PLAIN TALK TO INFORMERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 137, 12 June 1895, Page 3

PLAIN TALK TO INFORMERS.

In disposing of a case of sly grog-selling at Invercargill the Bench made these pungent observations ;— "ln recording a confiction, the Bench desire to make it clearly underetood that they have no sympathy wiih the methods adopted by the prosecution in order to obtain a conviction. It was stated in evidence that the two informers were employed by lhe police, with tho express objeot of getting suspected persons convicted of breaches of the Licensing Act and that any expenditue incurred by these degraded men in endeavouring to induce others to committ breaches of the law was recouped to them It was also argued by the prosecution that such a course was perfectly legal. Whether that be so or no, is no part of the duty of the Bench to decide on the present occasion, but it may be remarked, in passing, that such an assertion is open to question, and that, ■whether such a course be legal or not, it is ftt any rate a distinctly immoral act to en(jeafydur Jib "induce any dne tp commit 'a breach of the law, aji act which, if not already punishable by statute, ought at once to he made so. The Bencli have no hesitation in saying that such a method of procedure is not only utterly demoralising to those immediately concerned, hut that it is also degrading to the moral sense of the whole community, and it were better far, that no conviction for a breach of the Licensing Act should ever be obtained, than that it should he secured hy means such as were desciibed hi the evidence in the case now under consideration. It is difficult to unders 1 and under what circumstances —whether of choice or of compulsion— the prosecution was led, to adopt the jnethods disclosed in Ihe evidence given, unjesa it be that the informers exceeded their instructions, and' such does not appear. It is true that there is a section of the community (a small one, it is hoped) whose moral sense has become so degraded by the intensity of its prejudices tliat those wlio belong to it fail to perceive the enormity of such conduct, and are ready to approve of auy means whatever being adopted in the endeavour to secure a conviction under the Licensing Act j but the Bench have no sympathy with such a morbid state of mind, and de:ire to place on record, in the strongest possible manner, their unqualified disapproval of the means adopted to secure a conviction in tins case. To employ detectives to watch, and to report if'Bl'breach of the jaw is committed, is perfectly legitimate, but to employ men to induce others to commit a breach of tbe law, and then to infoini upon them, must be repugnant to every right minded and honourable man, and tbe sooner such a practice is abandoned the better for all concerned. At the sime time tbe Bench cannot allow tbese feelings to blind them to the fact that, in their opinion, a bleach of the Licensing Act has been committed by Hewitt ; but in view of the extraordinary circumstances dsclosed by the evidence, and asaniarkef Ihe Bench's strong disapproval of tho methods by wliich a conviction 'has been obtained, a Bpal} pne only will bp. iqllicto J,"