The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1881.

Temuka Leader, Issue 362, 12 March 1881, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1881.

We • have more than once expressed regret that there is no Legislative enact-, ment making it imperative th»t Resident Magistrates should be legally qualified, solicitors. The ridiculous judgments and decisions that have been so freely remarked upon by many most intelligent settlers made it quite plain that these decisions were neither law nor justice. Tenmka lias, had its share of such aemiinforraed dispensers of the law upon its judicial bench, and it has been painful sometimes to see one subtle lawyer lecture him into a belief that the case was exactly such as he bad represented, .vhen up starts another 'cute limb of the law and smashes all h's. opponent's argument a and turns the Resident Magistrate quite round to his views. It was really painful to see the bewildered looks, of the holder of the balances, of justice as he sat looking, first to the one and then to the other, not knowing which way to act. He had no confidence in his own judgment, and as he had, not been schooled as a lawyer, he could not interpret the law under which he whs acting this farce.. Now if our magistrates had been legally qualified lawyers they would have been, enabled to act with firmness, and pronounced judgements thai were intelligent. Such men us we have referred to. may, and doubtless have been, most upright in a way, and acted up to the best of their judgment, but their want of legal knowledge led them to give judgments which were not in accordance with the merits of the case. Last Court day at Temuka a case of a most extraordinary nature came before our Resident Magistrate which requires more than a passing notice. As will be seen by our report of the case in Tuesday's issue, a brute—nay, worse th.m a brute—in human form had cut and hacked the tail and private parts of two dogs, and left the poor animals to bleed and pine. The evidence of the owners, local po\ice,and the medical gentleman who had inquired into and examined the accused, gave most conclusive evidence—sufficient, anyone with average understanding would think, to convict the accused of this most brutish piece of cruelty. Blood and hair (the latter dog's hair, and matching exactly that of the injured animals) were fouud all over the accused's clothes and person. His whereabouts, Ins manner and conversation, all went to show that he was the mau , yet, notwithstanding all the proofs positive, the magistrate, after an adjournment of the Court for an huur or so, called up the accused and dismissed him with a caution. Now, with all due respect, we are bound to give it as our opinion that in this case a great misenrriage of justice took place. It* a conviction ounnot be brought home to a criminal with such strong circumstantial evidence a 3 this case shows was produced on last Court day, we do not know what will convict, Mr Wood doubtless is a wellmeaning gentleman, but there is room for him to improve as a judge between mart and man. If we are to have plain men of ousinebs as Resident Magistrates, they ought at least to be men who will give the greatest care and study to the cases brought before them, and not allow suoh brutish rascals as the one who committed and so wantonly gloated over this act of cruelty to escape the just punislimeut which the law provides for them. Cruelty to dumb animals is a crime that cannct be too severely punished, especially when the cruelty is put in force against suoh useful animals as a horse or a dog.