The Telephone. WITH WHICH INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 306, 10 December 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. WITH WHICH INCORPORATED THE POVERTY BAY STANDARD. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10.

As a continuation of the remarks which appeared yesterday respecting Supreme Court procedure it is suggested that judges might still have whole holidays on Mondays and Saturdays, and then they would be much better off in the matter of holidays than the rest of the community. It should be the duty of the Registrar, as soon as the statement of defence in an action has bean filed, or when the time for filing it. has elapsed, to summon the solicitors engaged before him, and then to fix a day for hearing as early as practicable, having regard to the Judge’s other engagements, allowing, of course, due time' for the summoning of witnesses, and a jury, where a jury is required, So also an early day for the hearing of an argument in ianro, whether it be ah appeal from a Magistrate, a motion for a decree, or any other motion, should be fixed as soon as the case is set down. Applications in Chambers should be capable of being made on any Court day during, say, the half-hour before the Judge goes into Court. For various reasons it might, perhaps, still be as well to fix a special day of the week for bankruptcy work, but this would not prevent the taking of other business in the way.we have suggested. This plan would have the effect of really lightening the labours of the Judges, by distributing them more fairly over their

time. Instead of having as now, little or nothing to do on many days, and at other special times a perfect glut of work, sometimes requiring them to sit very late in the evening, their work would be spread evenly over the week, though still allowing them to have a holiday on Mendays and Saturdays. This would conduce to the health and comfort of the Judges, as if would most assuredly to the convenience of litigants. It would equally benefit counsel, who would then be able to know exactly when their cases would come on, and need not attend till that time had arrived. At present they have to spend much time at the sittings, and on banco days, waiting for their cases, for though feeling by no means certain that they may be reached that day, yet they cannot depend upon it. and must therefore remain in attendance till they are reached. The present system of trying actions at periodical sittings, instead of hearing them at any time, on specially fixed days, when ready for hearing, occasions much unnecessary expense in connection with witnesses, especially when there are a number of cases for trial. However low down in the list a case is, the witnesses must be kept in attendance, almost from the commencement of the sittings, for it i? never quite certain how long the previous cases may take, or whether they may not break down at the last. If each case had a special time fixed for its hearing, the witnesses need not be collected in town, till they were actually wanted. Nothing has been said about criminal business, but it is difficult to see why it should not be disposed of in much the same way as suggested for civil business. Why should an accused person, possibly an innocent man, be kept in prison, or even held to bail, for nearly three months, as often happens, till the period for the quarterly, or half-yearly sittings comes round, when the Judge has, in the meanwhile, had plenty of leisure in which to try him ? The injustice of this treatment of accused persons would appear monstrous to us if we were not so long accustomed to it. Of course in order to take criminal business in this way some different, arrangement would be necessary, and possibly ■as long as Grand Juries remain part of a judicial institution, it might be difficult to manage. But Grand Juries might very well be dispensed with. They serve no useful purpose, unless it be to add to the dignity of the Judge by allowing him an opportunity of deliver, ing an': address on things in general. If, however, the justice administered by the Judges is made more speedy- than, it is at present, this will add to their dignity more than any number of unnecessary formalities. .