INDICTABLE CASES

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29742, 8 February 1962, Page 14

INDICTABLE CASES

J.P. Replies To Judge (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Feb. 7. Auckland Justices of the Peace sent more than 100 indictable cases to trial in the Supreme Court last year and even under the scrutiny of the grand jury, very few no bills were returned, said Mr S. T. Carter, Dominion president of the Justices of the Peace Federation, today. Commenting on Mr Justice Turner’s remarks yesterday that after the abolition of the grand jury, justices presiding over the hearing of indictable charges “should accept the responsibility of carefully and independently deciding in every case whether the persons charged should or should not be sent on for trial,” Mr Carter said he felt sure the judge did not intend to convey an impression that J.P.’s had not in the past acted carefully and independently. Rather, he thought the judge was drawing to the justices’ attention the fact that abolition of the grand jury meant that extra care should be taken in deciding cases. Only experienced justices who had attended the courts of instruction were selected to sit on the bench, and many had had long experience of court work, Mr Carter said.