JUDGE AND SOLICITOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9180, 1 September 1908, Page 6

JUDGE AND SOLICITOR.

SOME SEVERE COMMENTS. BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION'. AUCKLAND, August 31. When Daniel Munro, convicted of being an incorrigible rogue, and vagabond, was brought up for sentence, Judge Edwards spoke very severely of the way in which the case had been conducted by the defence. The piisoner had pleaded guilty when first brought before Court, yet his counsel had thought it consistent with hi • duty as a member of the bar and a reputable citizen to four days pretending to defend the charge. He had already advised the prisoner to plead guilty. His Honor spoke of it as a scandal to the administration of justice, and a disgrace to the bar, and said that a remedy must be found for such malpractices. His Honor also spoke of it as a dishonest defence in the hope of that the jury would violate their oath to find a true verdict. The only redeeming feature was that the prisoner himself had admitted on oath that he was guilty, and for that he would remit tfiree months of the sentence he intended to impose on accused, and sentence him to a year and nine months. Lundon, accused's solicitor, was not present in Court, being unwell.