THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BILL THE MAGISTERIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE MAYOR.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 4, 2 April 1842, Page 14

THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION BILL THE MAGISTERIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE MAYOR.

It takes not a little from the satisfaction with which we contemplate the future working of the Municipal Corporations Ordinance, to find that, in a most important particular, it departs from the principle laid down in the preamble. The preamble itself may be taken: as a pattern of the groundwork of municipal corporations in general; The fact that in an ordinance professing to be founded upon the principles there stated, should be found so serious a mistake as that of allowing a government-appointed police magistrate to usurp that authority which of right belongs to the head of the municipal body, is strong evidence that the framers of the law did not comprehend how to raise a superstructure agreeable to their groundplan, or that they deceitfully put forward a specification which they had no intention of carrying out. The propriety of there being a government representative in all the settlements containing a certain number of inhabitants we do not question. We approve of' it ; more especially since the time at present neceesary to achieve a communication between the most important settlements and the seat of government is so great. This government representative would have his duties, his rights, his privilege df precedence, if you will ; but why unite these with executive authority of so different a class as the magisterial 1 It were as well to make the Governor of New Zealand the Chief Justice also ; or to find the Sovereign of Great Britain fulfilling the duties of a judge of assize, only without a jury. The i necessity for summary jurisdiction in numerous cases is evident. It is an evil inseparable from the due administration of justice.

How desirable then" is it to place this jurisdiction in the hands of one. who is immediately responsible to those for whose -benefit he exercises it, and whom alone it really concerns, that it should be exercised : with judgment. Our legislators appear to be aware how dangerous a thing it is to submit too much to the discretion of an individual. The ordinance for " extending, the powers of police magistrates " (of which elsewhere) shows this. Then why deny this disoretionary authority to a man upon whom a constantly present check, and that from at. once the most proper and the most efficient quarter, is ever acting, to give it to one whose responsibility, to say the least of it, is of an equivocal character, and who is independent of those whose servant he is or ought to be ? The community of any settlement already or to be formed in New Zealand, before it shall have the numerical strength necessary to entitle it to a corporation under this ordinance, will consist of men at least as intelligent as those of one of the same number would be in England ; and the educated and influential ttteft from among whom the mayor would' V chosen will be in greater number and cjjfifo infinitely higher stomp than those who jjo to form the cpijorationsjn the small '/owns ©t' J&£ mother country . Are such men flnfit then to exercise the magisterial functions here, though their inferiors are judged competent in England T There has been a proposition made which does not appear to .us wholly devoid of advantage — that no mayor should exercise the functions of which we are now speaking ; that the magistrates of whatever description and with whatever authority was i necessary to the due administration of justice should be elected by the burgesses of the borough in which they were to act ; and the reason brought forward in support of this scheme is that it is necessary that the administration of justice should be free frpm all suspicion of local influence. Have the framers of this ordinance adopted this view; and do they intend to introduce, as soon as we are considered in. a fit state, to have corporations, a new ordinance, intrusting us with the power of electing our own magistrates ? We fear not. We fear that so careful a consideration of the purity of judicial administration was not among the motives — whatever these may have been — I which induced them to leave us wholly dependent upon government appointment for security against wrong. We would I " jump " the difficulty arising or supposed |to arise from possible suspicion of local influence, but we are not at all inclined to leave unmooted the question, why so unusual a course has been pursued with regard to the heads of the future corporations of this colony j a course not only unusual — which does not alone offer no advantage aver that having the sanction of all precedent, but which takes from us a right hitherto considered inalienable from the burgesses of a borough — that of electing a chief magistrate for themselves ; which throws a disrespect upon the only representative body we shall possess, and leaves us wholly in the hands of a far-distant government on a point of so much local importance and such solely local interest as our police regulations. These New Zealand settlements are not part of a penal colony. We are not now in an old country, whose towns are infested by thieves, into whose dens none but a regularly organised police can find their way. It is jnot necessary to begin at once to take for granted that a large portion of our population consists of " runaway convicts," whom it would be dangerous to intrust with the .right of electing a magistrate, lest a man placed on the bench by such suffrages should be found to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The police paraphernalia of " arms and accoutrements" to be paid for out of the borough fund — the police constables to be chosen by the watch committee, but to be wholly under command of the govern-ment-appointed police magistrate — all this really looks very unlike the liberty of the person so precious to all of British descent.

If police regulations of a strict nature are indeed necessary for the preservation of good order and of property, surely a magistrate of our own appointing would as soon be aware of it, would as fitly carry them out, as one who might be, and very Kkely would be at his first appointment, wholly ignorant of the localities over which his jurisdiction extended, ..and unacquainted witU the character of the people who looked up, to him for justice and protection.

It is impossible to say how long it will be before a Court of Quarter Sessions will be held in the district of Nelson. Until such a court shall be held, of course it must be tfery difficult for a magistrate to perform his duty with satisfaction to himself and with justice at once to society and to any persons brought before him charged with crime or misdemeanor. The bill for " extending the power of police magistrates," which was to come into operation on the first of this month, was framed for' the- , purpose of meeting the difficulties arising from the wane of a final tribunal. We are surprised on looking it over to find how little likely it is to be really effective in that regard. We think that, for a short time, there would have betn no serious objection to intrusting with more jexterwive powers *iy Tifaf^stratrivT^'iri^^ to leave many cases for. the final decision of a higher court. > This would have been desirable, were it only for the sake of the accused ; indeed chiefly on their account would we have recommended it. At the same time it would have been an additional security to society ; for many must break the law with impunity, where the impossi.bility of suiting the punishment to the magnitude of the crime ties the hands of the * judge. Such an arrangement would not have had the effect of encouraging any tendency to arbitrariness in the magistrate ; for, though it would be called an extension of his authority, it would actually have limited his power of inflicting punishment, at the same time that it added to his efficiency as a guardian of property and a preserver of good order. Under this bill, in all cases of importance (which embraces all, save " charges of larceny where the property shall not exceed twenty shillings and where the age of the party charged shall not exceed fifteen years ") the magistrate i» obliged, as usual, either to commit for trial or hold the alleged offender to bail. It is possible, nay, most probable, that in the majority of cases the committal would inflict a punishment in the shape of a lengthened imprisonment quite as severe, if not more ' so, than the accused, if found guilty, would be subjected to ; and, if innocent (as how many just committals are there that end in acquittal), how compensate the injured man for the severity with which you have visited upon him his unwitting crime of being suspected f Admitting to bail Trovld be^fcv-'-farce, for the majority of supposed criminals would be unable to obtain it, and those who did so would probably be not the most likely to be forthcoming at the day of trial. A man may be really very respectable,trustworthy, and most innocent ; but, in a new community, who is to know all this of him ? We are all' strangers to one another, and it is not to be expected that any growing confidence, the result of a short acquaintance, would be in cr used by (lie airiount of evidence of guilt which must have been brought forward to render holding to bail necessary. There is an alternative, we believe, namely, not to wait till we have a tribunal of our own, but, to send our supposed criminals to Port Nicholson. We wonder what the Colonial Treasurer would say. to this economical mode of meeting the difficulty. Is the treasury over full ; or is it intended to make the incidental expenses of our judicial proceedings rival those of the civil establishment itself? We might support half a dozen judges at less expense than it would cost to send witnesses, prosecutors, and prisoners to Port Nicholson and back. There is yet one other mode in - certain cases of getting over this self-created difficulty. We give the clause entire :—: — " If Pabtt makk Confession hjj mat BE DEALT WITH SUMMARILY. — 3. On any

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, charge of larceny before such police magistrate, where the value of the property stolen shall not exceed five pounds, whatever maybe the age of the party charged, if such party shall, after hearing the information and evidence against him, voluntarily confess the offence; the police magistrate shall take such confession, and shall sentence the offender to imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve calendar months." Was it the object of this clause to induce dn innocent man to confess, that he might avoid the lengthened imprisonment on committal for trial, by taking at once the shorter period which might be summarily adjudged ? or is it an attempted illustration of a doctrine given in a higher code, that f< there is joy 'in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance ?" The authority that promulgated the doctrine would hardly have sanctioned the illustration — an unjustifiable temptation to the weak-minderl, an uncalled-for trial to the strong ; a preference of guilt over innocence s« ingeniously constructed that the -very kindheartedness of the magistrate is called in to increase the evil. From all this, one thing is evident — we want a final tribunal with suitable powers here, and we want it speedily-— less to ensure the due punishment of crime than to prevent the present mismanagement from rapidly increasing it.