SIR JOSEPH WARD'S " SHADOW."

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 53

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S " SHADOW."

WHY DETECTIVE CASSELS WKNT

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THE PRIME MINISTER EXPLAINS.

On being interviewed on the Ist (says the Auckla.no correspondent of the Lyttelton Times). Sir Joseph Ward was a=ked if he would state why Defective CassoK had boen rent to London The Prinv2 Minister that he had «een some of the correspond ence in the Xew Zealand pioss and the comments upon it. and he was only too triad to fetate what he knew of the facts. First of all the man concerned, v. hose letter to himself had/ hoen published in New Zealand. was quite unknown to him on .iU first visit to England in 1907 The man was introduced to him by Mr \V. Belcher, ot Dunedin. The introduction took place just as Sir Joseph \\a a ir-avin.g' hi« hot/»l one morning to attend a meeting of tho Premier's Con f erf nee. The man infoinv»d him that Iw was about to leave for Xow Zoa'.ai 1 within a few clays and asked whether Sir Jo? Q ph could gi\e him a lettrr of iiitrio'lrtion to the Oovernm-f nt Tlu- Mr Joseph at oncp aprepd to do. .'irul thi* \\aall that transpired. Lat-er in th-e day jui ordinary letter of introduction to liv Acting Piiine Minieter wa.s l<-ft for ti.o nian at the hotel. -Sir Joseph neith<r*i .-aw him flsrain personally nor hcai d of him until after his own return to Xew Zealand, when the mati endeavoured to get an interview with him. Owing t-G pressure ronn^ct^d with the open in? of the session the interii^w wag deferred) for a few days When Sir Joseph subsequently saw him the man arrogantly asked for am appointment to the public service, and declared, that «n ap-

pointmeiit had been promised to him by the i'nme Minister betoie he Lett England. He \\a.-> informed that what he 6tated was quite untrue, and that no promise of an\ kind had boon macte. As a matter of fact the Prune Minister said the ma.n in England neither a.-ked ir.-^ opinion as to :lid advisability of coming to Xew Zea.und nor asked for employment, nor was the Prune Minister in anj wa> responsible for the man's coining to the JL>oimnion. Sir Joseph said that at a subsequent inters iew the man again asked him for a position in the public ser\ ice. but he advised him at ones that his age renderec) such art appointment impossible. The man .said he was haid up, and Sir Joseph said he -would inquire w hether there was any temporary casual clerical work ottering, ana if there was would advise him in thie course. Some days later a temporary clerk wafe required in one of the departments for some special work, the pay being at bhe rate of 10s a day. When the man was offered the work he forwarded to the Prime Minister the first of a eeries of intensely grotesque and impertinent letter*, declining at the same time to accept 10s a day, and stating that his sen ices were of such a character that they were worth £700 a year at least to start with. The Prime Minister, through his private secretary, informed the man that there vere ! plenty of New Zealanders possessing the necessary qualifications, who were ! competent to fill positions carrying the higher salaries and greater responsibilities, and that there was not the slightest chance of his employment in the public service of the country. The result of this was that periodically Sir Joseph received letters from him conveying various threat", which on the face- of them displayed a strangeness of intellect. To these communications he ga\e no attention, and the only thing he now blamed himself for was his genero6ity towards the man in not. placing the matter at once in the hands of the police with a view to prosecution. The Prime Minister said that he knew nothing whatever of the man or that he had a wife and family in the Old Country, excepting the statements made in one of the later letters received from him The man returned to England, and both before and after his return continued to send threatening letters to Sir Joseph and to the High Commissioner repeating his intentions upon Sir Joseph's life. Sir Joseph then handed the correspondence to the police, who in the ordinary course advised Scotland Yard. As far as Detectiive Casse's was concerned, his vii-it to England was not asked for nor arranged at the Prime Minister's request. What l-ook place was, as he had subsequently learned, that Scotland Yard, prior *o his departure, cabled to the New Zealand police that the man had disappeared from the town in which he had been located, and could not be found, and it was believed he had gone to meet the steamer upon which the Prime Minister was travelling with the idea of carrying out his threats. The police, in the execution of their duty, took what they deemed to be the best course to ensure proper steps being taken against the possibility of the carrying into effect of the threats of a man who was labouring under hallucinations. They arranged that a detective who knew the man by sight should be sent to keep an evidently dangerous man under proper surveillance. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister had no knowledge that Detective Cassels was going until the day ho left New Zealand, when he was informed that the Police Department had considered it e6sential. in view of the ad\ iocs received from Scotland Yard, to send a detective. In Sir Joseph's opinion, in view of the circumstances of the case, they did the right and proper thing, though he was personally not at any time afraid of the man It was quite evident from his peculiar and absolutely untruthful statements that hie frame of mind showed him to be utterly irresponsible. Public men in different countries were liable to this sort of thing from monomaniacs, and were rightly protected, but .is a general rule no publicity was given to such matters