A COURT IN CAMERA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 161, 10 July 1928, Page 6

A COURT IN CAMERA.

The decision to exclude the Press from the local Children's Court will not have been made lightly. This Court was established to remove children from the surroundings of the Police Court, and those who have arrived at this decision no doubt believe that by restricting publicity they are making their tribunal still more unlike that Court. The motive is admirable, but the step is unwise. It is a very sound principle —indeed, one of the foundations of popular liberties—that all Courts should be open to the Press. It is not only that it is a safeguard against injustice, but that it keeps the public informed of the law and of the trend of law-breaking. "The only law the public can learn is through the medium of the newspapers," said Mr. Hunt, S.M., in his interesting comment on the question yesterday. Judicious publicity of proceedings at Children's Courts—and the Press is quite sympathetic towards the ideal behind these institutions— from time to time gives the public valuable information. There may be, for example, an epidemic of juvenile crime in a suburb of Auckland, and several chiklren come b'efore the Court, Would it not be desirable that other parents and social workers generally should know what was going on"?