Untitled

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 1420, 14 July 1884, Page 3

To the Editor: Sir,—Will yuli kindly allow me space lo call attention to the indifferent mannor in which the J.P's. of the colony on the Auckland toll treat tho public ? The Bench is supposed to bo ornamented by these functionaries at 10 a.m., yet it is invariably either ten minutes or a quarter to eleven boforo they make their appearance, and the bulk of the work falls upon ono, viz., Mr F. L. Prime, who presides three times out of the four to any other one. A fe<" mornings ago it was nearly 11 o'clock before ho appeared, and after disposing of several " drunks " and waiting for twenty minutes for the arrival of another J.P. to hear an indictablo offence, the Court had to be adjourned till 12 noon, because no other J.P. could be found, and, as stated by Mr Napier, thero wero a number of witnesses in attendance who resided at the Wade and wore anxious to return by tho steamer that afternoon. In the first place, a Judge of the Supreme Court takes his seat punctually to time ; but of course the R.M. and J.P.s are in their wisdom superior to Judge Gillies, and the little court is not to be «uided by the superior. If the honour of bbing a J.P. is to be treated as an empty one, the sooner it i<t publicly recognised as such the better; but if it .3 to be regarded as an honour, let those who reckon it as such discharge their public duty as expected. I for one hopo that the choice of J.P.s will speedily be relegated to the people, and then wo may succeed in securing men able and willing to do that duty the State has a right to look for at their hands.—Yours, &c, Edwakd A. Dbury.