The N.Z. Times TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1909. THE MEIKLE CASE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6970, 9 November 1909, Page 4

The N.Z. Times

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9,1909. THE MEIKLE CASE

WITH WHU H !8 INCORPORATED THE “WELLINGTON INDKPENDKMT." ESTABLISHED 1845.

We are very much inclined to doubt whether the deputation which waited on the Prime Minister yesterday made the position of “ the Meikle case ” any more satisfactory by the suggestion that it should go before a Judge and jury. Before anything of this kind could bo done it would be necessary to pass ah Act of Parliament, and as tho Legislature has already placed a Meikle Acquittal Act on tho statute hook there is certainly some reason to wonder what effect it is expected tho verdict of “a jury” would have on the minds of members who now oppose a monetary grant to Meikle. The case has surely passed .beyond the Judge and jury stage. So far as .the public and Parliament are concerned, the Acquittal Act places Meikle in the position of a man wrongfully sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. The question has ceased to be whether he was innocent or guilty, but what compensation, if any, should be voted him. Upon this point there has always been a difference of opinion in Parliament, the opposition to payment being too strong for the Ministry to break down. The antagonism to Meikle still exists, and though its extent has not yet been revealed. Sir Joseph Ward’s remarks leave no room for concluding that it is by no means inconsiderable. Though there is ground for taking the strongest possible exception to the methods pursued by Meikle during the last few years, it is not at all creditable to Parliament that it should so persistently refuse to do its duty towards him. Indeed, it is a serious reflection on tho country that this man—the subject of the Meikle Acquittal Act—should session after session knock at the door of the representative As-

scmbly vainly seeking, after an improper conviction of crime, for the recomjiSßso he lias every right to look forward to. It is, of course, impossible for the Ministry to make a vote to Mcikla one of party, for the problem is not within tho region of politics. At the same time, those members on tho Government side of tho House who have opposed tho proposals of Ministers in the past would do well to consider whether in allowing individual prejudices to control their action they are acting quite fairly to Ministers on whom, in a case like this, a special moral responsibility is imposed to seo that full, if tardy, justice is dono.