CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6120, 5 March 1898, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

The intimation that sequels to Colonel Picquart has been the dretfus forced to retire from the case. I'rench army, without a pension, as an outcome of the part he took in the Dreyfus- case, will probably not be the last of the series of sequels to the Dreyfus case, which already include the imprisonment of several prominent men. It is well to point out that Colonel Picquart's offence was that he gave evidence against Major Esterbazy at the proceedings which amounted to a second but very incomplete trial of the Dreyfus caso, and yet it was not a wholly . public trial, as Dreyfus was not represented (by express decision of the Court), his name was hardly mentioned, and the very ' points that damned Dreyfus were not allowed to count against Esterhazy. Colonel Picquart, au officer of the Intelligence Department of the French War Office, had been instructed to inquire into the doings of Esterhazy, and the result seemed to favour the idea that the Major was not quite so innocent as the Court decided. When Picquart's inquiries had reached a stage which promised a possibility of Dreyfus' rehabilitation, Picquarfc was suddenly sent off to Tunis. After he had given his evidence in secret, he was arrested and sent to prison to await the decision of the military authorities as to what should be done with him. Meanwhile, M. Trarieux, a member of the Senate, in championing the cause of Dreyfus, has asked the following questions : ! " Is it true that in 1896 Colonel Picquart was ordered to investigate a charge of espionage against Major Esterhazy ? That examining Esterhazy's writing he was at ; once struck with its likeness to that of Dreyfus, a fact which raised doubts in his mind about Dreyfus' guilt? Is it true that he speke to his superiors, who at the time encouraged. him .to follow up this new scent, and that he would have done so had he not been sent away to Tunis?" The ! dismissal of Picquart, under these circum- ! stances, can only be interpreted as proof of the theory that for some reason or other, the Dreyfus conviction is at all hazards to be maintained arid the case against Major Esterhazy and others hushed up. A correspondent of the i a curious London ' Times' pointed out parallel, a few days ago that apparently the proceedings at the secret trial of Captain Dreyfus had. been anticipated by "Lewis Carroll" in his inimitable burlesque trial of the Knave of Hearts. Let anyone recall the Dreyfus farce in the light of the following passage : — The King turned pale, and shut his notebook hastily. " Consider your verdict," he said to the jury, in a low, trembling voice. I "There's more evidence to come yet, please your Majesty," said the White Eabbit, jumping up in a great hurry; "this paper has just been picked up." " What's in it ?" said the Queen. ' "I haven't opened it yet," said the White Babbit, "but it seems to be a letter written by the prisoner to — to somebody." " It must have been that," said the King, " unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usual, you know." ! "Who is it directed to ?" said one of the jurymen. [ "It isn't directed at all," said the White i Rabbit ; "in fact, there's nothing written on the outside." I He Unfolded the paper as he spoke, and added, "It isn't a letter, after all; it's a set of verses." : ;. "Are they in tbe 'prisoner's handwriting ?" asked another of the jurymen. "No, they're not," said the White Eabbit, "and that's the queerest thing about it." (The jury all looked puzzled.) " He must .have imitated somebody else's hand," said the King. (The jury all brightened up again,) j " Please your Majesty," said the Knave, i " I didn't write it, and they can't prove I , did ; there's no name signed at the end." i "If you didn't sign it," said the Kingl i " that only makes the matter worse. You ; must have meant some mischief, or else you'd have signed your name like an t honest man." J There was a general clapping of hands 'at this ; it was the first really clever thing • the King had said that day. i " That proves his guilt," said the Queen. j The brilliant remark, "He must have • imitated somebody else's hand/' is particularly a propos to the evidence of the experts as to the writing of the famous bordereau on which Captain Dreyfus was convicted. M. Bertillon, whose evidence ■ probably carried most weight owing to his eminent position, said, after comparing »■■—« ■..■■nnm niiiwuiiiiimiwiiini— i n— a—

the bordereau ™tk admitted letters by Dreyfus: "Unless the viemorandym is- a careful fSroery.-ti* author and' the author of the letters are the same man!" Thereupon the -Court-Martial said, like the : Queen, "That proves his guilt." It i s nothing that all five experts pointed out discrepancies between the writing of Dreyfus and that on the bordereau, and that Major Esterhazy's writing was found to give a faithful reproduction of the bordereau handwriting. The identity was striking, so much so that even Major Esterhazy admitted the likeness, and said Dreyfus must have traced words on his (EsteAazy's) letters. The guilt of the one man and the innocence of the other appear to have been absolutely predetermined. . English judicial annals miscaeei- are not barren of cases in ."age of. .which men have been justice. wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes which they did not commit. As a rule, when there is doubt of the justice of a conviction, the authorities are ready to order fresh inquiry and to make all possible reparation if it is found that a judicial error has been committed. A case which shows the extent to which a judge may influence a jury and cause injustice to be done, has just come to light in England. Mr Prank Wallace Spriggs, who was convicted of an assault upon a lady cyclist in North Wales recently, and sentenced at the assizes to five years' penal servitude, was p released in January last, after having served two months of the sentence. The case out of which the charge arose occurred on July 13 of ast year. A young lady was proceeding one evening alone on the high road on her bicycle when she was attacked by a young man, who, she stated, attempted to rob and assault her. She* resisted him, and eventually he ran off. Afterwards she picked out Spriggs's photograph as that of the man who had assaulted her, and five other witnesses swore to his identity, mainly through the production of this picture. The evidence for the prosecution was undoubtedly very strong, but it was met with almost overwhelming testimony that at the time of the assault young Spriggs was with his parents at Forest Gate. .No less than twelve witnesses were called by the defence, and one after another they told practically the same story ; unless each and everyone had committed perjury of the grossest kind, it was clear that the accused could not have been within hundreds of miles of the place at the time the crime was committed. This evidence, however, availed him nothing. Mr Justice Grantham described it as the most perfect alibi ever brought before a court — he is also said to have called it "an artistic alibi" — but he made it clear to the jury that he placed no reliance upon it, and a verdict of guilty followed his Lordship's very pointed summing up. Thereupon the Judge sentenced the youth to five years' penal servitude, and this, terrible punishment he would have had to undergo had it not been for the efforts which were made by his friends. These efforts induced the Home Office to make a special investigation into the circumstances of the case, with the result that the prisoner was released. It is a new thing to have holidays holidays accused of causing and a large amount of infant health, mortality and ill-health, yet this is what is now being done in Melbourne. • The statutory halfholiday on Wednesday afternoons applies to dairymen and miik-dealers, and the result is to compel the use of stale milk on the day following. Dr Officer, of the Children's Hospital in Melbourne, has declared that "the prohibition of the supply of fresh milk on Wednesdays and Sundays is a scandal, and a disgrace to a civilised community." Nine-tenths of the cases of infantile diarrhoea are, he says, attributable to stale milk. Innumerable cases are noticed to take their rise from Monday and Thursday, the days following the deliveries of the stale milk. Stale milk causes toxaemia, which, in turn, produces diarrhoea and vomiting. An infant's fate is often sealed in from twenty-four to thirty-six hours. He further points out that there is no inspection of herds or pastures, and consequently " cattle suffering from tuberculosis, or grazed on corporation tips and beside street gutters, are milked to supply the babies of Melbourne with food." Another medical man has declared that "most certainly the holiday is the cause of great infant mortality. The inorease in the cases of diarrhoea at the hospital on the days following the holiday was particularly noticeable." This gentleman advocates the suspension of the half-holiday in summer, and adds : " The medical examination of all •dairy employes should be insisted upon. I . once saw a man with opthalmia, rubbing his eyes while milking. Sufferers from phthisis and other contagious diseases are also working in many dairies." Dr Snowball, however, considers that the holiday makes no difference, and milk procured from healthy cows by healthy men, and in a cleanly way, will keep wholesome for even thirty-six hours. The infant mortality of Melbourne is, in his opinion, due to its unhealthy surroundings during the present summer. The gutters have been washed by no rains, and the milk supply is largely polluted locally after delivery. When it is borne in mind that the agitation on the milk question has arisen out of a political movement for the repeal of the half-holiday legislation, it will be seen that there is some reason for receiving with reserve the opinions of adverse medical men, to the effect that the half-holiday is the cause of a high rate of infant mortality.