Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s. Tuesday, March 17, 1891.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 583, 17 March 1891, Page 2

Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s. Tuesday, March 17, 1891.

A few Napier policy-holders in the Government Life Insurance Department profess tobe greatly indignant at theaction taken by the Department in contesting the policy covering the life of Mrs P. L. Smith. The insurance was for /ajo, and for alleged reasons which need not again be repeated the Department allowed the matter to form the subject of a Supreme Court action. Upon the evidence Mr Justice Edwards directed that the jury find a verdict for the Department. Thereupon a few of the policy-holders become exceedingly wrathful, condemn the Department, and make a resolution that the amount should be paid by the Government, regardless of the decision given. Some of the angry people are so unguarded as to say that the Government officeis virtually “donefor” in Napier, and one individual made bold to say that some other individual would not like to find out after he (the other individual) was dead, that there was a dispute over the dead person’s insurance policy. Some other individual ventured to suggest that the weary one would, if dead, be at rest, and untroubled by such things as insurance policies. The meeting, however, showed its good sense by refusing to allow a retrenched insurance agent to divulge the contents of a letter marked ’’ confidential.” There is no gauging to what extent the agitation in Napier has been fanned by the agents and policy-holders of rival insurance companies. Rival agents in that line of business are never noted for charitableness towards each other, and it is a most delightful thing for a man who has a little time to spare to draw the attention of these agents towards himself, and then find entertainment in the glib way in which each one so confidently | proves the opposition agent to be the i antithesis of all that is honorable and straightforward. Be this as it may, however, the suicidal attitude adopted by the

i Napier policy-holders ought to have an I effect quite different to that intended. It will direct public attention to the case, and when the evidence is calmly considered and no attention given to local sympathies or the popularity of the plaintiff in the action, the conclusion is almost certain to be that the Department acted wisely in contesting the claim, and have taken the proper course to inspire confidence in the minds of policy-holders. Every holder of a policy in the Government Life Insurance Office has an interest i in the wise administration of the affairs of - the Department. The case recently j heard in Napier ought to reassure them i '-certainly it should create distrust in the 1 1 mind of no person Worth considering, 11

The commutation of the sentence in the case of the unfortunate Flanagans wi,l commend itself to nearly everyone, a few cynical beings perhaps failing to see why in the matter of punishment for such a brutal crime any distinction should be made because the cruel wretches happen to be women. Yet there was still a doubt that could not be ignored ; the evidence did not conclusively show whether the dreadful deed was committed in a coldblooded manner, or while the women were in a frenzied state. But leaving all such consideration to one side there is a sentiment which must be respected ; there is a strong current of public opinion which holds that the exercise of the death penalty is repugnant to the humanity of the present day, and the hanging of two women would do a great deal to intensify that feeling of repugnance. The Executive has acted wisely and in accordance with popular feeling in deciding not to send the wretched Flanagans to the gallows. But what of the real cause of all this trouble ? Is he to be allowed to slink from all share in the shame and disgrace that he has been a primary agent in creating ? It is a grave reflection upon our laws that the father of the murdered child can not be punished, and that he has not even had to bear that punishment which exposure would mean. It is nearly always thus, but there are such exceptional horrors attached to the Flanagan case that the injustice of the partner in the first crime being allowed to escape altogether cannot fail to be strongly impressed upon the public mind.