A FARCICAL PROCEEDING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 189, 31 July 1908, Page 3

A FARCICAL PROCEEDING.

'to the KUitor. ■Sny-I would like to know whether there is cm record a case where in ~ .Magistrate's Court the presiding .Magistrate has permitted important witnesses to be alluded to by their initials im'y and not by their full mimes? And if there is no such precedent, how comes i . that our local -Magistrate not only allows the practice, but indulges in it'himttJ ,* " sk t,lcse questions because o the happenings at the Court yesterdav altoriioon. 1 was present for n part Jl the time, it appeared to me the proceedings savored of the burlesque, worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan's best cliorts. 1 could understand counsel's ingenuity in suppressing names, but 1 could not understand the .Magistrates action in not only countenancing the unusual and ludicrous procedure, but continuing and taking part himself in tlm farce of referring to witnesses bv their initials only. The public have a right to expect something better fro u the .Magistrate, who is supposed to be I fearless i„ the discharge of his duties and not make fish of one and fowl of another. If it were right and prop.T to relet- io the majority of the witnesses by their full names, it was right and proper that those witnesses woo were pandered to should have been nferrcd to by their full names. Weic those witnesses of the common or garden variety, would they have been :,,•- corded the same consideration and had their names kept out of the Court, and therefore out of the papers'--I am, et • i SEARCHLIGHT."' '

[We know of no precedent for the procedure referred to. It seems to us that the Magistrate's indulgence must have affected his sense of the fitness of things for the time being, it is manifestly improper that such a course should be allowed in a Court of Justice, for is it not a fundamental part of our judicial constitution that in court all men, rich and poor alike, are equal and must be treated equally:' it certainly was never intended that witnesses should be call.'d by their initials only.—Ed.]

To the Editor. Sir,—l was very much amused at Mr. Gray's "illusory personages" in t'ae above ease and also his suggestion that it would be more convenient .to use initials! Quite so. Would the

initials of some poor friendless unfortunate have 'been sufficient? There would be no fear of his name being su»pressed, and I am astonished that you did uot give the names out boldly]—L' am, etc., CITIZEN'. '

I [We have excised a paragraph from rthe above for the reason that we cannot allow a personal insinuation or ati tack to be made in these columns under cover of anonymity. If our correspondent signed his proper name we would not have the same objection. In regard to the reference about our not giving t'n; names boldly, it should be known that a newspaper can only report the evidence in Court proceeding!) that is tendered. As the Jfagistratc—much to our surprise, we might say—permitted the use of initials only, we could but report the Initials and not the names they stood for. Counsel, of course, knew this when he persuaded the Magistrate to agree to his remarkable expedient. The News has never refrained from publishing the names of any. party that has come before the Court, except in regard to firstoffending drunkard charges and the unfortunate women that are parties to affiliation cases, for reasons that must be obvious. We don't like rubbing the salt into any wounds, and for that reason do not like having to persistently refuse the scores of applications to ''keep our name out of the paper," but we have a duty to the public to perform, and, knowing this, we have not shirked ami do not intend to shirk it—Ed.]