Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1891. Justices of the Peacs.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 2 July 1891, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1891. Justices of the Peacs.

We have said all that we want to Bay about the appointments to the Commission of the' Peace, but we reproduce a subloader from the New Zealand Times which, as an endorsement of our remarks, will bo of much assistance :— ■? Mr ,Rees mndo a great deal cf capital aga'nst the Atkinson (Government out of tho numbai- of Justicep they had appointed. .One hundredand twenty live, he said, and ho shuddered. Their successors have also appointed a great number ; how many we can not say, but it is considerable. There aro at present nearly 2000 Justices on the roll, and the number increases at a rate quite phenomenal, A century ngo evory member of the : Bongo cf Commons, bad, as Burke once said with scathing bitterness, influence enough to get a new capital felony added to the ■ Statute. Book, Our • legislators awi not quite so- ••murderous' as that.; t still they have their minimum of in* i fluence. Everyone on the Government side can at least -command. Governments to add to the justiceroll, and everyone- does it, and evei y Government obeys, In a very few years every adult male in New Zea- i land will be a J.P., and then we shall have a cry for extending the J. P. ship to females. We hear a great deal about tho necessity forreforming the Legislative. Council. The necessity for reforming the Bench of Justico is very much greater. The first step is obviously to limit the number of Justices, Who will move that it be taken ? In the political notes the same paper has the following ;— As regards Jlr Bees' attack on the late Atkinson Government Party, .-charging- them with having polluted the founts .of Justice by their appointments to the Commission of the Peace, it is thought in tho lobbies of the Houao that the matter had far better not been referred to, us both X'artios have erred in this respect, It is tho general opinion that the J.P. ship is fast becoming too cheap, and being given for " benefits received or to be received."