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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5627, 11 September 1889, Page 2

An amendment in our crim rnal law which has often been urged, ns.moly granting bail on easy terms for all prisoners awaiting trial, should reoeivo fresh adherents from a plain statement of the recent criminal sittings at Napier. There were seven prisoners awaiting trial, and of these six were acquitted. Theso six men, whom juries rightly or wrongly declared innocent of the crimes with which they were charged, suffered imprisonment for various terms, though not prisoners in a strictly legal sense, because of the delay in their trials. In one instance tho man was tried at the previous sittings, but the jury disagreed, and the accused was remanded to gaol to wait for four months till the Court again sat. Practically speaking, tho disagreement of that jury sent an imiecent man to gaol for four months. Now it is well known that many of the leading English Judges aro in favor of extending largely tho offences for which bail aro accepted, because, as they say. no man should be treated as if ho were guilty of a crime until his guilt bo conclusively proved at his trial. It is also well Known that very few men abscond from their bail, and the Judgos sny by accepting bail the accused is granted greater facilities for preparing his defence and proving his innocence if ho can. Increasing tho facilities for granting bail, it is considered by past experience, would not result iv any large number of prisoners disappearing', but would bcouo stop further in purifying our legal administration. Sending untried men to gaol is barbarity of the worst form, and any modification of the system iv tho direction we havo indicated would bo welcomed by many thoughtful men.