THE RECENT POLICE TROUBLE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 337, 7 January 1897, Page 11

THE RECENT POLICE TROUBLE.

Police versus South. The great question involved in the recent case tried in the Auckland S.M. Court is really one of the liberty of the subject, • and another of lesser magnitude is the impression created in the public mind that many persons have been charged with, and convicted of drunkenness, who were not guilty of the offence, but were peculiar under some special cause of excitement, which had no direct or indirect association with the “ imbibification ” of alcoholic liquor. We understand that the Police versus South case will be thoroughly investigated by the Hon. the Minister of Justice in person, and it is understood that the question is now in abeyance pending the resolution of Mr South’s party re the taking of legal action themselves, or allowing the minister to deal with it officially. We are given to understand that Mr South is a gentleman well known in mining and commercial centres, and those who know him best are strongest in their testimony as to his general character, in which the traits of chivalry, honesty, and sobriety are the most prominent. But apart from these excellent qualifications, and without taking into consideration his social position or his personal popularity, the whole enquiry should be based on these issues, viz.:—Firstly, was he guilty of the charge for which he was brought before the court? Secondly, were the police justified in believing he was so guilty, and did they discharge their duties with judgment, moderation, and in accordance with the police regulations ? It would be unwise and unfair for us to attempt in any degree to prejudice the case, but we do say that the great principle involved in it demands a searching investigation, and if the police are proved to be guilty of half the things laid to their charge they and they alone must bear the responsibility of their action. If on the other hand it is shown that they acted on information received, impulsively though erroneously, justice and compensation must be meted out to Mr South with no stinted hand, and clemency should be extended to the officers of the force affected, which will teach them a lesson in prudence, lifelong in its existence. We have always defended the police force of New Zealand, especially when they have been subjected to wholesale charges of bribery and corruption in their dealings with hotelkeepers in their respective localities, and we repeat that the police force of this colony are as honest, dutiful, and proficient as any force in the British dominions. We are aware, however, that they are not infallible, and if a private citizen suffers in any sense through the action of the police, caused by their excess of zeal or blundering of any kind, it will be our duty and our practical purpose to defend and protect the private individual. In the meantime we need only say that the public mind is greatly agitated over the case to which we have alluded, and in the heat of the excitement associated there with it is just possible that the prejudicial rather than the judicial mind is brought to bear upon the case. For this reason a little delay in entering upon the enquiry may prove beneficial, and we feel assured that the people of New Zealand will rest satisfied that in dealing with the painful case the Hon. T. Thompson will “ hold the scales of justice with an equal poise.”