A QUESTION OF BAIL.

NZ Truth, Issue 106, 29 June 1907, Page 4

A QUESTION OF BAIL.

New and again, m fact too oiteu to be pleasant, tne police, not only of Wellington, but everywhere m New Zealand, show how nasty and over offioious they can be m carrying out what they call their duty, but what others, principally those who suffer, prefer to regard as down-right despotism. Nobod^ will be foolish enough' to say that the police should be remiss m their duty or relax m their dealings with the crooked. It is, however, not only the crooked who suffer, too often it is- the case that the dependents on those roped m by the long and bony and sinewy arm of the Law. that suffer. It is m dealing with the question of bail, allowed by Magistrates to accused persons, that the police presume to take up a responsibility that does not belong to them. It would seem, moreover, by . the manner m, which the police deal with alleged offenders, that they endeavor, by hook or by crook, to keep a man, or woman, m prison as long as they possibly can, and that, too, right m face of the fact that the bail allowed by a Magistrate is forthcoming. An. instance of this kind happened during the week, where a man, charged with >an offence, was allowed bail by a Wellington.. Magistrate to the extent of £50. In ordinary circumstances, and according to ali precedent; the offer of a free-holder or two, both respectable and well-known residents of the city, to sign a bond of £25 each ought to have sufficed the^iolice, but it did not. For some reason, the por lice at Lambton Quay'^emphatically declined to let the alleged offender out unless., the £50 m casftiMwas planked down. Now, "it • 'xisyirnot an tmeommon thing for intending bondsmen to decline to do any such thing ; they are worth m freehold and other property, probably ten times ,£SO, and they very naturally expect .their word, Ifcoir. written/ word of course,* to be . their bprid. Conse-qoient on sthe5 the rlefusal of the proferred bondsmen to plank down the cash, the man m custody was held by the police. And it has to be mentioned that the man's ; wife v and children were m the meantime left m a state of starvation, to properly illustrate how damnable was the hardship thus caused by the offioiousD'&ss 'of the 1/anibton Quay police. Indeed, at a later date "Truth" .will more. fully deal witth this bail question. Some time ago a proposal was mooted for reducia* Hail where poor, and it must never be forgotten, pro^baJbJy innocent per-soris, are concerned. Bail is the right of every man charged with a crime, excepiniw; under special circumstances, and,- it might 'be just as well if the; great power invested with the pplice m this direction was somewhat lessened. When the police have great power they invariably display a tendency to abuse it. O«l this question of bail Commissioner Dinnie, or even ma<ristrates, ought to see to it t ihat a prisoner gets a fair deal. Supple-m-Entinp: our remarks about the difficulty., the ay erases uttproven criminal has to obtain bail -comes notification of a Feilding case. A -young man was charged with ari offence on Monday, I and remanded/ 1 bail being allowied m two , sureties of £25 each. The accused mentioned a friend, to whom the police objected. This friend is a reputa/ble citizen with respectable relations^ and once carried on a livery s-ta'ble business m the Wairarapa, where he was also a farmer. Now he has a prosperous^ 'business m FeUding, and 'can -be vouched for by a large number of people m the Wellington province.- .' . ;<