THE Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1879.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 37, 3 May 1879, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1879.

"Words are things, and a drop of ink fatting like dew upon a thought, produces that which mokes thousands, perhaps millions think."

J^ \ * r * ? i Theee is a very prevalent opinion that the statutes of the English .nation, if not actually perfection, are certainly as near perfection as possible, and, consequently, in the Colonial possessions of the British Empire, there is a most laudable inclination to follow in the steps of the Mother Country. Whether the supposition is tenable, and can be supported by facts, we are not prepared to publi^y assert, but our own individual opinion is that they are very wide of perfection. Perhaps there is no component part of the Constitution which is valued so highly, or of which Englishmen are so proud, as that o( trial by jury, and yet there is scarcely any portion which is so often burlesqued by its results, or made the medium of jrross inpistiee, as -that much-vaunted boon. Although with tlje jiiareh of civilisation much of the^ barbaric surroundings which in bygone years hedged in that <greafobul_vark of ,the people's liberty haT-e- disappeared, still it cannotyet be "said to bejperfectly.free from imperfection. Trial by jury dates its. origin to a period far anterior to the Conquest, having been introduced into England dnring the Saxon Hoptarchy, all hough it was not until 1791 that France* and 1866 that Russia, adopted that mode of dealing with orime or dis puted mattery. , Hpweyer, during the ten centime- throughout which it has been exercised in £rreat Britain it has undergone many changes in the mode of administration. According to an ancient 'listonnu, in tfhe tenth century the* plaintiff and defendant used to feed t^be jury empanneled in their action, and hence arose the'eommon law of denying sustenance to & jury after the hearing of the evidence. In accordance with that statute, a jury might be detained duiing the pleasure of the judge, if they eould not agree upon a verdict ; and might J be 'confined without meat, 1 drink, or Are, candlelight excepted, until 1 they were unanimous. It is a matter for argument whether the first or the second practice was the most preferable ; for while 6ne was, as it were, legalising embracery, the other was rather a rough aid to conviction 4 . « As time progressed, a third modification became necessary, and at the present, although jurors ,are not actually starved into surrender and 1 submission, still tlje discomforts to I which they are" subjected have a verypowerful tendency in that way. To us it seems perfectly absurd that after, 1 perha^, twelve, hours have been ex- ! pended in a careful hearing of the evidence, and another two m its minute analysis' by the judge, jurors should be locked up for twelve .hours to .force an agreement. IE . a jnrj. aided by ,-ke two helps we have referred to, and another hour's deliberation amongst themselves, cannot algree upon a verdict, it is a moral certainty that a subsequent judgment will be swayed by convenience, not rouvietion. Man is essentially a selfish animal, and although there are^no doubt,, hrigljt Instances where a-j nror« prefers dls-< comfort to sacrificing the liberty of another, we are afraid the exception is more general than the rule. Supposing it were the custom of a barbaric nation to first swear citizens to* tell the truth, and, then .Imprison and punish thorn until they .recanted, we would hear the talo with fonder 'and si,rpnse, ,<rid si ill that is exactly what is done in Ave* oa«es onb.of every twenty vuM' British .Junes. Although trial by jury has not yet _een.fone hundred years 111 pracfic e In France, before half \fhat time it was found necessary 'to*^make some modification^ /n" tlie English Rystem which had be£n adopted.' and now in that/ countey, "instead ( of compelling twelve men fo be, nnleri-t-voten*. of one mincf. a" verdict of two-thirds is accepted. This is eertalbly-a step in the riuHt 'direction, and ,were the example followed, there would be an e-nd te those peculiar verdicts Which frequently take the public by surprise, and are a perfect Kbpl upon tbe sacrpd name of Jus\Wy H,aYiug thus said, so numa upon

the .system as a whole, in conclusion we may%tfer to individual cases of administr^'tton|. At the recent Sitting of the Supreme Court at Wanganui, there jvere^eight cases on the calendar, and notwithstanding that the eomniittaWih one|||is made out as early as thej2nd of Jan||B|'y— nearly four months agb — the in.d|psinent was actually not dfcSwn liip ■unfil last Monday. It has b^eien the usual custom where witnesses '_re brought from a distance to put the cases in which" they appear before a jufy^arlyin the Sittings, Lut'Mr./FiTZHE-ra&qfr if, etidently„jdetermined _to„ reverse^ jhe practice. .In the case to which we refer, ja-hairKtef-bf-the -Supreme-Court, the editor of a paper, and the constable in charge of ai district,' ngfciro speajc of thejother witnesses, wero r dragged ajway from their business upon last Saturday, when, as a matter* 6f fact, tho Crjown Prosecutor, after four months, had! not the* indictment -drawn *up until tnree dayk after that timeVand, consequently, it a foreknown fact to him [that their services would not be required at thejopening of the Sittings. In the [face of such circumstances, then, we pold thap the conduct bf : Mi*. Fitzheebert wag_c.ulpaUle.in thq extreme— firstan not being in a position to take up the case at the proper time ; v secondly, that knowing sitch'to besthe case, he did not communicate with his witnesses, and so avoid personal loss and inconvenience, beside sdvinfa* tbe Crown' the additional expense; and thirdly, in' keeping' the case until • rthe t very last on .the list. As a matter of "fact, the course adopted bv tlie law 'officer was most serious in its effects, for, as might have been expected, a district left without police surveillance for si*c days took advantage of the want of protection, and a most serioUs .disturbance was the result. We trust that as the precedence of cases is a matter left to the Crown Prosecutor, gentlemen who may hold the position will pay some little attention to those are forced to perf6rm ? the thankless duty of witnesses. ' ' N