Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5630, 2 December 1879, Page 4

It will be seen from an article elsewhere, that the Rev. George Brown has been summoned at Fiji, at the instance of Chief Jostice Gorrie, in his capacity as Her Majesty's Judicial Commissioner, in respect to the expedition conducted by him against natives of 2iew Britain, and that he will be put upon his trial for manslaughter. The rev. gentleman is so well

known and respected in Auckland, where he formerly resided, that the subsequent proceedings will be watched with gr.\it interest. It appears from a letter in another column, written by the Rev. B. Ghapraau, General Secretary of the Australasian Wesleyan Missionary Society, that Sir Arthur Gordon, who is the High Commissioner for Western Polynesia, altogether disapproves of the prosecution, on the grounl that •'■ no evidence ha 3 been brought to his notice which would have led him to recommend it 3 institution." For some reason or other it has been taken out of the hands of the High Commissioner, the person appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct the inquiry. : by the Judicial Commissioner, Chief Juetice Gorrie. By the Pacific Islands Protection Act, 1875, section G, it. is declared that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to exercise jurisdiction over Her subjects within any of the islands in the Pacific Ocean not being within Her Majesty's dominions, nor within the jurisdiction of any civilised Power, in the same and as ample a manner as if ! such power or jurisdiction had been acquired by the cession or conquest of territory, and by Order in Council to constitute the office of Commissioner over such islands, and by an Order in Council to i confer upon such High Commissioner power to make regulations for the government of her subjects in such Islands, and to impose penalties, forfeitures and imprisonment for the breach of such regulations. Sub section of clause 0 also creates a Court of Justice with civil, criminal, and Admiralty jurisdiction over her Majesty's subjects within the islands to which the authority of the High Commissioner shall extend, and with power to take cognisance of all crimes and ofience3 committed by Her Majesty's subjects withinany of theislands within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty. By an Order-of-Oouncil of 14th August last, a series of regulations are made respecting the constitution of the High Commissioner's Court, and by one of whkh it is provided the High Commissioner, or the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, mitigate or remit any punishment adjudged by the Court. It i 3 no doubt un J er the above Act, and in the Court created by it, that the present proceedings are taken. Chief Justice Gorrie, it is known, holds strong views respecting the conduct of expeditions auch as those led by the Rev. George Brown. Mr. Gorrie first came into notice during the prosecution of Governor Eyre, of Jamaica revolt celebrity, when he was examined as a witness. On the 28 th of August last, in the High Commissioner's Court, he fined Captain Kilgour, of the schooner Mystery, iflOO, and made him enter into his own recognizances to the amount of £250 to be of good behaviour in the Pacific for three years, because he returned the fire of the natives while getting a boat off at the island of Aoba, and subsequently landed his armed crew, in company with some returned labour, and fired the native huts as a punishment for treachery. The Judicial Commissioner (Chief Justice Gorrie), in his charge to the a33essors in the above case, thus refers to such conduct, at d his language is important, as bearing upon the conduct of the Rev. George Brown's expedition, and the action which the Judicial Commissioner may take :— ;i I | need not tell you, gentlemen, that a private citizen ha 3 not the right to go io war on his owi: private account. If he doe 3 so on the people of a civilised State, he would be punished as a ' filibuster,' and his own Government would most properly leave him to be punished as he deserved. Neither has a private citizen any right to make war against uncivilised natives. It is the sovereign power alone which has the right to say when a recourse should be had to arms, and ivhen a people or tribe shall be punished for any act or wrong-doing. I must inflict such a fine as will show that these petty wars, at the instance of private persons in the Pacific, will not be permitted." Some surprise is felt that, after a lengthy period of oScial inaction, proceedings should be taken, and those in the nature of criminal procedure. The Rev. Mr. Brown has always pleaded in behalf of the decisive action taken by him the good old maxim, "Necessity knows no law," and that, but for the signal punishment inflicted upon the native murderers, in all probability the whole of the members of the mission and the other European residents would have been massacred. His conduct received the entire approval of the European residents, who, as being conversant with the circumstances, were in a position to come to a just conclusion on the whole affiir. The German warship Ariadne, Captain Yon Werner, went to the Duke of York Island shortly after the expedition took place, and her commander made a formal inquiry into the circumstances, for the information of the German Government, as the interests of a number of German residents were involved. His verdict was that Mr. Brown deserved to b<. , 'rewarded instead of being blamed, and he informed that gentlenan that he had aent a full account of the atiVr to his Government, requesting it to con rev to Mr. Brop\;i r by means of sa official comnrsa.'e- tion to the English Government, the th.T-uks of the German Government for his conduct, by which the lives and property of Germans as well as other European rtaii'lents had been protected. Subsequently Mr. Brown addressed a pnblic meeting in Auckland, when he entered at great length into the history of the New Guinea Mission, and the circumstances and eveuts which had led up to the celebrated expedition, which is now in controversy. At the close of his address a resolution was unanimously carried expressive of confidence in the rev. gentleman, and to the effect that while it was to be regretted that loss of life had taken place, the circumstances entirely justified his action and exonerated him from any charge of misconduct. Under all these circumstances, and in view of these manifestations of onicialandpublic opinion, it is scarcely probable that the case will end otherwise than the Governor Eyre prosecution. It is indeed possible that although Chief Justice Gorrie has commenced the prosecution he has done so onlybecaiisehethinks that such an affair as has occurred at New Guinea should not be allowed to pass without a full inquiry while a court exists specially constituted to examine into all cases of collision between natives and those who visit their islands. It is quite evident that Sir Arthur Gordon would not acquiesce in any punishment of Mr. Brown, and he has full power under the Order-in-Council to modify or remit any sentence which may ba pronounced. ;

13 it the fate of elderly gentlemen to ti'-„ tbe vocttion of Cassandra, tint eo H< man as Mr. Gladstone shoall be psra J 0 * latitiß Knglaud, impressing it wiih th« ao-' *" fc'.at it should be miserable, aad t "j»t Heicoiußeld is it? evil cpirii, lejliq. ";."*"' the road to ruin J The Fate, fight S^V ,n the mau who i, hia tale o: the tare of Liber*! coastitaencie? It t , ' 5 t> be his lot fcj take up hU parable j- ' &t the wrong time. Yesterday ail c.eepindency aad alarm. Monoy leaving tbe coaatry, trade Wi3 J nll ' and the workiag cla*ses fall o f ■]: ' content. Nothing c mid b- mo'c n-on-ir fora peripatetic agitator. To-day tjj. J^ , ha 3 turned ; money is more pie itiful •-"jii* U improving, aud the prophets of wo'e "wIT toU the people that the glory of Eng! haddepartel, are at a dierount. Th<> £ 1 of Baconstield was ccrtaialy born and'-r , lucky a tar. To us the prosperity of Kn-lin,] is everything; we share its" comav.;,] mutation*, and as we have fe'.j ij 3 J e -,j sioo, 30 now we ehall pirt:eipat» ia' t'lf brightening ot its prospects. \V O Ire al " dependent on it for the [ rici of oar -re ' staple wool; and the that h«a tikea place in it» T j means advantages to this colony impossible to pursue through their various ramirio» tions. Advances will bs repiid, overirafj closed, aod a considerable sum of nionev 1 ilistribut-d throaghout the colony, -rjj rise in the price of wool comes in thj n ; *k of time. It will not do everything, bu: i> v :n create hope, improve trade, eccjurage e'ate'r prise, and in some measure help the j-üblie tinmces. It is a true saying that i; i« a loog lane which has no tarning.