The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 284, 26 June 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1875.

“ We .hall kll to no ni»n justice or right: \\ e vlinll deny to no limn justice or right: W» shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The advisability, if not the necessity, of making some additional appointments of gentlemen to the Commission of the Peace in Poverty Bay has often been discussed in our columns, as well as having had the support and advocacy of both ourselves and our local contemporary. Representations have also been made to the Government by some of the Magistracy here, endorsed, we believe by the Resident Magistrate, Dr. Nesbitt, himself, urging the wisdom of such a step being taken. Some time since, the Hon. G. Randall Johnson again .communicated with the authorities at

Wellington, in answer to which he was informed that the Government had been advised not to accede to his request. The grounds upon which the refusal was based were not stated, the bald, unexplained, refusal being the only matter vouchsafed in the reply. Assuming that the objections of the Government were substantial, and cogent, a year ago, the circumstances of the town of Gisborne anddistrict of Poverty Bay, have, since then, so materially altered in importance and degree that there seems to be no valid reason for further delaying the consideration of this important question ; indeed, if any proof of this were required we need not go beyond the fact of the Licensing Court being adjourned no less than three different times on account of all the Commissioners, except the Chairman, being absent from the district. In this instance there may have been no particular inconvenience experienced, but it is the annual sitting of the Court, the business of which ought not to be delayed for a month beyond the proper time. We beg to submit however, that cases might arise at any moment when it would be either necessary or desirable in which the Resident Magistrate should have the advice of his brother counsellors on the Bench. An instance of an apposite character, —in further illustration of our argument—occurred a few months ago, when Dr. Nesbitt met with an accident which compelled his withdrawal from duty for some weeks. The rota of attendance was made up by the four J.P.’s living within a day’s ride, and the business of the Resident Magistrate’s Court was proceeded with. But this comes hard upon the few who are already in Commission, not forgetting the fact that they all live some considerable distance out of town. Practically too, for the next twelve months or so, their number will be reduced to three, inasmuch as Mr. Woodbine Johnson has left for England, therefore, all things considered, the present seems to be a favorable opportunity in which to-re-open the question again, and urge the attention of the Government to the matter. We doubt, also, if there is another town in the Colony of the size of Gisborne that has no resident Justice of the Peace in‘ it, besides the R.M. When it is considered that Dr. Nesbitt’s time is not confined to Magisterial duties, it is often very inconvenient to the public requiring processes in his Court, during his absence from town. It would, therefore, appear to be essential to the satisfactory performance of Court business, that, in making additions to the Justices’ Roll in this district, a gentleman or two should be selected from amongst the residents in Gisborne, whose presence would greatly facilitate matters in the direction we have indicated.