The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1880.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1037, 10 June 1880, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1880.

'^Flisßiong and protracted hearings, the charge against Mr. A. Parnell foir a '^breach of the Arms Act, alldgfeid to have been committed four years and a half ago, . was dismissed late yesterday afternoon. There was not a doubt from the first but what the charge would break down. But tn*6 matter must not be allowed to rest at this stage. It is a duty which Mr. Pabnell owes to the public — and we are quite sure that, if required, the public will come forward '"and help him — to have the whole aflair strictly investigated and sifted to the bottom, that it may be clearly jifcovm who were the parties con- • to bring about thia prosecution. We do not know that we have any light to cast censure upon Sergeant Kidd, because we presume I that when he is apprised of a criminal i !j offence having been committed, he has j >jao . alternative but to bring the matter before the Court. What we , * *waht fo know, and for what we shall '<• Iteve no effort untried, is to ascertain who were the parties who set the .machinery of the law in motion ; for ; Utyuz it is evident that the real instigators, and it is well known who they are who have kept themselves in the

back ground. What should be done, if it can be done, is to cause Wi Ma!huika to be brought up for perjtiry ; then we have no doubt but that the truth will be eliminated frotn the proceedings. That Tiopera Tawhiao's evidence contradicted the main points given in the evidence by Wi Mahuika is clear as daylight, leaving out the contradictory testimony given by this Maori as against himself on the cross-examinations. If Wi Mahuika has sworn falsely, then let the full penalty of the law fall upon him. If he be innocent, then will he be freed from the imputation of having made statements, it is believed by many, he knew to be untrue. The liberty, the characters, and the happiness of men must not be taken away with impunity for the mere gratification of malice, revenge, or some other • equally disreputable and wicked motive. We say that to get at the bottom of what we have no doubt whatever in our mind has been a conspiracy, is a duty the public are bound to assist .in bringing about. We do not think that with evidence so unreliable and so unworthy, Sergeant Kidd should have brought the charge before the Court. Still, being but an inexperienced officer, and one not perhaps accustomed to conduct cases where there is much confliction of evidence, he may be excused. For one to be over-anxious in the discharge of his functions, is better than to neglect or ignoi'e them. We should have been better pleased to know what steps Sergeant Kidd has taken to discover the burglars who broke into Mr. Lewis's store some three or four weeks back, than to know how he has been engaged in getting up a charge for the prosecution of an offence alleged to have been committed five years ago, and this, when he could produce only the most unreliable and untrustworthy evidence possible. We also wish to know why Sergeant Kidd should have thought it necessary, when at a time he must have felt that the charge against Mr. Parkell would break down, to apply for a warrant for the apprehension and arrest of Mr. Kobert Cooper. Did Sergeant Kidd imagine for an instant that Mr. Cooper was trying to escape from the police? We cannot bring ourselves to believe he did. Then we ask, why did he act in such a manner 1 However, Sergeant Kidd, in what be considers the performance of his duties, is answerable only to his superior officer, and not to public opinion. But there are those connected with the prosecution who are answerable, and should be made answerable. It is very well known that Mr. Parnell was not the man that was " wanted," but quite another man, who could only be got at by the conviction of Mr. Parnell. Xhare must be something radically wrong in regard to the law relating to criminal offences that it can be used for the purposes of malice, revenge, or hatred, and this at the expense of the public.