STEWART ISLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1936, Page 22

STEWART ISLAND

NO COURT SITTINGS

RESIDENTS' COMPLAINT

(By Telegraph.— Pvem Association.)

INVERCARGILL, This Day.

For the past few years Stewart Island has been in the unusual position of possessing' a courthouse and lockup, for neither of which is there any legal use. Until a few days ago Court sittings could be held at a special building, in Half Moon Bay, by Justices of the Peace, but the present position is that all cases, even the most trivial", must be tried on the mainland, either at Bluff or Invercargill. This procedure, the island people claim,-makes even the smallest litigation expensive beyond the financial ability of most of the island residents. They say it is another reason why the island can be called "the place of forgotten men." If a Stewart Island man sued for a small amount wishes to defend the case the expense of going to Bluff and staying there during the hearing of the case or until he can get a passage back to the island would be at least £5 and possibly £10. Cases might thus be allowed to go by default which could be strongly defended, and island residents claim that they are denied rights given every other part of the Dominion because of their isolation from the mainland.

Their opinion in that the present system should be amended to give Justices of the Peace jurisdiction in the Stewart Island Court and it is also suggested that it would be advisable for a Magistrate to visit the island on occasions, even if only to inspect the court records. Such Magisterial visits have been made in the past, a resident stated, and only in recent years had they been stopped. The reason given for the abolition of all court sittings had been concerned,' he understood, with the position of the Justices of the Peace on the island. At one time two of the three Justices of the Peace of Stewart Island had been members of the county council and because of that there would have been ho quorum of justices available lo deal with any cases brought by the council. That position hed now been remedied and he could see no cause why, in the cause of justice, permission should be withheld for the holding of court sittings on Stewart Island.