EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7358, 4 November 1898, Page 1

EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The evil results ,of legislation, deferred until: the closing hburs of the session were fully exemplified in the House on Taesj day, when the Juries- Bill was under consideration. The measure, it? will be remembered, was introduced into the -Council,- where it received a' large amount of consideration. As it was passed by the Upper i House, it abolished Grand Juries and provided well-devised and acceptable machinery for presenting indictments against accused persons. It might have been anticipated chat, the measure, having survived the process of consideration and criticism in the, more Conservative branch of the Legislature, its passage through the popular chamber would be safe. But as the,result shows it was not. This was not because; a majority:of the people's representatives wereaveise to the amendment of the jury law in the directions sanctioned by the nominee Chamber, but because members of the House of Representatives, having spent the greater part of four months la idle talk, are anxious to get to their homes, and were not disposed to give the time necessary for the proper performance of- the work before them. The consequence of all this unseemly disregard for the requirements of the country was that Mr John Duthie, good old fashioned Tory that he is, having attacked the clause abolishing Grand Juries, the Minister for Justice, perceiving that a prolonged fight , over the question was impending and that the passage of other measures might be jeopardised, consented to the abandonment of the clause. Thus Grand Juries, whibh the Legislative Council had decreed should be abolished, were accorded a fresh lease of life, not because the -House deemed them: desirable adjuncts of criminal procedure in the Supreme Court, because members, measuring their service to the country by the time expended and not by the work accomplished, are impatient to return home. The constituencies should mark well this case of shirking work, which is merely typical of the whole course that is being pursued. It may be urged that the Grand Jury system has been so long in existence that its continuance for another year is not a matter of serious moment. But such an excuse for neglecting to perform an obvious duty will not avail. The indisputable facts are that the system has outlived its usefulness, that what was at one time regarded as a palladium of personal liberty has degenerated into a mere formality often mischievous in its operation, that there is a substantial demand for its abolition, and that all the time expended this session to that end ha 3 been time wasted. Next session the whole process will have to be gone through again, and that will mean that time which should be devoted to other matters will be monopolised by a question that ought to have been removed from the path of legislation this session, and that would have been so removed had members been prepared to pay more regard to the requirements of the country and to subordinate their personal pleasure or convenience to the public duty for the performance of which they are paid. It is essential that such facts as that to which we have directed attention should be fully impressed upon the minds of the people, for it is from them, and from them only, that reform of the legislative methods of the colony can be looked for. So long as they are content to silently witness the slaughter of measures desired by the country so long will the scandal be continned. Let the people rise in their might and demand that the country's work shall be faithfully discharged, though the doing of it may require Parliament to remain in sesion all the year round, and members will speedily devise means whereby there will be a far less wasting of time.