CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11558, 20 April 1898, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

SAFETY OP PACIFIC COMMERCE.

With the prospect of war breaking out between Spain and the United States, it is time to inquire

■ what would be tee position of tbe mail steamers trading between San Francisco, Auckland and Sydney during the time of the hostilities. These -steamers fly the American flag, and consequently they would be considered “ fair game ” by privateers. Many Spaniards and Frenchmen have applied to the Spanish Government for letters of marque, and as the rising in the Philippines brings the Pacific as-well as the_ Atlantic within the spher#

•T of warlike operations, it is extremely probable that several freebooting craft would make American merchant shipping in the Pacific the object of special attentions. The mail steamers would be marked at once, on account of the rich booty which they carry in the shape of gold. Only a month ago the news was telegraphed that the Alameda had left Sydney with ,£400,000 worth of specie on board. At Auckland she took another .£50,000. This month it is cabled that the Miowera has left' Sydney with £350,000 of specie. As soon as war breaks out, travel by these steamers will become unsafe, and rates of insurance will become so heavy that all trade and mails between Australasia and America . will have to'go by the Vancouver route .>, funder the British flag. It would not mend matters to any appreciable extent were the American Government to place 'guns on board the mail steamers, along with men -to work them; for such An act would give the Spaniards a ■pretext for sending warships to attack them. The prospect of getting half -a - million sterling in gold, in addition to costly merchandise, would in any case tempt the enemies of America to venture a good deal to capture these vessels. . War . between Spain and America will emphasise the desirableness of having our mails and trade conveyed in British bottoms. The Napier Chamber of Commerce a few days ago made representations oh the foolishness of constantly advertising the amount of treasure carried in the San Francisco mail steamers. It, is not clear how attempts to preserve secrecy could be made effective, for it is generally understood that every mail steamer carries large quantities of gold. The consignors cf the precious metal will, however, be ■likely to keep it in store until the war crisis is 'past, "or to send it in future by au “ all red ” mail route.

The bubonic plague, of which we heard so much ■last year,, continues its fatal career in Bombay, and, in spite of all that can be

. ■ THE PLAGUE BIOTS IN • ' BOMBAY.

done, the malady seems as far from being stamped out as ever. Even ]iouse-to-bonse visitation has not succeeded in bringing all cases to light. lFearly eighty deaths take place each day, for which no medical certificate is forthcoming, and most of these are deaths from plague not reported to the authorities. The Hindoo is absolutely careless as to the effects his actions may have on others, and at the same time resists any interference with his household affairs. The recent plague riots; in Bombay arose altogether from that fact. Early one morning a house-to-house visiting party found a young woman about twenty years of age suffering from plague. ’ Her father refused to allow her to be examined by any member of the party, and a nurse was accordingly brought to make an examination Her father, however, refused to allow the nurse to inspect his daughter. This caused great commotion, 'and a crowd numbering several hundreds, armed with bamboos, gathered round the District Plague Office, where a small body of armed police was stationed. • The magistrate, who had been summoned, told the crowd to behave themselves, and pointed out the utter uselessness of fighting with the police. The only reply was a heavy blow in the face from a missile, and at the. same time the police officer was assaulted. (Thereupon orders were given for the police to fire, and a volley was fired which' stretched seven of the rioters on the ground. The crowd then scattered and gatfiared at the end of the street, from where they had to he occasionally driven by long range firing. Five rioters were shot dead in the first volley and two others wonnded were subsequently brought in. The police were reinforced and the military was called out and posted at various parts of the disturbed district. The mob’then broke loose, and every European abroad was brutally assaulted. Two soldiers were beaten to death with bamboo rods and huge boulders. One plague hospital was attacked and another set on fire. Crowds Of natives collected on the road and stopped all the trams at several places to . see if there were any European passengers, and when they discovered there were not, they allowed the cars to proceed. The riots were the most serious that have taken place in Bombay for many years, and reinforcements of troops had to be ■called in from the surrounding districts before the crowds could be dispersed.

The law of New Zealand allows any accused person to claim the right to give evidence on oath touching the matters laid to his

EVIDENCE OR ACCUSED PERSONS.

charge; and, so far, the few years’ experience of the working of this practice ' has not revolutionised our judicial system, or produced a single evil result. The effect has, in general, been to make the ends of justice more secure, and that is a result which justifies the employment of means which are in themselves eminently rational and proper. Public opinion in England appears to be gradually coming round to the acceptance of the same principle in judicial procedure. In March last, a Bill to enable all accused persons to give evidence on oath was read a second time in the House of Lords, without division. The Lord Chancellor, who has hadalong experience, botn as a judge andas a defender of prisoners, warmly supported the proposed innovation. He cited the f amiliar case of a man charged in a policecourt with assaulting a constable. The constable tells his story on oath and may ;bo cross-examined. The defendant, though ■hamay make a statement, cannot be sworn, and even a magistrate cannot ask him a single question. A statement so made carries no conviction, except perhaps the conviction of the prisoner. Lord Halsbury remarked upon the curious fact that a Bill cf this kind was read a second time in the House of Commons twenty years ago, when he was Solicitor-General. This fact is an eloquent testimony to the way in which II nglish legislat ors observe the motto Festina. Icnte. Lord Hersohell put the unanswerable query:—“ If ■ a man is innocent of the oifence with which he is charged, and desires to give evidence, submitting himself to cross-examination, is it right that the law should prevent him from doing so?” The argument that innocent but ignorant persons would get themselves into trouble has no weight at all. The only other peer who took part in the debate, Lord • Ludlow, also spoke from long professional experience, and supported the Bill. If the Bill should not bo “ dropped ” in the Commons for want of time to consider it, this necessary amendment of English criminal law will be on a fair way to realisation.