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Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 202, 28 October 1897, Page 2

There is another Bill before Parliament, which, we believe, is in some respects a step in the right direction, that is the •' Juries Act Amendment," for which the Minister for Justice is the sponsor. It may bo true to some extent that our education system has equalised the capacity of all jurymen, and it may be equally true that in some instances special jurymen have been found who wero not more competent to deal with complicated cases than the least intelligent of those liable t« serve on the common juries, such eases, however, are exceptions to the rule. We are looking at this question from the litigant's point of view, not from that of the juryman, and wo think that eases may arise in which it is desirable that jurymen. who from their occupations must bo presumed to be morv capable of unravelling complications in civil eases, should bo selected. That this has been the opiuion of litigants in the past is proved by both parties frequently applying for special juries, and consenting to bear the extra cost. AY'e agree that the time lias arrived for doing away with the grand juries, and transferring their duties to Crown solicitors. It must be remembered that the whole duty of the Grand Jury consists in listening to the Judge's charge, and afterwards deciding whether the evidence produced in the lower court has established a prima facie case against the accused, or whether it has not. It must be romembeted in considering this matter that the charges against every prisoner for trial have been heard in the Magistrate's Court, so that the actions of the Crown solicitors must always be subject to the criticism of the profession and the public. One of the arguments in favour of the Grand Jury in the past was that it prevented an innocent man being put upon his trial. To cur mind it is better for an innocent man to be discharged after trial in open court than by the finding of "No Bill "by the Grand Jury. The Bill also provides for the payment of juries on a somewhat more liberal scale than hitherto.