A New Crime

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 12, 23 March 1905, Page 18

A New Crime

The traveller Palgrave tells how, according to the moral code of the Wahhabee Arabs, smpking is the second greatest crime, coming next in heinou stocks 1 to idolatry, and rating far higher than wilful murder. But the Irish police— who are blue mouldy for lack of occupation in an almost crimeless land— easily surpass the half-wild barbarians of Central Arabia by the ingenAiity with which they pile new and hitherto un-heard-of offencefe on the criminal code. Our Irish readers will readily recall how, in the early days of the Land League, a small boy was sent to gaol in Connaught for having whistled the pqpular air ' Harvey D.uff,' 'in a threatening manner, 1 in the presence of a horrified ' number of the force.' A few years ago an adult ' criminal ' was ' sent up ' for ' smiling a humbugging smile ' at a sensitive ' peeler.' But these high crimes and misdemeanors ha>ve been thrown into the shalde by one that was laid to the charge of one John Moran at the Swords Petty Sessions (Co. Dublin) a few weeks a@p. The aggrieved constable in thia case declared upon his solemn oath that the defendant ' blew his nose in a contemptuous manner to* wards me!' He further stated that Moran 'put his finger to his nose towards me.' And of course 'Irish justice ! demanded that this desperate ' criminal * should enter into bail— himself in £10, and two securities in £5 each— to ' keep the peace ' towards the affrighted

constable, or to go to Kilmainham Gaol for two months.