JURY WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 46, 23 February 1935, Page 12

JURY WORK.

COMMON AND SPECIAL LIABILITY TO SERVE. Following upon a complaint from a member that certain business men appeared to get more than their fair share of jury work, the Parliamentary and taxation committee of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, this week recommended the council to take up the matter with the Minister of Justice, and suggested, that 110 person should be called up for jury work of any kind more than once in the same year. The report was adopted. The committee explained that "esquires, gentlemen, merchants, managers of banks, civil engineers, architects, and also such other persons as are known to the sheriff to be of the best conditions," were liable to have their names appear on the special jury book as well as the common jury book, and accordingly could be called upon for grand jury work as well as for special jury work. At present at Auckland there were between 400 and 500 names on the special jury list and about 8000 on the ordinary list. A special juror who had once served as a special or grand juror was not liable to be called on for grand or for special jury work in the. same year ending May io. Nevertheless, ho could be called upon twice in one calendar year, once before May 15 and once after. The consensus of opinion seemed to lie that in ordc.r to keep up the average quality of common jurors it was not desirable that special jurors should be exempt from serving on the common jury-