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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75

The Case of Mr W. Sikes

The Case of Mr W. Sikes.

Owing to a well-known infirmity of the human mind, general terms rarely impress it with the full force to which they are logically entitled; a concrete illustration is far more effective. Let me therefore embody these conditions in an example. Mr Wm. Sikes, formerly of Houndsditch, burglar, having exhausted the hospitality of the citizens of London and the Imperial Government, emigrates towards the close of his forty-fifth year to New Zealand as a suitable place for the evening of his days. Hearing that the Old Age Pensions Bill, 1898, has become law he wishes to qualify under it. At the same time, he is anxious not to make too violent a break with his past, but to have as good a time according to his notions as the pension qualifications will allow. He accordingly comes to consult me as an expert in "liquor and crime and that sort of thing." In a case which Lord Coleridge once tried at the Exeter Assizes a complaint of the unchristian conduct of the other side was met by the judge with the remark: "We have nothing to do with Christianity here; we are lawyers." In the interview which follows I wish it to be distinctly understood that I speak as a lawyer and not as a Christian. Being consulted as a lawyer I am bound to advise as a lawyer, and to point out to Mr Sikes the minimum qualification required by the Act.