To the Editor of the New Zealand Herald.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 894, 25 September 1866, Page 5

To the Editor of the New Zealand Herald.

Sir, —Tho system at present carried out by the officials of the Supreme Court in regard to special juries would seem to have been adopted with tho sole view of rendering tho duties of that class of persons as irksome and vexatious as possible. Here arc a number of'gentlomen from town and country, some having travelled long distances in heavy weather, all cheerfully sacrificing time and means in order to rondor promptly the common service required at their hands, as gsod citizens, when lo ! no sooner have they made their appearance at the appointed time and place, than they are informod coolly and deliberately that they are not needed for to-day, but that to-morrow they must he there again, when, for anything they know, tho same process exactly will he gone through once moro. Now, assuredly this is wholly unnecessary. Tho civil business of the Supremo Court in Auckland is not so heavy that the ofiloer whose duty it ia to arrange these matters, cannot or might not, see far enough before him to tell whether it shall be ordinary or special jury cases that shall be heard on the first day of tho session. At tho last Bitting I have myself at(--o-^-,-' , l j ae Court for four conßeciitiTG days before the.case on which I was summoned as a juryman was called on, and three days attendance on that occasion was exacted ere a special jury was required at all. At tho previous si: tings tho same oourso was gone through, with little variation, while to-day no sooner was the Court opened than it proceeded immediately to the ordinary business of the session, and the special jurymen in atfendancejaie told once more, as usual, that their presence is needed again—"tomorrow." It is difficult to conceive that gentlemen possessing an ordinary share of understanding, would resort to a system of annoyance of this kind, simnly with a view of exhibiting in its worst light tho small amount of comparatively irresponsible power with which for the time they happen to be clothed. Yet, in tho absence of nomo such motive, it is perhaps equally difficult to imagine why so obvious a defect in a matter which after all involves but a question of mere business 'arrangement, is permitted year after year to cast, as it does, a standing reproach on the capacity and business abilities of the parties who occasion itIt ia to be hoped, in tho interest of tho public, as well as for tho Bake of those more immediately concerned, that such a state of things, so long and so justly complained of, may be partially or effectually remedied before another sitting of the Court intervenes. — lam, &c.»