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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4990, 21 March 1877, Page 2

In .noticing Magistrates Act, we have ,shown TT what very large powers in.jtk9„inatter 6levidence.it.-con--fers on the magistrate, and -what i utterly futile right ofmppeal it; vouchsafes to-thei suitors. Tlie former may be fairly called practically unlimited, and 'the latter prac-j tically a shani. . Wei protested folly andtieiriexpediencyofappointing/ai least in large centres of population,, vmj professional men to this office. But the, -want-of -professional training, though a ! fatal defect, is a very small portion of our| objection to the fitiiess of Mr. ORlwFdßij for his position. It is certainly pbssible! for an educaited'nian, powers and much industry, withjhe a&% vantages he has in these courts, to jiiake; himself, for all ordinary: purposes, a tolerable lawyer, i Sueh>a man, if he will from day to day carefully ■■ attend to the addresses of the professional men before! him, and study the authorities referred, to by them in the court and in his own! home, may intime become a very decent' magistrate. Such a manj we believe, was Mr. • Strode,' of Dunedin, .and Mr.! .Beokham, „of .^Auckland...,lt',',is,quite 1 beside the point to say that Mrj Crawford .. i5..;..n0t... fitted....for -the 1 position he occupies because he itf faotj a professional man. We do not for a 1 moment-mean to impute any c'orrupt| motives to Mr. Crawford; but we say distinctly that, whilst possessing many qualities of head and heart which naturally give him the respect and esteem of

his fellow citizens, he does not fit into his duties as Resident With every intention to be just, and to expedite justice as much as possible, it is unfortunate that justice seems often hindered in our - R.M. Court. . Passing over the celebrated kissing case, in which he fined a man in five pounds and costs for being guilty of kissing or taking some liberty with a woman, and told him, "If it were hot "for the doubt I have, sir, I would have committed you,'' let us' take' some examples within the last few days. The other-day some person made a claim against the Star. Boatings Club, and a -paragraph in yesterday's issue showed the extraordinary delay which occurred, in getting the matter settled. Take another case, also within "the last, few days. A man contracted with' anotlier to build him a chimney, and before the contract was completed, or.nideed, we believe, begun at all, the man who wanted the chimney recused to complete the.contract. It is said he was interviewed "Hiy- other bricklayers who wanted the contract, and •the chimney man sent these persons to the > yard of the original contracting bricklayer, where they saw'certain bricks, which they ■condemned ' '"'as ' unfit' T . tip". build chimneys. , ; These bricks had not been delivered on the ground where the work was to be done, nor was there a tittle of evidence to .show, that the contractor meant to use them. On this ground the chimney: man refused to go on, arid was sued in the Resident Magistrate's Court by the contractor for breach 'of contract. Qn; this evidence Mr. Crawford decided ' against the unlucky bricklayer. Now, here were two large assumptions : first, that these men who saw the bricks in the yard were good and impartial judges of bricks, which might or might not be justifiable; secondly, the assumption that these bricks were the very bricks to be used for the i chimney was altogether unjustifiable, for there did not seem a particle of evidence' to support it. But ".;: in the matter "of evidence the magistrate is irresponsible. Here is another case withiu the last day or two. One man sued another for £77 lis. 9d.-, and judgment was given for the defendant, withcostSi ■ Defendant being unable to get his costs out of the plaiutiff, and knowing that he was leaving the city in a day or so, applied to the Clerk of the Court for an execution warrant against his which the clerk, for reasons best: known, to himself, refused. Application was then made for a judgment summons, which was granted, but was cleverly made but, not against the plaintiff, who was, the jperson liable for the costs, but .against the defendant, to whom they weredue Itwa3alsomade out for the 17th of March, thus giving' the party simple time to clear out of the reach of danger. This case hAS,: we believe, been reported to the, Minister of Justice, where to our own knowledge Several more of the same sort have gone already. We'are sorry ,to ¥e obliged to be so plain in this matter as we have been; but -really—the evil - has -become - quite intolerable, and' -somehow or other it" must come to., an "end., Now, let vis 'say distinctly in conclusion at this time, the cases we note are not by any means exceptional case's jtliey 'are of ordidinary,occurrence who -will attend that'Cdurlfor a week or so will -certainly •be;/able; to; see any number of them for himself. /, :We say again the thing must stop.—