RELEASE OF BAUME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19946, 13 November 1926, Page 14

RELEASE OF BAUME.

AN INQUIRY OFFERED. STATEMENT BY MINISTER OP JUSTICE. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, November 12. The Minister of Justice (the Hon. F. J. Rolleston) has replied as follows to the last statement of the Rev. Howard Elliott: — “The object of the Legislature in setting up the Prisons Board to adjudicate on the release and reformation of prisoners was to remove such matters entirly from political or other influences, and to have an independent board which could bring to bear skilled knowledge on the legal, criminal, medical, and human aspects of each case. The tact that the decisions of this board, which has functioned for over 15 years and dealt with several thousand cases, have never before been questioned, should bo accepted as "efficient guarantee of the nature of its work. The board is composed of citizens of the highest repute, and is presided over by one of the senior judges of the Supreme Court, and the Government does not propose, because some people may thing that the board erred in the Baume case, to set up a commission to inquire into its actions. Thereis not, however, the slightest objection to a public inquiry, and into the allegation of preferential treatment .to Baume by the prisons authorities. If Mr Elliott veill produce his affidavits and formulate his charges in regard to this preferential treatment, a magisterial commission of inquiry will bo sot up at once.” MR ELLIOTT’S TERMS. CONTROLLER-GENERAL’S APPOINTMENT. FULL PUBLIC INQUIRY. (Special to Bails Times.) WELLINGTON, November 12. In an interview with a Dominion reporter late to-night, the Rev. Howard Elliott made the following statement in reply to that issued by the Minister of Justice:— “The Government could not well avoid a reply to the challenge to hold an inquiry, but it must not be a partial inquiry restricted to tho treatment accorded Baume in prison. It must include an inquiry into tho events leading up to, and the reasons for, the release of Baume. Further, tho Government in defence of its own honour and pledged word of the Prime Minister, is bound to allow an open inquiry into tho appointment of the present Controllergeneral of Prisons.” If the Government is prepared to have a full public inquiry into all the allegations, I am prepared, in the interests of justice and the administration of justice, to formulate charges, but the board of inquiry must be composed of gentlemen independent of tho Government, and of the Public Service Commissioner.”