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Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 156, 27 June 1891, Page 2

A eemakkablE; miscarriage of . iiistice took place at the last sittings of the Su•preiiis Opart in Napier. A scoundrel was accused of a gross crinie, and because the little girl, who was ; the '/.principal/witness','^ was nhable to state that she knew what would happen ;to her after death, if she gaye.false evidence, her evidence could not be taken against ■ the ■ accused, and in 'consequehce, the latter escaped the v-\vell-: ' v merited : .punUhineriti',;which w as certain ,to haye byeri^en-himvbecaUsei^ ative,:evideiiee^ such that the jury i re-''ralmbs;t^'c^i i fca,in tb. convict. The learned Judge, commenting on the case, said that the law ■in England now permitted children who did not understand the nature of an oath to giye their evidence, which the jury y/era allowed to kecept at what it was worth, relying for their Verdict on the other witnesses. In the interests of justice and for the protection of little ichildreh, we think that the law plight to be; altered -in. New Zealand to agree with that which now obtains in that respect inj England. :. , ■