A GRAND JURY'S OPINION.

NZ Truth, Issue 240, 12 February 1910, Page 5

A GRAND JURY'S OPINION.

The Grand Jury made a recommendation to his Honor, as under, m connection with charges of indecent assault to be heard before him :—

"The Grand Jury wish to call the aVtention of the court to the frequent cases of rndefcent assault on girls of tender years, and would respectfully suggest that when, sentencing any person found guilty of saoh offences, together with the term of years the lash be used with some degree, of severity, and m cases where it is inadvisable to resort to flogging, as m cases of old age (as m tone, instance during^ Ijhis sitting), would further respectfully, recommend imprisonment for life."

His Honor could not repress a smile when the document was banded t© him. The glorified Grand Jury, the foreman of which manifestly felt his importance, •evidently bad an idea that it can override statute law.

The presentation of such an extraordinary recommendation to a sound jurist like his Honor was a gratuitous insult, j and evidences the incapacity of the mob ■ of muddlers whose expensive presence at -the court 1s a result of an ordinance-;"

whteb is a refic oithe past,