Taranaki Herald. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBEE 16, 1903.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12438, 16 December 1903, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBEE 16, 1903.

THE CHEEJF JUSTICE ON" W£IJ,ING*O\ r JITSJES.

. When t&e Crown JPrpseotttor as^ .noiunced in', the Supreme Court at Wellingiton last week that he...jdid v not propose to ask for a fourth' trial of the Olympic Club cas«?s.tiie Chief . J/ustice,. took occasion to deliver a. little homily upoa th? ' shortcomings' *cf common juries. The case was , one in which the defend&tits, were charged with. ket?p* ing * gatnihg-ihojuse, and three timed a jury 'disagreed, although the issues ■ jrat 'before them wer« simple. ,One "of .the issues put to two of the juries was whether the tossing, of two penny pieces was a game of chance, „ and : they, could not or wouM 1 not answer the question. Consequently Sir Robert Stout said -.—"The result of -these; trials ought, I think, to cause a ''ewisider'-a'ble amp,unt (, of heartgeat'ehings in our community, and should "be enqadred'into.^lf the pre?cedent set by these juries is to be followed; it seems to me that there would be no use hereafter in trying 'any charge against atiy person for keeping a gaminghouse in Wellington." It shows,, to our mind, how strong -is the gambling- spirit. in the. colony, and it shows; -too, t&at those fesfpon- . sible for enrolled common jurors in Wellington do not exercise sjiffi-. cient judgment in their selection. . We should -be sorry to think that the average ;Welling;tottian is so (devoid of . Qoikmon-sense as not to sbe able ,to 'decide whether th« game of "two-up," is a game 61 -chance, or b&.s so little regard for the law;, .as to deliberately! ..shirk !his duty J ias a juryman. Possibly, however, the jurymen had come to v th* conclusion that the , game in the cases under th«ir notice was not a game of chance, on the ground that the coins had two heads or two tails. The Post asks, what is the remedy? To sugjgest the abolition of the jury is, as our contemporary sajre, an absurdity ; the people would not hear . of- itSir Robert Stout suggests tliat the flile reqjuiririg the , unanimity of. juries irf ; criminal cases should be relaxed, as it already is in. Scotland., A three-fourths majority is recognised ,a« sufficient in civil cases, an<l to apply a similar rule; to the criminal Courts.wouldf prevent m,ahy a perverse veifrtfpt or abortive tarial. He also suggests that "if the case is /that > the gambling, spirit is so. rife in our midst that tjhe moral l sense oi* some of our citizens isi so pervertYd, 'it may 'be a question, whdthisr" jthe gambling sanctioned by law, •and* from whick the State derives * -v '* ■'■ ' '"

a pecuniary benefit, should be al- ' lowed to continue."" The" ..first suggestion is a good one, but we doubt whether the abolition of the totalisator would, have much effect. The proHbition of "consultations" has .not cheeked to any; extent the investment in sweeps' outside the colony. Candidly, we believe that a better selection of jurymen in' t places wtoere • these scandals take* place would have a .good effect! Only recently in another centre counsel sar-, castically to the fact tiiat "he had never before toad the honor of addressing so young-looking- a jury," 1 implying that the more thoughtful and. staid of the jurymen had been, challenged by the defence.