THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1907. THWARTING JUSTICE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8870, 2 November 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1907. THWARTING JUSTICE.

It has been announced by the Premier that he intends to place the Meikle Acquittal Bill on the top of the Order Paper for Monday evening's sitting of the House of Representatives, Thjs means that he will press the measure forward and endeavour to get it through its committee stage.. It is to be hoped the Leader of the House will take a decided stand upon this matter, and not allow a personally prejudiced coterie to thwart or even unduly delay the ends of justice. On the committal of the bill on the 25th of last month a small party in the House set about blocking vthe measure with such persistence that a whole sitting was" wasted, and "progress" was reported without any progress having been made. The bill brought down by the Premier is one which does credit to his sense of justice. Jt has for its object the reversal of a conviction entered in the criminal records twenty .years ago, against j John J. Meikle. That conviction carried with it a sentence of seven years' penal servitude, and the accused served his full term. On coming out of gaol, Meikle secured the conviction of . the chief witness against him upon a charge of perjury during the trial; and thus demonstrated his own innocence. . Ever since then Meikle has battled manfully to have the record of a crime which he did not, commit expunged, and so clear his own. reputation and wipe but the stain, that must rest upon his family so long as the record remains. Numerous committees of the House of Representatives have declared the innocence of Meikle, but

the Government of which, the late ( Premier was the head ' persistently , diaregardedithe call for justice. All this we have referred to before, but main facts now to emphasise tfee unfair attitude taken up by five or six members of the House last week.in opposition to the desire Oif'thei Premier and the majority of members on both fides of the House to meet put; tardy justice to a cruelly oppressed man. The members who opposed the Bill were not content with expressing their disapproval of the measure, and giving reasons for so doing, but they set up a deliberate stonewall with the object of defeating its object no matter by what means. Not only did they stonewall the bill; some of them also vilified the beneficiare. It is proper that any man, or body of men, holding honest convictions upon any subject of public importance should express those convictions; and had the opponents of the bill contented themselves with doing this, and endeavoured by the logic of facts to bring the other members round to their view of the case, they would have been entitled to respect; but honesty of conviction is not to be sought in tactics such as were adopted by the stonewall party. This little band consisted of Messrs Remington, , Barclay, A. L. D. Fraser, Lawry, , and Hornsby, and of these five the last-named member was the most persisent in obstructing the passage, of the bill. His opposition had the doubtful merit of being candid. He distinctly stated that "he would oppose the present bill by every means in his power," and it was he who suggested, for the purpose of aiding the blockade, the reading of the whole of the 330 pages of evidence taken by the Commission. The Speaker has ruled that this can be done, and if any serious attempt is made to put this engine of obstruction in operation the session may be materially extended, because it cannot be supposed that the Premier will allow his proposals to be burked by such questionable methods. We trust the obstructionists of last week will be content with what they have already achieved in the way o£ notoriety, and permit "sweet reasonableness" to guide their future conduct in this matter. If they, however, persist in obstruction, then it will be the duty of the Premier to keep the House sitting until the obstructionists are exhausted and so force through his bill.