GONE TOO FAR

NZ Truth, Issue 1179, 5 July 1928, Page 6

GONE TOO FAR

4. Suppression Business A Farce (From "N.Z. Truth's" Gisborne Rep.) Precedent! That remarkable factor which appears to have more bearing m courts of law than the • law itself. TN Gisborne recently, when one Of **• the most prominent residents was remanded on a charge of intoxication while lin charge of a motor-car, a pathetic appeal for the suppression of his name -was successful, the magistrate making the order "ih view of the circumstances." A week later another prominent citizen appeared on a similar charge before a justice of. the peace.. His counsel asked for suppression on the ground that the magistrate always made an order when a remand was granted. The justice expressed his disapproval, but made an order 'because a precedent had been established. When one of them was to be sentenced, his counsel, all the way from Auckland, asked that the license be not interfered with, as the motor-car was essential to his client's business. Auckland magistrates, he remarked, never took a. license away if it was essential to a man's livelihood. And again precedent rules, whatever j-ustice or common-sense might dictate. The same day a third motorist was remanded on a similar charge. Replying to the usual application, the magistrate remarked, that he had made a mistake m making the previous order, adding that he would not do it again. But the j man's name was suppressed! If the precedent- has not already ' been established, it looks as if it soon ' will be. ■ "