country, and for twenty-five of these he sat in Parliament, rising to the highest, positions in the gift, of the Crown. The memories of the dwellers in a young country are apt to be short, and it is well that they should be reminded that much good work was done that thev cannot remember. Sir William's career should be an inspiration and an example to those of the younger generation who have an ambition for a public life, and who desire to base their career on high and disinterested principles. ' Hawke's Bay Herald.' * THE WESTPORT MURDER. If the Government were to take upon themselves to pay compensation as a matter of right to every person who has been wrongly convicted it would open the door to an indefinite extent to claims of this class. Parliament is the proper authority to deal with claims of this kind, and we have no doubt it will take the West Coast case into consideration next session. If it finds, on inquiry, that the wrongful conviction was due to the fault or neglect of some public official, then it would be only right that reasonable compensation should be paid.—Christchurch 'Press.'