COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13921, 27 March 1909, Page 9

COMMONWEALTH NOTES.

(By F.H.)

'.J A JUDGE AND JUSTICE. il The Rev. P. J. Murdoch, of Mcl- , bourne, on declining to produce documents called for by the Judge in an [ important civil case lat>t week was com- . mitted for contempt of court, and ir,.ii prisonment followed. The Judge, the? ,■' next day, made the following statement, which is well worthy of perusal:— This certainly seems a novel matter in the administration of justice in this country . The first difficulty in the case was the difficulty that a witnooL, an educated .nan, an intelligent man, a man of letters, an ordained minister of a well organised Church, was unabl<' to distinguish between possession and ownership. Probably the difficulty has arisen through the minister stepping out of his sphere of metaphysics and psychology into that of law. Sitting in this court of this State, I am no respecter of persons. 1 am no respecter of creeds. . I know no person for his power or his poverty. I know no person for his belief or disbelief. The law is the same whether he be Jew or Gentile, Parsee or Mohammedan. Whether he bo a follower of Confucius or Brahma, or Budda, he gets the same l.iw administered. He has the same rights. ] could no more allow members of the Presbyterian Church to administer oaths to one another, that they would not produce documents that were necessary for the vindication of a man's character, or the conviction of a criminal, than I .vould allow two thugs by similar oaths to decline to do the same thing. It would be an amazing tiling— subversive not cnly of the administration of justice, but also of all order and decency in the community. And just as I could not allow an agreement between a small body to defeat the ends of justice and slay either a man or his . character, so neither can I allow a body of the Presbyterian Church to do what I could not allow a weak and comparatively powerless body to do. It can make no difference whether a person comes into Co\irt in rags or whether ho comes in all the respectable habilamcnt* of the Presbyterian Church, the law must be the same; the rights must 'be the same; justice must be the same; 1 and I hnve difficulty in understanding ■ how any man who professes to be a ! good citizen could take an oath to vio-. late his duty as a citizen. I have diffi- ! cnlty in understanding how any body of men can take an oath from a ronn to violate his duty as a citizen.. And , I have only to say that if paths are | constituted in that way, and oaths are | taken to break tlie law, those gentloxaen will find themselves not in the witness-box, but will find themselves in the adjoining Court, in the 'dock, on a charge of conspiracy. I do not mean to say", or do not desire to say, anything: disrespectful of the Presby- | torian Church. v Not only have I connections whiCfh belong to the denomination *, btjt I have a profound respect for -its traditions, its past, and 1 its present ; but it has been, reserved to that body with a great past to set an example to less educated, to poorer, members of this community in endeavouring to defy •the law and defeat justice. My reason for declining practically to hear the attitude of the Pres'bytety was that I havo nothing to do. with the Presby<tery,.,if thjb. Presbytery- had^eoine horej in the same attitude they might have been lodged' with Mr. Murdoch.

OPIUM.

This article, now prohibited in the Commonwealth, is smuggled in in alarming quantities. The ways and means of getting /it ashore from tho steamers loading from the East is sometimes extraordinary. People have been' arrested and the article found concealed in their clothets — in their socks which they arc wearing ; inside tho lining of their hats, and other strange places. Undoubtedly large quantities/are smuggled into the Commonwealth which the authorities, can never trace, but it i« interesting to note that during the last three years 2477 lbs., representing £11,794 in value, bave been seized by the Customs authorities, so the game is worth a Jot r»f risking to those steeped in smuggling life.