Convener defends role of J.P.S in court

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 6

Convener defends role of J.P.S in court

Any breaches by two Justices of the Peace at a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Christchurch last Saturday probably resulted from oversights, said the justices’ court convener (Mr H. A. R. Tullett). The justices, who have been taxed with neglecting defendants’ rights, were both taking a training course which included basic court procedures, he said.

Those who took the course, which began in May and consisted of 11 papers, should be familiar with the procedures, Mr Tullett said. “The senior of the two justices had sat on many occasions. He is a very competent man,” he said.

Mr Tullett was replying to an accusation by Dr O. R. W. Sutherland, a member of the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination,

that the Justices of the Peace had allowed the Court to neglect the rights and needs of the defendants. No duty solicitor was present to provide legal aid, the Justices of the Peace had failed to ensure that the charges were read aloud to the defendant, and pamphlets explaining the rights of defendants in English, Maori, and other Polynesian languages had not been available, Dr Sutherland said.

“I think the whole thing stemmed from Dr Sutherland’s finding no duty solicitor there,” said Mr Tullett. “It was unfortunate that the one assigned was ill and arrived late, but it is not our place to see if there is a duty solicitor there.”

Mr Tullett said he did not think that mistakes involving justice should be overlooked, but that “a little pat on the back for the

amount of work we are doing does not do any harm.”

Justices of the Peace had been doing court work voluntarily for a long time, resulting in a big saving for the country; and the magistrates appreciated the saving in their work, too, Mr Tullett said.

The two justices involved in Saturday’s hearing had been approved by the court registrar and the papers they were taking were comprehensive. In future, all Justices of the Peace Will have to do the correspondence course before they can sit in court. Mr Tullett said that more than 300 Justices of the Peace had taken the first course, and that justices throughout New Zealand had contributed $30,000 towards the training programme “in an endeavour to improve themselves.”