REPORTS OF DIVORCE COURT PROCEEDINGS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7697, 21 March 1887, Page 4

REPORTS OF DIVORCE COURT PROCEEDINGS.

A circular lias been addressed to those having the control of the daily Press - suggesting' the 'desirability of some comMiied fiction by wliicli they may mnn- ' mise, if they cannot wholly suppress, the details .of divorce . cases and criminal trials. , ,The circular, ■which is signed by the Diik'e of Westminster, Lord Selborne, Archdeacon Farrar, and a very large nuiuber of influential persons, goes on to '.. sa y" : — "We are aware, that the fear of publicity is one of the most powerful deterrents to the. commission of crime, .nor . liave "\ye the least desire to shelter the misdeeds of offenders because of any position in society which they may occupy. Bui ■\yc have a, strong . conviction tliat the .necessary publicity could be secured .■without the divulgence of details of a : demoralising character, and we have ■reksaa to fear that tho fu)l record of incidents ia thesß cases ministers to a. diseased appetite, mid produces a most unwholesome effecb on many minds. We desire further to call attention to the in- : evitatle evils which must result from thus familiarising with vice the minds of tens ■of thousands of young persons. of both r.seses, from whom in these days it is impossible to keep- the daily newspapers. We do not reflect for one moment on the motives of any who have considered it -part of their; duty to publish full reports of these trials, but wo are sure that a combined effort to keep the .-pages of newspapera as free as possible 1 from the stain of such impurities would l)e . conducive to the public good." Among the signatures are those of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Manning,. Mr. Gladstone, Lord Iddesleigh, Loru Cross, Lord Northbrook, Sir Henry Jalnes, the Bishops of London, Rochester, • and Durham, the Dean of Westminster, Professors Huxley and Tyndall, Lord Brabazon, Lord Brain well, Lord Norton, Lord Halifax, 1 Principal Oaird, Canon Scotfc Holland, Mr Mnndella, &c.