Truth JOE WARD AND JURIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 128, 30 November 1907, Page 4

Truth

JOE WARD AND JURIES.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBEB 30, 1907.

Now that the cheap and shameless congratulations of the daily press to Sir Joseph Ward for having pushed the Gaming Act into Law and .active operation have ceased, it might not, or might, be considered illtaste, ill-will and ill-timed if "Truth should raise a discordant note. If it is imagined that a studied and steadied insult is to be levelled at the citizens of this Dominion—the common people, from whose ranks are drawn men whose duty and privilege it is ito try their fellows against whom any criminal charge has been preferred, if a gross and contemptible insult is. to be levelled against the people by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and is to be the subject of • daily press acclamation, and is to be allowed ■to pass unnoted and unheeded, then this paper, at any rate, will have signally failed m its mission. The fact . seems to be that Premier Joe Ward has cot out- of collar. The wowser element, that- is ever ready to sacrifice somebody, and would just as soon seelc Joe Ward's political assassination, because' he is a Roman Catholic politician and a colonial Irishman have played a truly wonderful game. Joe Ward, rather ,< than risk political annihilation because he is a Roman Catholic and of Irish descent, has ignominiously knuckled under. Like many other Irishmen that were confronted with loss of place, ' pay, and preferment or taking the choice of a glorious martyrdom, Joe has debased his manhood, swallowed his principles, and delivered himself, bound hand and foot, over to the enemy, the blood-thirsty, Boynewater barracking helot, who nerceives m a Roman Catholic Irish politician, a fiend incarnate, who is ready to sell his country to Rome, but who experience has taught m a great many instances will sell his manhood and principles to the highest bidder who m New Zealand at this

time is the wowser, who seem 6to have given .Joe Ward the choice of being a victim of sectarian strife or soiivg over to "Dublin Castle." Joe Ward has accordingly gone over.

Naturally, the question will be promptly asked, why is "Truth" making such a fuss. In what way has Roman Catholic Irish politician Joe Waa-d ratted on his principles and sacrificed manhood and nationality. The questicfi might well he asked, and the answer must he re-, corded with the bitterness that it engenders. Joe Ward, Roman Catholic and oF Irish parentage and ' descent, has succeeded m doing for the present generation m New Zealand what his forbears broke out m bloody revolt over. Joe Ward, Roman Catholic Irish politician, has denied to men charged with a criminal offence the right to be tried and adjudged guilty or not guilty by a jury ot their own countrymen. It does not require a too intimate Knowledge of Irish history to thoroughly understand what "Truth" means. Patriotic Irishmen m by-gone bloody days when equally bloody and brutal judges were abroad hanging and .quartering, bullying and bouncing juries, vainly endeavoring to exterminate by death on the scaffold a justifiably rebellious race, owed much, nay their lives and their liberties to the glor-

io'is independence of juries, who foi their patriotic zeal m refusing to he nrivv to the judicial murder of their fellow Irishmen and Roman Catholic brethren, were adjudged rebels themselves, "vervain" that, like the rest, must be exterminated ere bloody and brutal British misrule forever dominated and destroyed Irish national life. Joe Ward knows perhaps better than "Truth" the bloody history of Ireland. He knows, or ought to know, what trial by jury meant to patriotic Irishmen. Joe Ward proposes, and his proposal will be carried into effect, that m New Zealand a certain class of "criminal" will be denied trial by jury, because juries are apt* to acquit. In Ireland things were very often the reverse. Juries, packed juries, were apt to convict, because those juries were like' Joe Ward to-day, they were afraid of the damnable domination of Boyne water barraclcers, who hated a , Roman Catholic as Judge Jeffries hated a Presbyterian.. When we behold the spectacle m this more peaceful era, of a Roman Catholic Irish politician refusing the right of men to be tried by jury, because juries are liable to acquit, we are inclined to. believe that the lessons of Irish history, of the efficacy of trial by. jury arc lost even on Roman Catholic Irish politicians m far-off climes, whe.ro though the bitterness of bygone bloody days have gone down from generation to generation. i

When the Gaming act was before the House of Representatives and that ' clause dealing with, the punishmen of street-betting bookmakers and gaming-house keepers was under consideration, Mr Wilford sought to so amend the clause by nroviding a sentence of six, instead of three months' imprisonment, thereby permitting the •'criminal" to elect, if he so desired, to go before a jury. It* was properly pointed out that a vagabond, the user of indecent language, and various other classes of offenders, were given the opportunity of going before a jury. Mr Wilford's amendment was very strongly supported, but from Roman Catholic and Irish politician Joe Ward came the warmest and strongest opposition. He said, according to newspaper reports, that he" was a believer m trial by jury, but the position had not been correctly stated. There was a right of appeal to a Supreme Court Judge. He said more than that. He declared that iuries m the past had shown a riisnosition to acquit allowed offenders of this description. Therefore, it looks that Roman Catholic Irish politician Joi Ward has great fnith m Judges ; and Magistrates where it is desired : to obtain convictions, but m Junes

he had no faith where the attainment of that end is desired. A startling doctrine surely from a Roman Catholic Irishman who knows, or ought to know, that m his beloved Erin, Magistrates and .Judges wouW ever convict, while it was left to juries, even at the risk 1 , of being declared rebels, to acquit. Is that a sacrifice of manhood and •orincinle ? How on earth can Joe Ward declare himself a believer m trial ' By jury when m his next breath he declares that trial by jury is not the righ+ of a gambler. It was Roman Catholic Irish politician Joe Ward's opposition to the amendment, his declaration that if it was desired to make the whole ' clause worthless, then the best way was to give effect to Mr Wilford's proposal, that secured its defeat. The noes certainly carried the day. They did it only by four votes though, which shows at anyrate that a vast percentage of non-Catholic Irish politicians m the New Zealand .Parliament are not afraid of ottending the wowser and arc true to the instincts of all Britons, who believe it the birthright of every man under the British .flag to ask a jury to decide between him and the Crown.

Of course 1 there are not wanting m the Dominion some who like Roman Catholic Irish politician Joe Ward, while posing as believers m trial by jury for one class of offenders, deny the same rig-lit to the gambler. Others there are who are for ever agitating for the total abolition of trial by jury, or for some modification of the system, whereby majority verdicts of jurors will suffice to send a man to prison. The

"Otago Daily Times,". the southern mouthpiece of fat and capitalism, seems to have gone jumping mad m its joy at the defeat of Mr Wilford's proposal. It is a wowser rag, and it accordingly pats Roman Catholic Joe on the back m the * following significant manner :— •

Mr Wilfor.d sought to increase the alternative penalty to imprisonment 1 for a period not exceeding six months— not because he deemed the shorter term to be an insufficient penalty, but because the adoption of it will deprive an accused person of a right to be tried by a jury m the Supreme Court. In this effect, however, he was defeated, and there is cause, for gratification m the fact, since/as Sir Joseph Ward warned the House, the value of the whole provision would be wrecked if accused » persons were given the right of a trial by jury. It is a disagreeable admission to have to make, tout it is a fact that, as experience has shown, common juries m the Supreme Court cannot, under the present system, under, which a unanimous verdict is required for the conviction of accused persons, be trusted to act impartially as between the Crown and the accused or a "true verdict to return according to the evidence" m gaming cases. Sir Joseph Ward says that juries will not convict m such cases, and we have no hesitation ourselves m affirming, with every sense of our responsibility, that there have been several instances m which juries have acquitted accused persons of whom the conviction was clearly justified oh the evidence.

On what authority the Premier of New Zealand publicly proclaims the fact that jurors will not convict a gambler is yet to be made clear. It is sufficient, however, for "Truth's" purpose, and to borrow the little phrase from the "Otago Daily Times,'? and we 'have no hesitation ourselves m aflirmir-r with every sense of our responsibility, that neither the traitorous Irish politician Ward or the, "Otago Daily Times" can' prove, on reliable testimony, or on overwhelming proof, that juries m New Zealand have perjured themselves, proved traitors to their country by wilfully and corruptly acquitting men charged with breaches of ■ samin.qf legislation. "Truth" challenges Sir Joseph Ward, whose utterences on the matter are a disgrace to his nationality an insult to the common people of the country, to prove one isolated instance, wherein juries have flagrantly flouted their oaths, perjured themselves, and set all law at defiance, without some lawful ground for acn-uitting the apcused. Moreover, this fact seems to be .overlooked by the Premier. Jurors are drawn from the ranks of the community, as jurors they re~ present' the commonweal. If their nersistence m refusing to convict is indicative of anything at all, it means that such gambling legislation is unpopular, and jurors m acquitting are only actually protesting against the iniquity of the Law. 1

It is hardly necessary *at this stage at any rate to build up any elaborate defence of the system of trial by jury. It is the best system that the wit or ingenuity of man, has wrought. It. is a system hallow- , ed and sanctified by Time. It is a system "that . will survive the puny and puerile attacks of poltroon politicians and a corrupt capitalistic press. Ilf juries have failed to convict gamblers, it means nothing more than that the juries, as representative citizens, have protested against Puritanic legislation. It means also that juries, as they always are invited to do, have rejected the evidence of pimps and informers, and acquitted, as directed by Judges to do. Roman Catholic Irish Joe Ward should, therefore, be the last man m the world to thus deride the jury system, and by such ill-founded assertions of penury a-gainst jurors offer an uncalled-for insult to the cqmmumity. The fact of an an peal to the Supreme Court, being left to the offender does not correctly state the case. An uncalled for insult has been levelled at the community, that has very considerately discountenanced the fact that the Premier is of the Roman Catholic persuasion, who have kept m check the sectarian strife mongering mongrels, who are ready and have attempted his political assassination on religious -grounds. Sir Joseph Ward, by his successful attempt to placate the wowsers, to fp© l the ravenous appetite of a bloodthirsty pack of fanatics, has succeeded m alienatine: from himself the svmnathv of the liberal-minded members of the community. He has, by his cross insult, his degrading and ■ disgraceful attempt of introducing i Dublin Cp.stle justice m New Zea1am 1 'iron-Tnt about that end, which it was hoped would never be attained-