ELSIE WALKER CASE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3990, 29 August 1929, Page 3

ELSIE WALKER CASE.

NO POWER TO REOPEN INQUEST.

There is no power to reopen the inquest into the circumstances of I he death of Miss Elsie Walker, according to a statement made in the House of Representatives on Tuesday by the Minister of Justice (Hqn. T. M. Wilford), in reply to an urgent question by Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn). “There is no power to reopen an inquest in New Zealand,” explained ihe Minister. “It is true the Supreme Court has power by way of ceji’tiovari to quash an inquisition and reopen an inquest, but the right of the Supreme Court to take such proceedings is limited to where rn inquest has been carried on illegally, that is to say, where something illegal has happened. In the. Old Country it is not so. There is a statutory law, and thejre the High Court of Justice, on the application of the Attorney-General, may quash the finding of the original inquest. We have no law .in this country to that effect, giving the l ight to reopen an inquest at any time when such a course is considered necessary or desirable in tlie interests of justice. I can find only one instance of an inquest 1 aving been reopened in New Zealand, but when the vouchers for payment of expenses came in they wore ruled out. on the ground that the inquest had been illegally reopened.”