Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1892

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4282, 23 November 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1892

Beinu tbe extended title op the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is IDENTICAL

The time lias arrived when it would be to the public advantage for our looal Distriot Court to be permitted to exei'eiso criminal as well as civil jurisdiction. The only step required to enable its powers to bo thuß extended, would be to apply for a simple proclamation, a request which would, no doubt, be readily granted, if the public expressed a wish for the alteration, and the member for the district placed the subject in a proper light before the Minister for Justice, At present a number of criminal cases are sent from this district to Wellington at a great expense and inconvenience to the public, which could be dealt with as efficiently and more economically in Masterton. Take the Broadbent case as an example of the lighter kind of charges that, have to be referred to Wellington at a considerable cost, nod which entail the presence of a host of witnesses, not only from Masterton, but also from the Bush distriot. Everybody who followed this case in the R.M. Court must admit that it was not one on which the country ought to be put to a heavy expense, tt is essentially one of a class that should be decided in a Maaterton Distriot Court, It may be said that Masterton is only seventy miles from Wellington, but other towns less remote from Supreme Court centres are allowed criminal jurisdiction in their Distriot Courts, and we consider that Masterton ought to possess a similar privilege,

Another consideration is, that His Honor, Judge Kobinson, who presides oyer our Dietriot Court and pays periodical visits here for that purpose, occasionally finds tfaat the civil business of his Court is merely nominal, and it would be a decided economy if, at such times, he were enabled to despatch a little criminal business. We need hardly point out how great a convenience this would bo to new settlements in the Bush which are over ut hundred miles from Wellington, Residents in these localities do feel it a hardship to have to attend in the City as witnesses or prosecutors, and to have to wait there from day to day till their particular cases are called on, We trust His Worship the Mayor, who must bo in a better position than we are to estimate tbe advantages to bo obtained by extending oriminal jurisdiction to the Mastertoh-District Court, will think over the matter, and, if he bo satisfied that the change would be iti the public interests, take some action to secure that a request ! for a - proclamation be made in the I proper quarter. :