The Evening Star SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3094, 18 January 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1873

Chikf Justice Sir G-. A. Aknkv, at the opening of the Session of the Supreme Court, in Auckland, on the 6th instant, made a few observations which are not merely of local, but of general importance. We gather from Ids remarks that in the North Island, as well as on this, there are difficulties connected with the administration of justice arising from many cases, in which preliminary investigations are necessarily conducted by Justices,of the Peace. Appointments tp that important office are not always the most judicious; nor do we know very well how mistakes respecting the fitness of men for it can be altogether avoided —position has generally been assumed to be a pretty safe guide, as we suppose it would be altogether infra dir/, to expect one who possessed wealth and a degree of inlluence with his follow' citizens to undergo a course of preliminary education and examination. It is a pity that fashion has pronounced against such an indignity, as a dopht respecting the fitness of men untrained iu law and logic, wholly unacquainted with rules of Court and laws of evidence, to act in a judicial capacity It would free them from mu eh risk -pi thy execution of their duties, and the country from occasional exhibitions of ineompeteucy. The surprise is that so few cases crop up where gross errors have been committed. We apprehend this is due more to the 4iomj>e,fence of the clerks

of the bench than to the J.IVs, and to | the good sense they show in willingly accepting the opinion of their assistants, instead of playing the part of .Justice ) Shallow or Squire Western in his j magisterial character. Sir C« eg uu e Arn e\ i avoids touching this delicate ground, and confines himself to giving a few hints respect ing the manner in which depositions arc frequently forwarded to the highci Courts. He expresses his conviction that, as a rule, the necessary enquiries are conducted with great care and discretion, and in corroboration of the opinion point# to the fact that, in general, prisoners committed for trial charged with certain offences are convicted. It is not so much, therefore, the substance of depositions that he complains of as the maimer in which they are taken. Here is what he says concerning them : Sometimes they are drawn apparently with so much haste that it is extremely difficult to read them. Occasionally one finds in them not merely interlineations and erasures, but subsequent additions made to them, and even discrepancies in the names, so that the name or a witness at the head of the deposition ml not be found to correspond with that signed at the foot of it. The consequence might easily occur that a deposition would, for want of due caie in the drawing of it, become illegal and of no use for very important purposes. It is particularly desirable in the first place that the deposition should be easily read, and to this end that not only the characters in the body of the document should be perfectly legible, but especially the writing of the names themselves, ho doubt much is due to the manner in which, with some persons, it appears to he the fashion when signing their own mines, to write them in such a fashion that nobody could read them. You will readily perceive that when a deposition was carelessly taken so as to admit such discrepancies as I have referred t ', it became, foi some impoitant purposes, useless. Suppose a witness to die, to fall ill, or to become insane, then it was important that the deposition should be correctly refid, so thsit it could be resid in Court without the necessity of incurring the expense of bringing up the magistrates in order >o prove what was said before the committing justice. Where a deposition is not taken with duo care, the error is not found out until the trial, and then it may he found too late to send to a remote district for necessary pi oof : the deposition must remain unproved, ami a failure of justice is tin' consequence, I hope these observations will be proved in good part, as they are meant. But the. accuracy of the deposition becomes doubly important in a community like ours where the Justice of the Peace might have to deal with inquiries relating, it may he, to a matter of life and death. No doubt the community were greatly indebted to those gentlemen living in the out-districts, who took upon themselves the responsibilities of such impoitant duties, and thereby assisted greatly to preserve peace and administer justice. At the same time, I cannot help thinking that when a gentleman is called upon to act as a Justice of the Peace, he would do well to provide himself will some elementary knowledge in the shape of books, so fiS' to enable him to discharge his duties satisfactorily, and not only so, but to enable him to protect himself against the heavy responsibility which frequently occurred to those who had to assist in administrating the law of the country. I believe that in some outdistricts gentlemen have not been provided with the printed forms which would facilitate then performance of their office; but even so, a Justice of the Peace may obtain from the statutes, or die or two elementary books, sufficient to guide him aright, and enable him to do his office with efficiency. Wo have more tlian oiut heard similar complaints in our own Courts of Justice of the irregularity of depositions produced as evidence, and wo therefore think that it is our duty as journalists, now that opportunity has offered, to give as wide publicity as possible to the valuable hints given by His Honor the Chief Justice.

The business transacted at the Mayors Court to-day was unimportant, the only case on the charge sheet being one preferred against Lizzie Low, a prostitute, for onscene language. She was fined L 5, with the alternative of a month’s imprisonment. His Worship the Mayor occupied the bench. With regard to the Moerald Railway, the Morth- Otago J'me* of yesterday says:— Messrs Brogden and Sons are now having tested, by pits and borings, the strata in the deeper cuttings on the WaitakiMoeraki Railway. We learn by our Wellington telegrams that Messrs Rrogden are likely to be contractors for the Lne ; but we presume by what is progressing that their tender has not yet been seut in. The Sheridan Dramatic Club gave a performance at the Lunatic Asylum on Friday evening, which was largely attended. The performance consisted of the duel scone from “The Rivals,” and the “Illustrious Stranger ” The character pf Bob Acres was pretty fairly represented by C. Whittington, Sir Anthony Absolute was capitally played by Mr Lambert, Sir Lucius ©Trigger was excellently imeeraonated in a manner which displayed careful study, and a truthful idga of the character, David and Captain Captain Absolete were fair representations. The performance concluded with the “Illustrious >tranger,” in which a comic song was very well sung by one of the members of the club, and sent the audience away highly delighted. As it is beyond question that cheap and adulterated teas are being sent into the colonial market, it is as well that the public should be on their guard against the spurious article. The last number of the Grocer’s ifatfuzUic called attention to the steps being taken in England- under the new adultera tion Act, to put a stop to practices which are hurtful to the community, and a great scandal to honest and honorable tradesmen. In Glasgow, searching enquiries were mude into the character of the cheap tea sold there, with these results Out of 27 samples of black tea, analysed for a local paper, six alone were genuine, twenty were more or less adulterated, and one specimen was found not to contain a single particle of tea at all, Of eight specimens of green tea subjected to a similar analysis, all were found to be painted and adulrerated. We airee with our contemporary that “ It is a shame such stuff should find its way into the market, but the fault is with the Government, which, for revenue purposes, allows it to be imported into the country. The Chinese are a very unscrupulous set of men ; and it is is they who doctor up all sorts of vile rubbish fpr the markets ; and it is the Government of the country that is to be blamed for allowing it to be retailed here. All the leading merchants in the trade set their faces against it, y*»b it comes here nevertheless ; and it is in districts inhabited by a large population, asking for cheapness rather than quality, that it i« allowed to circulate.”

The annual missiouary meeting of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church will be held iu the First Church on Monday evening, at 7 o’clock. The usual fortnightly meeting of the Commercial building and Mutual Investment Society will bo held next Monday evening, from six to eight o’clock. Me' bers of the Church of England, ami and others interested in th« formation of a new parish for South Dunedin, ate requested to meet at the City Council Chambers on Tuesday, 2lst inst., at 4 p.m. The meeting of ratepayers convened for this evening by Councillor Barnes will not take place, as he believes that the drainage of th,e City and other matters will he favorably considered at the next meeting of the City Council. Trains will run to Port Chalmers ay usual to-morrow, but wo are re<] nested to state that there will be no distinction of carriages. The Zealandia being now alongside the hallway will, no doubt, be visited by a largo number oi pepfdc ; and we can assure our readers she will re£ay inspeeijo^.