X Lee
my
Note
on p. 2.
(Sd.) JNK.
9.5.31.
87
shareholder in question had been established. I am not contending that he could have so treated the position as he
did in the Balance Sheet.
It is a well known principle of British Criminal Law,
that a prisoner is deemed innocent until he is proved guilty
a pe
perusal of the shorthand transcript at the Sessions hardly
conveys this idea to me. The history of the Instone
Banking Corporation, the nature of the transactions, the
way in which, and the basis upon which the Company was
formed, as they appear from Brewer's Public Examination
in his Bankruptcy and the evidence taken at the Police
Court ought to have made it apparent to the Crown before
the case was presented to the Acting Chief Justice, that
al though the Crown might prove that between the filing of
the Statutory Report and the filing of the Balance Sheet
Brewer had become aware of the financial instability of
some of the shareholders and, consequently, the Balance
Sheet was knowingly and wilfully false, no such state of
circumstances could in my opinion have been established in
regard to the Statutory Report.
In view of the above, I can come to no other
conclusion than that Brewer was wrongly convicted on the
first charge, being the only charge upon which he took his
trial and the only charge we can consider, and he is
consequently entitled to a free pardon.
The
This brings me to a question of compellsation.
only precedent we have before us is that Mr.Barrett
who received £2,000 after serving Two and a half years in
prison out of a three years sentence.
Colony is to-day worth $40,000.
£2,000 in this
Brewer was sentenced to four months without hard
labour, and under the circumstances I consider the
recommendation of the Honourable Attorney General that he
should be paid $10,000 is reasonable.
8