RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, ROXBURGH.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 263, 13 February 1873, Page 6

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, ROXBURGH.

(From a Correspondent.) I attended the R.M.s Court on the 4th inst. ; and although the proceedings were, owing to the absence of the informer, not by any means co amusing as I expected, they conclusively proved the urgent necessity there exists for due publicity for a court of justice. It is the only check upon the conduct of magistrates ; the only preventive for the over-bearing effrontery of police and other government officials. The Roxburgh Court especially needs regular reporting, for, as will be seen from the report which follows, the magistrate not only permitted the police to make an ex parte statement, but homolegated and confirmed assertions made thus informally — in short, was at once pro secutor, witness, and jndge. For my own part I have no great love for lawyers of any kind, and bush lawyers I regard with peculiar contempt ; but it is unfair and unjust that any man should be threatened with loss of his means of subsistance because Dick, Tom, and Harry choose to make vague and indefinite charges against him. No one for a moment feels anything other than respect for the police when they do their duty without fear or favor ; but I have yet to learn that a magistrate is ex qfficio a member of the force. One thing is certain, I shall take care that the proceedings of our local courts will be duly reported in the columns of the "Tuapeka rimes." The cases to be heard on Tuesday, the 3rd inst., was a information against J. Evans, A. Knowles, R. Stewart, and R. Patrick for sly grog selling. Sergeant Daly appeared for the prosecition ; Mr. Neville for the defence. Sergeant Daly made a statement that, owing to tho absence of the leading witness, Mackay, he was unable to proceed, although he could bringforward many suspicious circumstances connected with the case. He believed Maek.iy had been induced to withdraw by Neville, who, he was in a position to prove, had tended him his expenses, find was instrumental in frustrating the ends of justice. Mr. Neville indignantly repudiated the accusation, and insisted upon the sergeant proving his word. He solemnly declared he had never seen the witness Mackay, except at a distance, and then only on one occasion. The Resident Magistrate said he believed every word that had fallen from the sergeant. The position Mr. Neville held irv that Court was upon sufferance, and was supposed to be made use of in furthering the ends of justice. If, instead of that, he found it made use of to frustrate these ends, he would immediately exert his authority, and deprive Mr. Neville of any privilege he might possess. He did not so much care for what the sergeant stated, but he had heatd the same thing from many others, and believed it. If in the future the slightest complaint was brought before him, the consequences were certain. Sergeant Daly having deposed on oath to the due services of the summonses on the defendants, applied for an adjournment for a fortnight, and for a warrant for the arrest of Jesse Mackay. So ended the case ; and as the other witness were neither subpoenaed a-fresh nor bound over to appear, the case will hinge on the unaided testimony of an informer. . . . .