BY FRANK MORTON.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12840, 9 December 1911, Page 6

BY FRANK MORTON.

POLICE

It becomos plain that the Australian police havo done excellent work in the matter of the Glebe murder. At first tho hope that light would be thrown on tho" crime seemed to be very faint. How different are tho police in New Zealand, when a man like Pawelka, well-known, much-photographed, easy of identification, could walk out of gaol and make good his escape, with a whole country out against him! And yet our police must not be blamed unduly. The fact is that it is an exceedingly difficult thing for tho State to hold any man prisoner when the sympathies of thousands of protesting people run strongly in his favour. When a man is wanted for a violent crime, or when a man is serving a just sentence for & crimo of violence, public feeling is invariably against him; but when any man is the victim of judicial severity or prejudice, the tido of sympathy turns in tho culprit's favour. No one ever doubted that Pawelka had committed serious offences, and should be punished; but when tho sentence was pronounced, and it was found that virtually tho young fellow's whole life was forfeit, no ono ever doubted that one or two things had happened. Either tho sentence was grossly disproportionate to tho offence, or tho man had been sentenced in part- for things which had never been brought openly before tho court or tho public. Few things incense an English community like a suspicion of that kind incenses it. We aro apt to pride ourselves excessively on tho purity of our legal institutions. Secret trials are offensive to our inherited instincts; as the Supreme Court of New Zealand may yet find out. Tho merest mention of the Star Chamber makes our blood creep. If Pawelka had committee certain atrocious crimes that havo been hinted at, he should have been charged with thoso crimes;- and it is an outrage on British feeling if any suggestion is made that he was punished for offences with which ho had not been charged. Pawelka has got clean away, and lam glad of it. So, in your heart, aro you. Yop may not admit it; but, dear souls, there are so many things you won't admit. Pawelka got clean away, I think, because he was helped by brains that were not his own. What can tho police do against brains ? In passing, I note that tho British judge, Lord Grantham, is dead. He got into trouble some little time ago by expressing political opinions from the Bench. Certain of our own judges do that frequently. This is a freer country than England —for judges of tho Supreme Court.