The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Thursday, October 16, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 926, 16 October 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Thursday, October 16, 1879.

As concerning Grand Juries, the question of the day is not whether there should or should not be such an institution. Ie has gone far beyond '"this. It is insisted that Grand Juries shall be swept away, that they may no longer be the instruments for the mis-carriage of justice. The feelings of the whole population of Auckland have been outraged m the case of the Captain of the ship Minister of Marine. A seaman named Cale, some weeks ago, brought a charge against Captain Murphy of such wanton cruelty as if proved to be true would have consigned him to a long term of imprisonment at the hands of justice. The charge occupied several days m investigating. Able barristers were employed for the prosecution and the defence of the accused, and this result was that the Captain reserved his defence, and was committed to take his trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court m its criminal jurisdiction. s It was only right and proper, that with so grave a matter, a jury of their countrymen should decide between the man Cale and the accused. But the Grand Jury thought fit to supersede the judgment of the Magistrate by its own. There was not a man not as able as the Grand Jurors to express an opinion on the subject, because the evidence was clear. There were no difficult points ; nothing to show why the charge should not come before a higher tribunal. "Then," says the Auckland Herald, " what was the reason for the proceeding of the Grand Jury 1 How are' we to understand by it . What is the explanation . Some reason it must have had, and as it is impossible to discover any that would suffice, is it surprising that the worst suspicions should be aroused, and the- worst motives attributed 1 ? Stupidity could scarcely reach the density that would be adequate^ for an explanation. But there is one reason probably beyond that supplied by the influences which decided some of the members, and it is to be found, we apprehend, m the sympathy for Captain Murphy of members of the Grand Jury whose trade associations are similar to his, and the operations of the influenced Grand Jurymen on others of their number who were ignorant of the cause of their efforts. If this be not the explanation of their conduct, and we have some warrant for inferring it, then it is impossible to understand what can have caused their indefensible and dangerous decision." The Herald is emphatically of opinion that the throwing out of the bill by the Grand Jury against Capt. Murphy is one of the most serious blundersuponwhichithaseverbeenits duty to comment. It would be a grievous matter, indeed, if the public were to lose confidence m the capacity and

impartiality of a tribunal which has so close a relation to their rights and liberties, and it would be idle to pretend but that .this confidence has been materially shaken. Whenever there is a miscarriage of justice, whenever there appears an insufficient reason for the course that has been pursued, the public mind becomes imbued with suspicion, and the wildest rumours obtain currency and acceptance. That has been the result of the action of the Grand Jury, and although much which has been asserted is not true, and much is incapable of proof, there is sufficient ground fof asserting, with regard to certain members of the Grand Jury, that they have not been impartial, have been subject to outside influence, and have yielded to it. We have purposely delayed alluding to this matter, preferring to be thoroughly seized of the facts before making comments on so grave a subject. We do not impute to the Grand Jury as a whole that it has lent an ear to representations designed to influence its decision, but that it is true of some of them, to their infinite discredit, there is not, we think, a shadow of a doubt. That these have consented to the deliberate perpetration of a wrong we do not say, but we do say that thej* have allowed their minds to be swayed, and the result is not better than if deliberate perfidy had been their object. It is a cruel thing that the Grand Jury as a whole should be dragged through the mire because of the conduct of a few of their number, but they have no one to blame but these persons, and those who, lost to all sense of justice and decency, strove, and successfully, to deflect, for their own object, the course of justice. If it be true, as is asserted, that the captain of the Minister of Marine had no knowledge of the influences at woik to prevent his case receiving the arbitrament of a jury, then a personal as well as. a public, wrong has been ] inflicted ; for he has had no opportunity of vindicating himself, as the seamen Cale has had no chance of proving his charge. If there was not the lamentable aspect of the case to which we have alluded, the decision of the Grand Juay would still justify very strong condemnation. It is incredible how a number of intelligent men could be found to arrive at a conclusion worthless on the face of it, and repugnant to the commonest of common sense. • But, beyond the extraordinary conduct of the Grand Jury, and the monstrous failure of justice, as regards both the captain and his seaman, the thought is suggested of what things may not be possible if this incredible thing occurs. Men will ask themselves whether, m introducing the Grand Jury system of England, we have not forgotten that the conditions, are diffenent, and that ■whereas there its members possess a position of indepondence, and are of a calibre fitted to discharge the functions, here, m a small locality, they are taken from a small class not sufficiently far removed from influence, representations, and associations, to possess any claim to a similar fitness. They may think that, with the circumstances so different, it were better that some individual — say the Attorney -General — should be ■ the Grand Jury, or that the basis of the system should be extended, or some charge of some kind effected to prevent the repetitioi. of the public scandal which has just been caused. We say nothing of the case itself, because it would be unfair to Captain Murphy to make him suffer by reason of the conduct of the Grand Jury. But one side has been heard ; his defence has not yet been stated, and, m his absence, there is no ground upon which to form an opinion.