MR JUSTICE RICHMOND ON IMMIGRATION AND CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 176, 24 June 1873, Page 2

MR JUSTICE RICHMOND ON IMMIGRATION AND CRIME IN NEW ZEALAND.

In tne course of bis charge to tlie Grand Jury at Picton, where a maiden assize was held last week, his Honor Jndge Richmond spoke as follows :—": — " lam speaking of schemes for the promiscuous importation of labour, and not of that healthy kind where people come out to join their relatives and friends. Bat I ha\e no concern with the merely economical aspect 'jf the question. Our function here is to take notice of what affects the moral health of the community ; our light and duty, to give warning of tendencies which threaten to increase oiime in the country. As wisely might we replenish our wells with sewage water from London or Manchester as pour into these islands, without discrimination, the surplus population of the cities of Europe. As regards the actual quality of the present immigration, Ido not pretend to speak. The criminal statistics may be expected to furnish hereafter some indications on this subject ; though it must be admitted that these are a very coarse test, and for various icasons a very uncertain one. In paiticular, we must remember that paucity of convictions may indicate the diminution, not of crime, but of the efficiency of the police. 1 observe a disposition (which is a part of the social phenomena I have been commenting upon) to reduce the force of the police to a point which threatens to impair its efficiency. On the occasion of a maiden assize at Nelson, I lately told the Giaud Jury there that we ought to make the event the subject, not so much of self laudatory icmarks — such as those with which our newspapers are wont to feed our local vanity — as of the reflection that a blank calendar is, all things considered, far too great a rarity in New Zealand. With our opportunities, I believe we might all but obliterate the criminal c'ass. But for the unpler>s3nt fact that Anstia'asia still retaius the penal taint due to the English practice of transportation, I should say, without hesitation, that the' existence of a criininal class in this quarter of the globe argues gross mismanagement in the rulers of this group of colonies Inoculated, as we have been, with the vn us of hereditary crime (for since the days of gold we may identify oui selves with Australia in this respect, and in our gold-producing districts nearly every calendar comprises ' old hands '), I still believe that by the adoption Of a stein, yet merciful, system of penal discipline, we might hope almost to extinguish professional crime, and, as it wete, blot out the recollection of Norfolk Island and Botany Bay. I have often indicated in public my ideas on this subject, and am not now going further to enlarge upon it. It is enough to say that it would be the fundamental principle of the system to punish, or I would rather say extinguish, inveterate and incurable criminality by confinement of the offenders in a special penal establishment for life " " If I rightly understand the author of a very remarkable satirical fiction, on the model of the renowned ' Gulliver's Travels,' which has recently appeared in London, and has attracted a good deal of attention there, the fame e\pedient to be canned out the same way, has occurred to the uitty and philosophical writer. I may mention that the author pretends to have discovered a nation in a high state of civilisation, who in many wajs reverse our notion of things. Amongst other peculiarities, they treat crime as disease, and disease as crime. People are sent to gaol for a catarrh, nnd for pulmonary consumption get penal servitude for life. Measles are highly criminal, more especially in an olult ; and their statutes, when it is desired to render an act penal in the highest degree, declare that the offenders 1 shall be deemed guilty of typhus fever.' " " This humorous and, at first sight, purely fantastical, inversion of things, may lead the thoughtful reader to many reflections on our treatment of tlio questions both of tho public health and of crime. Some of whom wo now treat as invalids might, not unreservedly, perhaps, be dealt with as criminals. Ido not know tbat we should be far wrong in finding a man gud^y of delirium tremens. Other modes Jn whifli indn lduals impair their own health, and thereby tCji of future generations, might fall under the some consideration. On the other hand abstinence from crime, in some men, seems to be, to the enfeebled will, as impossible as free breathing to the asthmatic, or the proper assimilation of food to the dyspeptic. An hospital for such incurables, where a stern but benignant discipline might leave them still just so much of their natural liberty as they wero capable of using, would, perhaps, be to them the most merciful treatment they could receive at tho hands of their fellow men ; whilst society would be protected from their ravages, and by their enforced celibacy the human race would bo a gainer. The book I refer to has special interest for us, as it beirs internal evidence, not to bo mistaken by a New Zealand ctljm&t, of hiving been written by one of ourselves I commend its perusal to nny who take an interest in those deeper social questions wltrrciipon depends the real wealth of nations. But as to nny improvement in our terribly defective arrangements for the repression of crime, I am well awaie that it is not to be hoped for in the present state of the public mind. Not the less should those who think as I do on the subjec?, and more especially those entrusted with the administration of criminal justice, continue to raise their voice* in repro-* hension of tins public imglect."

The following ttory is told of a young lady and a gentleman at a fashionable party at 'NaslmUe, U. S. .— " The young man was handsome and linppy, the young lady arrayed in lavender, rose, &c, with gold-po»dered hair flowing over her swan-like neck. Finding the heat of the room too much for them, tliey sought the cool^shude of an arbor where thoy might listen lo the fountain's fall. The music rose and fell, time Hew on silver pinions, and after an absence of at least an hour, our young friends entered the brilliantly llltiminulcd parlors. The hdy pa*scd on in the dance, but the jouiig man was slightly taken aback by his neat neighbor infoimmg him that round his necl was the uninistakiible print of two arms in cbtlk and diamond dust, on one shoulder a large pile of yellow powder, and on his upper hp and clifek diamond dust, bloom of }outh, and yellow powder mixed up R ener a lly. The lady's h«r waa observed to bo fereral shades paler." -"A smart young lady, ip reply ta why she did not get married, said iho was un»ble to »upport a huiband..