UNDESIRABLE COURT REPORTS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 8

UNDESIRABLE COURT REPORTS

IBj Telenraph—Special OorTc-sßondontJ ■;< I \Christchuroh, September 22. The senior S.M. of Chnstchurch (Mi. H. W. Bishop) was, on Tuesday, requested, ■ at the conclusion of a case, to imake an '■ ordor prohibiting: the publication of the evidence. It was an affiliation case, aud tho evidence wasquits unpublishablo in any • paper • winch valued a reputation. for decency. . Mr. Bishop declined to make the order,; and explained that,in doings so,'.hefwas fol-. lowing ';the-practice - ; wWch! :he .had adopted 'during; his. .career vas a magistrate,, which extended over nearly, thirty years; -He was: quite satisfied to leave tho' question of publication to tho newspapers,. and he believed that t they ;AVOuld---nbt'v; publish would- be 1 opposed., tqj,the.: interests .of theYpublic, or those concerned' in the ease. There were cases in_ which •nonpublication L:id resulted mischievously, and, in his opinion, it- was very desirable that the light, of,, publicity should bo thrown upon tho actions; and words of ! ia - magistrate; when he was sitting in a judicial capacity.. The general principle involvea was discussed by several members of tho legal profession with a -"Press" reporter to-day. . • ■'; One solicitor, said that,'personally, he 'could: never'/. see . what was obtained'by'the, publication,' in. any form,: of' cases' of the. na,turoi referred to.: His, opinion'was that it would be preferable to' hear them in camera.,. He could not see reason could exist' to force a young Vi'Oir.aii to go ..into' -the witaess box, and givo her evidence, before tho gapiQg crowd of hoodlums- .who usually infested tho Court during tho hearing ■of .salacious. cases.',-'Pubbcation. of;- tho cases had not. acted, in the slightest degree;".' as-, adeterrent,'.' while,' on. the. ot-het hand, it-, : might- inflame the grossest passions, 'of '' some of. .the readers: Another.' evil of publication, was that iho threat of open proceedings in Court was upod to extort nioney from people who. .wished to avoid publicity. »•' Cases > which- were ■ not . defeniied; should ;b« .'settled without any publicity. In the'meantime, 1 .it was an" unfortunate factj, that, .while ': thegreat majority of the newspapers were careful . not to outrage .'the proprieties, the improper eloment was: represented, and, , if ; it was not discouraged,' there w;as no guarantee that it Would not increase. Ho considered that it .was in tho. int-ercsts of , justice, as well,'as public propriety, that the. poTjror given to magistrates to prohibit the publication ;bf,i.eyidence' in_:certa.in cases should ■te'eser6iscd;w l ith ; discretion.■■'.^;•.^/^■.•:•';■ :: •.■■ , .; ■ - .Another- member, .of the profession said that, as far as . the newspapers were concerned (with one exception), there V was ;-'^ot; ■ the,. slightestoccasion for the exercise of-the-power given to ma^strates.V'-i;t;thb'.'samo..tira'ei.'-m i Tiew-.: of ;tho' fact >that ;there ,'might ? . be :;.- .un-, scrupulous newspapers, which : made: garbage 'out,'of tliesei. cases, he; thought:; that, it, :might' ; for;, magistrafes, to exercise their-power:.when requested so to do.; sHe.had. niet:cases;.of ;ex- ' treme hardship, due to the practios-.pf "certain papers . not in only publishing the complainant's name, but making "copy" out of the misfortune. One caso which: he .recalled was that of a girl who, at the eleventh hour, dropped her case because sho bclie\cd that a oertdin paper would certainly make a ■long storv- of -her- trouble, -exposo her shairic, and ruin her life. She,preferred to keep her child out of hor small sfcmjngs as a domestic servant , rather Mtt have her : name blaMned before the public..in a shameful. : W'ay.' - Through. ■' tho policy of : one paper. - many com-; were; practically debarred, from, a legal remedy. • •, •, 'A: third : solicitor,•' .who : was ; ; ,-ap-; proached,: took- much -the. same, .view. He said :• that complainants ■; were;":, oc-i casionally .inclined; to; abandon ; their: rights when, by asserting . them, t-hey ! had to face the■ ordeal .of too free a publicity. There was, however, a good deal to* be said. ..from tho magistrate s: view:. that publication ' frequently;; forwarded tho ' jnterests -.of justice. .. Besides, it had to bo remembered .tharb the fact that proceedings had ..taken place in a. Court, of. justico was, . no warrant to publish the improper portion of them. ; A .newspaper .was not-free,-to publish indecent or obscene " matter : simply::b'ecause it .was elioited in,-:the Court - proceedings. . ..He understood,;, also,"' that the Indecent . Publications Act- was placing further-, restrictions :on tho : publication of - • anythingthat savoured of ■ : this nature: ; There was already, a , complete prohibition . against the :publication of..', such: matter,;.-. 50,• really, there was hardly- any, necessity to make prohibitions against publication in certain cases. -. It would bo undes'irablo,:.however,, to : take' .frdin: magistrates tho' power to. prohibit publication, as there might, bo a necessity in some_cases for absolutely prohibiting