THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9108, 17 July 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JULY 17, 1888.

The case of the two French escapees— Gasparini and' Cury—has attracted' a good 'deal of attention, and not a little mental excitation of a sentimental kind. We give every credit to the lawyers who ;. have •, professionally interested themselves with great zeal in their behalf ; and we are forced to admit that there either must have been considerable irregularity in the way in which the authorities have gone about this business, or the system of procedure in the extradition of criminals is radically defective. It is apparent that there was nothing of the nature of '" spiriting 'away" the refugees to the metropolis, or any attempt to get to the blind side" of the law in relation to such , persons, and it would almost appear that this last procedure, which seemed the most irregular, was the only regularity to be found in the conduct of the whole matter. .. In the Treaty between Her Majesty and, the President of the French Republic, providing for the extradition of fugitive criminals, made in 1878, the sixteenth article provides for the manner of proceeding in the colonies and foreign possessions of either Power. It orders that " the requisition for ; the surrender, of a fugitive criminal who ,has taken refuge in a colony or foreign possession of either party, shall be made to the Governor or chief authority of such colony or possession, by the , Chief Consular Officer of the other in such colony or possession or if the fugitive has escaped from a -colony or foreign possession of the party on whose behalf the requisition is made, by the Governor or chief authority of such colony or possession. Such requisitions may be disposed ■- of,' subject always as near as may be to the provisions of this Treaty, by the respective Governors or chief authorities, who, however, shall be at liberty either to grant the surrender or to refer the matter to their Government."

From this it appears that the jurisdiction in such matters vests in the Governor personally, who is to be moved by the Chief Consular Officer of Francein this case the French Consul at Wellington—or by the Governor of the colony from which the fugitive criminal has escaped—in this case the Governor of New Caledonia. Under this article, therefore, there seems no provision for independent action on the part of the authorities of the colony in which the fugitive is discovered, which is certainly a very defective and objectionable arrangement. Under the New Zealand Act of 1874, providing for the extradition of criminals, such spontaneous action was allowed to the local authorities, and it was under that authority, apparently, that we were witnesses of those frequent arraignments and remands in our local Police Court, converted for the time into a Court for extradition. As the Imperial Treaty of two years subsequently overrides the local Act it does seem surprising that the law authorities of the Crown at Wellington permitted this playing at justice, even though it may have been deemed necessary to find excuse for detaining the fugitives. The whole affair has exhibited a palpable defect in our extra-

dition machinery which should not -be allowed to continue for a day. If it is really necessary on the arrival of a fugitive criminal on our shores, that we must wait till • the Governor of New Caledonia is advised of the presence of the escapee in the colony, and until he has officially moved the French i Consul at Wellington, to move : the Governor in the matter, not only is the delay such is] will give the criminal an opportunity of putting his talents in exercise, and enable him to escape if he so desires, hut it leaves the initiation of proceedings in the* hands of the French authorities. This does not by any means suit our circumstances, however it may suit the convenience of our gallaut allies; because, peradventure, in the interval these chevaliers d' Industrie may have so compromised themselves ; with our own laws that we may he under x the necessity of maintaining them thereafter for a good portion of their natural lives. During the short time that M. Seriac ; honoured, us with his stay, prior to transferring his talents to New South Wales, where he is now domiciled in. one of Her Majesty's" prisons for a number of j years to come, .he had in feats of legerdemain—which impressed us with the conviction that there was a mysterious and invisible spirit about — qualified himself for being maintained at the expense of the taxpayers for many years at Mount Eden. And we know that M. Gasparini had been improving his leisure time, while recently enjoying our hospitality, by keeping his talents in ■ exercise as a housebreaker.

Now this is a condition of things that cannot be suffered to exist under any circumstances, and if it is so that the Imperial Treaty overrides the procedure in relation to fugitive criminals prescribed in our Act of 1874, not a moment should be lost by the Legislature in supplementing the provisions of the treaty so as to enable the local police authorities of the colony, to detain in custody any man whom they. have good reason to suspect of' being a'criminal fugitive from New Caledonia until such time as due authorisation in relation to his extradition may be obtained Tfrom the Governor of that colony. We are to remember that we are within measurable distance of a place where are congregated men who have upon them accumulated sentences reaching, as has been facetiously put, into eternity. It is obvious that such •" fooling" as has been proceeding in our local Court in relation to these men, however I 'serviceable for one occasion, cannot bear repetition; and we sincerely trust that whatever provisions may be necessary to enable the police authorities of (the colony * ; to:> take the initiative, and to retain suspected fugitive criminals—without disturbance „of habeas corpus or any other,'.provision intended for the benefit of -h innocent men—will at once be enacted by the authority of legislation. - vfums os -•. 0 ,'•:.«,