THE PUBLIC'S NERVES."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 798, 22 April 1910, Page 7

THE PUBLIC'S NERVES."

'A. .MAGISTRATE'S; REMARKS: . * ACTION BY CITJ, COUNCIL." : The report of .the Tramways Committee ; of the City Council, presented last ' Bight, contained the following' clause :— ■ ' ■ -That the committee have received;. ■a letter from the Wellington Tram-. : ■•. -■ ways. Employ ee«'" protesting .■■■-. .against-'the remarks, of-the cbro-. : ; ~ .ner in oprinection,with ~the' recent . . tramway-, fatality.;.in Courtenay ,';; Place, '.that? ;'were" ■ calculated" to '' . make the motorman a prevaricator .-.' _' in the.-,eyes of the,public./ In: view, . Vof ttie fact that "no blame; was "at- ■..-: ■'] tapbable , to the-' motorman, -,: the ■ : : union .requested- : that such* criti-':: ■;' ' cism 'be replied to,; with a "'■'■ view ■••■'-. ; to'preventing ..any .repetition, in the future. • 'Ibe. committee, agreo ■■■■ that 'the.'remarks- of .the'''coroner..-' '■..■..- were not justified, but the coitn-'. cil, is in no. way responsible:, for'tbe v. coroner's ~;.:.:: ':.■' '.'.; : Councillor , ' ■■ Devine ■;:,.' asked /-that ' this' ~ . 'clause .'^';in'''?".'the'''"'-'report • should .not •.pass.'-;..He. -did not \ think , that it should go but''ifrom the. '.".- councU.vthat : ;,'the -magistrate!:!had :: not his Hβ pereunally did.not, know -what had been '. ■ eaid.~- :'.<)V: ; ■ /"'.'■' ■'-' ' ■. i'.'-'V ■ . 1 .-Councillori Hindmarsh deplored ..that .. Borne;magistrates were.prone.to'making , unusual remarks. ■ He referred .-to an .-;■■: Auckland case, in which l a magistrate had said,.in effect, that a woman:had' learned•■ to thieve because, some trades- . inen^cSpcsed , their goods, on' tae.pub^ .:. lie street.:..ln , the present case,' he .considered "that the" magistrate (Mri . .W;: R. Haselden, S.M.)/ had not acted .properly-when he said to a moiorman, on his oath: "I advise you not to say r euch a. thing..-. It; is getting!, on the public's;nerves." ;■:. He considered that the council should' administer a re- ■ buke. -It was only, right that tlio , mat- • -ter- should have been brought up, and V;the"council would.be lacking'in manliness if they did 'notsupport the. Trartf ways Union. . /' ' •'■■■-'... Councillor .Atkinson alluded, to .the .. magistrate's remark's that the statement ebout running in' .front .of the cars was.:, getting on ■ the public's nerves." The thing. that he thought was get-' • . ting- on; the. public's;;nerves was this ; r; practice', of all sorts of deliverances being made from, tlio magisterial bench in the manner of "Sir Oracle." It was ' •.very cruel -.insinuation that the ' : motorman in. the case was not speaking the truth. If he was guilty of any rhetorical exaggeration, ho should nave'been cross-examined and exposed. Nothing, of the sort .was attempted, ■ but- instead, they had this fatherly, or etep-fatherly,, or Roman-fatherly advice. He objected to that kind of iudi- . cial censure, and thought it would be a. very .wholesome, thing if. the public ; eho'wed that;.they had some, rights as ■',■•; well, as ...the. magistrates, "though ;ho was. very jealous .of, any v interference ' with' the 'courts so long as they woro v kept .within ' their .proper,- sphere. The report was adopted on the voices.