The Ashburton Guardian. Magna et Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1889. INFORMATIONS AND INDICTMENTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2263, 25 October 1889, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna et Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1889. INFORMATIONS AND INDICTMENTS.

Every now and then, to the disgust of the public and to the scandalising of the administration of justice, instances occur of the escape of unmistakably guilty persons through blunders made by Crown Prosecutors and others m the matter of drawing up indictments. While such things are possible m the higher, it is not m the least burprising that m the inferior Courts similar mistakes occur m respect to informations. These latter are usually laid by the police, who, to give them their just due, as a rule manage their business well, the New Zealand force being largely com posed of fairly educated, intelligent men. But now and then circumstance transpire which go to show that too much is expected from them, more especially as m police prosecutions of the minor sort the officers of the force have to rely upon themselves solely, without professional assistance of any sort. We are led to make these remarks by what transpired m connection with the recent prosecu tions under the Licensing Act. It will be remembered that when these cases (charges of Sunday trading) came before the Court, exception waß taken by the counsel for the defence to the validity of the informations on the following (among other) grounds, vis. : That while the offences charged were alleged to- have been committed on a particulars date the informations failed to aver that that date was a Sunday, and that no offence was disclosed because the mere 6 fact ot selling liquor was not necessarily ' an offence under the Statute, which 0 allows of the exception of lodgers and ft travellers, and the informations failed ?* to aver that the persons to whom the 4 sales were alleged to have been made did not come under either of these denomi- : nations. The last objection for the time being proved fatal, and as a consequence , the cases were dismissed and fresh inforo mations had to be laid. This having been done, the cases again came before ~ e the Court, and this time it was found d that separate informations had been laid, I- the first set charging the sale on a ban- * day to a person other than a lodger, and '- the other set to a person other than a traveller. Here again the informations were " ruled faulty, because they should have ex- \] olnded both lodgers and travellers. , c They were allowed to be amended, and - the caees proceeded, the result being sa that m one of the cases a conviction >■ ensued. Now it $eems to us to be peril* fectly plain that a great deal of unnecesre Bary trouble was caused to all parties — *■ police, bench, counsel, witnesses, and |D defendants — for which, however, we '', attach no blame to the prosecution, but rather to the Department of Justice. t e Surely long ere this it ought to have occurred to one or other of the Ministers ~* who have presided over that Depart- * ment that it is expedient to supply B ! Crown Prosecutors, and especially police iil officers, with printed forms for indictlt ments or informations, Betting out m ■P detail such offences as are of frequent 8 occurrence, bo that only a fuw blanks as !' to names, places, and dates would require to be filled m. This would mini- — mise the risk of blunders which may, * and sometimes do, lead to failures of if justice, 'ihis matter is surely a very er simple one, as well as one of consideri- able importance, and as such the sugbo geßtion we make is worthy of the con]T sideration of the powers that be.