THE LATE CATTLE-STEALING CASES AT KINLOCH.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1585, 15 April 1887, Page 5

THE LATE CATTLE-STEALING CASES AT KINLOCH.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE I.AKE WAKATIP MAIL.) Sir,—l think that in the recent cattle-stealine case from Kinloch, which was tried 111 lKmedin, the rtsulu was rather surprising to the law-abiding pait r>f the community iu this district. It shows that tiie colony must either have made a great advance, or a retrograde movement in civilisation. 1 very much fear it is tiie hitter, as we setm to be drifting Lac!: to

Th<> L'ncl oKI rule, the tinip'.e plan. That they may take « no hu* c ti-.e |iower, And they li.ay keep who can. Far Lie it from iin. to disparage the well-known intelligence of a Itritish jury, still I venture to presume that, hr.d the jury been drawn from owners (if slock 1:1 t!iis l'jcaliiy, they would have taken more tliar. live minutes to bring in a veidict c.f not guilty in 'he case of the accused which wmt before thein. However, I suppose tint would be on account of the extra ucimeiicss 01 their intellect, as compared with their town cousins. I think if crimes like the above could be tried in the district where t ley are cou'rmtted, the em's of justice v o'dd be I»e.tter met than when: rile iury consists i<f men who Umivv notliing about the case, and are too ready to be iufluei cod by a claver law ver. Of cruise this will Le nu tby the asseition ♦lint thej'ii) would then la; opinionated and prejudiced, nut i iio not think that a little htalthv opinion, or even prejudice, would do the least bit of ha;m iu a case like thi.*.

Tin- cuse of the prisoner who pltjucii guilty, hears i sLii! i,mt unfteallliy inor.il aspect. One would ha". c i.!ifura I, v thought tiiat, on heing found guilty of so li< in. us a crim-. In* would have done at least e!; ,, -t-:en month*' hard labor fir the jiood of his country. ISo sU' h thine* He is set free at once ; l-nt has tf> pay t!i j eiiornii'iu sum of tiro ]>oumh ten AMLvj* to tli u owner of ihe l ul!oek. I grant that I eef can Ve had v»*ry cheap just now ; sM!I I tirnk it could he retailed here at a nmrt remunerative fii'Ure than lii Now is done imd« r what, I under-itand, they call "'lhe First Offenders Proba'ion Act." Not havin-.' perused tint epitome of wisdom ih. 1 Statute liook of New Zealand —1 was ip.ite ignorant of the existence of an Ai:t hy w iii. !i a tiii'.i could escape his just deserts, until I read some strictures passed on it hj) Mr Hicksoi*. li.M. These strictures were by far too mild. I coll it an iniquitous act. Instead of being a dcterrant. it becomes an incentive to commit the very wo rat kind of crime, especially when administered by a judge, with a misplaced sense of leniency. Since the astonishing outcome of this case, I hoard ;i man remark that it was time f'jr everv honest man to !ai*e the country, and it is tr.:e as applied to outlying districts like this, where stork are running for months without the owuer seeing them. I can underataiifLthe application < f (he Act in ihe case of youths who have unthinkingly committed some uaiti v crime. No man with a sound iroral j'ldf ir.ent would «ay that Uiev should Imj sent to i;>i! to hj« r l wiiii ftrims, but for men come to years oi discretion to ha»e a loophole of <8 ape opened for th. in from the ju*t merits of their crimes—and that loophole opt'.ed hy the legislature of the country —I say it is monstrous. No language can he strong enough to condemn such an Act. and it will be a standing disgrace to the Statute Book of New Ze?.hnd, until it is either repealed or amended, so that criminals of the worst type cannot use it as a means of escape from the just vengeance of their fellow men. As for other vengeance, it has very little influence on them in this enli<jht"ned aye of Freethou^ht.—l am, etc. J.S.G. OleHorcliy, 12th April, 1887.