CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

■ — ♦ As the deeirion of Mr W. R. Haeelden, S.M. . at Wellington, in dismissing the the police charges of " tote "-betting that AND were brought against three " tote "- members of the police force, on betting. whose evidence a professional bettor was recently convicted, to be made the subject of appeal, <ye are prevented from, commenting on it. His "Worship made, 'however, some general observations on the subject of "informing" by policemen which so nearly coincide with the views -we havrt expressed on the question that we ->annot refrain from drawing attention to them. The detection of crime is the main thing, and, while there must be limitations and qualifications to the rule that police officers acting bona fide in the detection of crime, and pretending to join therein, are not accomplices and, a fortiori, not perpetrators of crime — Mr Hasclden, for instance, points out that it would be absurd to contend that a police officer was entillfed to join in the actual destruction of a building by fire or in an assault on a person, — if is plain that there are certain offences which can only be detected by the employment of methods that are commonly regarded aa-those of the informer and that are vigorously condemned as mean and un-English by persons who woxild be quite delighted if the lawbreakers were not molested at all. Mr Haselden goes the length of saying that he sees " no reason why a detective should not pretend to join in the designs of a burglar and decoy the real criminal into the hands of justice. Many instances are known where servant girls have been instructed to pretend to agree to the overtures of a cracksman to leave a door unlocked, and thus lure the criminul into a snare." The interests of society are, as he points out, the highest interests that sliculd bo considered, and it is necessary that means should be taken to. preserve it against ils enemies. Those means, however, should not in themselves be inimical to society. That is the test to be applied, each case being judged by its own circumstances. As a guide to our juc'gment in these cases Mr haselden takes an illustration. "If it were proved," he says, " that police officers enticed a youth otherwise innocent of offence into illegal betting, I should say that no punishment would fall on the youth, but that the real offenders — the police — would be heavily smitten." Whether l»is decision in acquitting thp policemen is erroi cous in point of law or not, the expression of Mr Haselden's views on the broad question of the police catching offenders by means fauch as have had to be adopted to secure convictions in the colony against certain classes ol offenders will receive a large measure of £>]<proval. It is declared by the Daily Chronicle to have been settled in principle a few IHE duchy months ago that in the autumn or saxe of 1900 the Duke of Connaught COBUBG. should succeed Jjord Roberta in, the commandership of the British forces in Ireland. The prospect ii this advancement and of possibly still greater distinction hereafter has now been resigned by the Duke, who has succumbed tc the temptation offered in the position of a reigning duke abroad. He has accepted the succession to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, at present held by his brother, who is better known as Duke of Edinburgh than as Duke of :Saxe,Coburg. The Duke of Connaught'e declaration on the subject was read as follows in the Diet at Gotha on April 10 : "In consequence of the premature death of the hereditary Prince Alfred and in accordance with the conditional renunciation by the Prince of Wales, for himself and his successor*, of the right of

'succession in the Duchies of Coburg and Gotha, I am, by the law (of the House o£ Coburg), the nearest agnate of the Ducr,! House who is entitled to succeed. As such, t and my House are prepared to fulfil ovir dutios towards our ancestral Duchies." In making ibis choice, the Duke of Connaught has proceeded, the Daily News remarks, on the principle that it is better to be the first man in a village than the second man in Rome. Thero is ho question that if the day should come for the Duke of Conna\ight to succeed his brother as Sovereign of the United Duchies — bub th*. latter is still in the prime of life — he would t»ke possession of a by no means inconsiderable heritage. The public revenuet and the private appanages of the Dukto of Coburg are- of Royal dimensions, while, as a German Federal Prinue, the - occupant of the throne of ":he two Duchies is nearly the equal of the Emperor. Some chagrin is inevitably caused in th« Mother Country by the reflection that vhilr one of the Queen's sons already owes alle giance to a foreign Power — and it is alleged that the Duke of Edinburgh, on hie assumption of the dignity, was pretty sharply reminded thai he had forthwith to consider himself a purely German Prince, and to transfer his «1legiacco both of sentiment and of station Ie a rjew master — another will follow his example. The temptation offered by the prospect of succession to the Duchies was, however, a clazzKi's, one. It is to be remembered, 100, that tl-t Duchess of Connaught is iho daughter of Lh-" 3 ate Prince Frederick Charlfw of Pruesl' iSi c is notable for her German wmpattiies.

"Is a lien or charge croa'ed iy the Oontr&o-

tors' and Workmen's Lien Act, bankruptcy 1892, defeated by bankruptcy?" and This was the q nation the Com '• LIENS. of Appeal had to decide in tha

case of Sanjpson Williams, 9. 'bankrupt builder. Prior to and at the time of his adjudication Williams was engaged in erecting buildings under a contract with oni Eobert O'Connor, and* had incurred liabilities for wort and materials in connection ther* with. It waß Contended by th» Official A.Bsignee that ihe bankrupt committed acts of bankruptcy prior to the \"\h. March, 1898, thfe date of hu adjudication. On th/ 28tL February, Andre n Cornpfon. o' Wellington, sasb and door manufacturer, iorvtrde-i to 'O'Connor a claim on an alleged ii#n or charge foi £357 I6s for doors, stwhes, etc. Tli< alleged work done by Coniptoji 'or Williams'B cor. tract was completed on ot before the 14tJr. February. Compton commeucvd ru pi ings in respeot of hit alleged liou or charge, but it was arranged that the matter in dispute should be treated as if he had taken such 3tep. as were necessary to enforce, his claim to •■■ lien. The question for the consideration o( the court was whether Compton -was entitlad to enforce a lien againsr, the owner of the land on" which the building was being erected and against the land and building Usel/ v.oiwithstanding the bankruptcy cf the head contractor. On behalf of tho Official Ar signet U was submitted that he 'wa? entitled »c judgment both on the ground ihal uc lien at all attached until after notice had beeii given and"also that the lien given by ihe -w'i wa< of such a nature thai, although in % sense it did attach, it was liable to be defeated by the bankruptcy under the policy of tho bankruptcy laws. This view was, however, successfully combated on behalf of ComptoD. It -was urged by his counsel that an adjudication in bankruptcy did not extinguish or determine the lien created by the act. The policy, the language, and irhe arrangement of the act showed (it was contended) that it was intended that a security, consisting in the one case of a lien and in the other of a charge, was given to a workman or a contractor, with a specified procedure for the enforcement and establishment of the lien or charge. It wae not intended, either by the language of the Contractors' and Workmen's Lien Act or by the language of th© Bankruptcy Act that that right was to bo divested by bankruptcy. Thia view was upheld by tho judges, who, it is announced, gave their judgment in favour of Compton but granted leave to -appeal to the Privy Council.

A further section of the Seaward BuslJ railway, from the present terminus to Waimahaka, a distanc* of seven miles, is to be opened for traffic on the 9th insfc. Probably the Premier and the Hon. Mr Hall-Jones will be present at the opening.

The new Strawbewy-Raspberry advertised for sale by Niumo and Blair is the best novelty introduced in fruit for years. Tn« price is Is 6d each, or, if posted, 2»