THE TEMPER OF BRITISH JUSTICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 60

THE TEMPER OF BRITISH JUSTICE.

THRILLING STORY OF THE CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE. " Sinnisiak sits in his box; he sees with his eyes what is taking place, but he does not comprehend. He cannot understand what we are doing. It is a great question whether a man of a Stone Age tribe, a man who hunts for his dailyfood, can in common justice have his deeds judged by the standards of modern civilisation. The Magna Charta said a man was entitled to have a trial by his peers. Is it possible to have this man judged by his peers? In judging this case we must descend to the of view of the prisoner." Such were the words of the counsel for the defence as- he addressed the jury during a recent trial in the city of Edmonton, Alberta—a trial the defence declared to be the most peculiar criminal trial in the records of Canada. But the Crown Prosecutor discovered a difficulty in following this suggestion. " We cannot try this man according to the principles of Eskimo justice. If we did, Sinnisiak should have been stabbed when he was discovered by p the mounted police. That was what he expected. But out of this situation which has been thrust upon us we must somehow help the Eskimo to get rid of his ideas of revenge." Out of the grimly frozen north had come a rumour that a band of Eskimo had an outfit of priests' robes. The story had travelled down through a thousand miles of land uninhabited by white men, carried by wandering tribes of Indians. Some years ago two priests had gone into the north, and no trace had since been heard of them. On this slim evidence British justice, in the shape of the Royal North-west Mounted Police, decided that a patrol must be sent into the frozen north to investigate the story. It was the longest patrol ever undertaken by the Mounted Police, and on'; full of tremendous, difficulties. The young inspector who was put in charge of the patrol was only 25 years old; but he had already seen eight years of service. He waa accompanied by two members of the force. It was well into the third year before Inspector La Nouze returned. During that time the little party had covered a distance of over 6000 miles, never leaving Canadian land or waters. They had pressed their way north past the last dwarfed specimens of spruce and willow, had travelled the soft-carpeted tundras, where herds of shaggy musk-ox roamed, had crossed the barren lands and emerged on the outer rim of the world. Several modes of travel had been adopted. They had tracked up rivers, sailed or rowed flat-bottomed boats on the large lakes, walked and packed their provisions, and travelled by dog-train. When Inspector La Nouze returned to civilisation in August of this year he brought with him the men guilty of murdering the two priests, and his witnesses and interpreters. He lifted his men out of their tribes, and carried them off with-

out a chain or handcuff. They spent 15 months in the company of the. red-coated police before reaching civilisation, and it was evident that the months had begotten in the hearts of the northerners an implicit confidence in their captors.' There was no doubt of the guilt of the prisoners. They had told the story of their crime, their stories tallying perfectly. But circumstances had led them to "believe that the priests intended harm. The men guilty of murder have gone back to a police barracks in the north to serve a term of imprisonment, and the interpreters and witnesses are returning to their people to tell the strange tale of a British court of justice. Later the prisoners will go home. Thus will Canada's last uncivilised aboriginal race get her first vivid impression of British justice.