CO«PEJKSATION FOR J. J. MEIKLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 41

CO«PEJKSATION FOR J. J. MEIKLE.

DISCUSSION IN THE HOUSE. £1 VOTED. WELLINGTON, October 10. In the course of the discussion on the Supplementary Estimates in the House of Representatives tWs afternoon at the item £16,633 for miscellaneous services in connection with the Department of Internal Affairs, Mr Horasby moved to reduce the amount of £5000 compensation to J. J. Meikle by £4999. He said he would take up the position which he had always done in this matter, and say that the country should not pay a single penny to a man ' whose innocence had never bear proved, j and who had vilified "public men all over the country. Others, whose innocence had unquestionably been, established, got nothing. He asserted that the vote was an improper use of public money. Mr .Major protested 'against such a precedent being established, and said rumour, ' which was not invariably a lying jade, had it that there was a' syndicate Venind Meikle fleecing the Government. r x3ier« was no assurance that' a fresh claim would not be made next- session, .because if the right to compensation were admitted, then £5000 was nothing like adequate compnsation. Sir J. G. Ward referred to the report of the two judges of the Supreme Court who had- declared that Meikle should not have been convicted on. the, evidence adduced. The duty devolved upon fhe Government to ascertain what damage had been caused by imprisonment. The Government Bad not to consider character, but what damage resulted from wrongful conviction. It had been, difficult to fix the sum, but it was known that Meikle and his family had been ruined, and the Government had tried to ascertain" what was fair .compensation*.* ' The sum placed on the Estimates was nothing like the sum asked for in writing on behalf of Meikle by one of his supporters. — (Laughter.) He maintained that it was the duty of the Government to give fair compensation, and that had been assessed at £5000. A 6 for abuse, all lie could say was. that every" public man was aibused,) and if he could not stand abuse lie had no business to be a public man. At aayrate the Government had to consider the case on its merits, and "was quite uninfluenced by anything for or against it. Mr Hasan emphasised the point that the prosecution originally, was a- private one. Meikle had. given a clean receipt, and the commission - had said that such, sefcfclemente, honourably arrived at, should never afterwards be allowed to be disturbed. Mr Hogg said this was nothing more than a raid upon the Treasury. Mr Meikle had a lot of hungry wolvee behind him, who, for»their audacious attempt to rob voters, ought to be in prison. Mr A. L. D. Fraser quoted from a speech by the late Mr Seddon, in which the late Prime Minister, referring to the case, said : " Any further attempt to obtain compensatiori^ould be strenuously resisted." Mr Remington strongly opposed the claim. The motion was carried by 37 votes to 26 votes. The result of the decision was received with applause. Ths following is the division list: — Axes (37).— Messrs E. G. Allen, Arnold, Bollard, Chappie, Colvin, Dillon, Field, Flatman A. L. D. Fraser. Graham, Gray, Greenslade, Hanan, Hardy, Hornsby, Hogg, Houston, Lowry, Lethbridge. Macpherson, Major, Malcolm, Mander, Ngata, Okey, Poland, P-ooie, Reid, Remington, Rhodes, Ross, Seddon, Stallworthy, Tanner, Thomson, Witty, Wood. ' NOBS (26).—<Mes6re Barber, Barclay, Baume, Buddo, Cairro!l. Davey, Fisher, Fowlds, Guinness, Hall-Jones, ' Harries, Hogan, Izaid, Jesunangß, Kidd, Xang, Laureneon, M'Gowati, M'Nab, Massey, Miller, Mills, Steward, Ward, Wilford. (From Ora Own Corespondent.) WELLINGTON, October 10. When the Meikle vote of £5000 was reached the House, metaphorically speaking, pricked up its ears. There was the strohg36t objection oni the part of a majority of the members to sucb a vote, though had the matter been better engineered Meikle might have got £1000, or even £2000. On the last day of the session, however, it -was a very easy matter to block any such grant, and a number of members were prepared to move reductions pound by pound, and prevent the rising of the House till the following week. As it turned out, thc-re was no need for a stonewall, because the committee by 37 to 26, after about an hour's discussion, reduced the vote by the sum of £4999. There was considerable stir while the divibion was being taken, and the result was received with applause.

It is 'calculated that in every 10,000 of the English and Welsh population 31.4 people are lunatics. In every 10,000 of the Scotch population 33.6 people are lunatics. In evew 100,000 of the Irish population 40.3 /people- are lunatics. Altogether, one preon in every 306 inhabitants of the United Kingdom is demented. Mr A. A. Gibbon, Mayor of Gore will, at the meeting of the Balfour Branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union on the 16th met, address the meeting on the advisableness of subdividing the Southland County so as to create a, new county of the country embracing the Waimea Plains, Waikaka Valley, aud Mgtaurjfc A