The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Mornin, Saturday, December 8, 1888. THE MANUFACTURE OF CRIMES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 232, 8 December 1888, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Mornin,

Saturday, December 8, 1888. THE MANUFACTURE OF CRIMES.

Be just and fear not Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country’s, Thy God's, and truth’s.

Could we discover the faintest reason why the man Mossman who was accused of sheep stealing, and was on Wednesday last committed for trial on that charge, should for the next four months be compelled to bear the stigma of the charge imputed to him, we should consider it our duty to refrain from any comment on the case at present, but a careful perusal of the evidence only confirms us in the opinion that it was not a case for criminal prosecution at all, and how the Justices could have thought there was sufficient evidence to put the accused on his trial for a felony, is utterly beyond our comprehension. Over and-over again, the Supreme Court Judges have drawn attention to the great number of cases that are sent to the Supreme Court when there has not been a prima facit case made out, and if ever there was a case coming under that description, we certainly think this is one. Of course, it is not for us to impute motives to anyone, and why the prosecution adopted a criminal rather than a civil proceeding, we can assign no reason. It does certainly seem strange that persons who have been neighbours for three years, the accused being the longest resident, should, on a dispute as to ownership arising, invoke the criminal law where a uivil remedy would have settled every*

thing. But what is still stranger is that no proof was adduced that the sheep in question were ever stolen. It is not even asserted that they left Herbert’s property. How this can be called stealing is more than we can answer. No doubt, the circumstances were suspicious : the accused’s earmark was upon the sheep. But still, even if we put out of the question the allegation that they were originally purchased by the accused from Stubbs; we submit that although no doubt it is some offence against the law, yet it is not a felony to brand a neighbour's sheep. It is of course quite possible that there is more in the case than came out in Court, but it is only on what came out that we, and indeed the Justices themselves, can base a judgment. And our opinion is that in the face of the paltry evidence offered to the Court, it was not justified in inflicting upon anyone the indignity of making him appear before the criminal bar of his country on this dreadful charge, and we say this in the interest of justice and fair play.