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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145997, 1 December 1917, Page 2

Speaking in the Supremo Court at Wanganui, Mr. Justice Edwards made some comments on the. subject of grand juries, holding that it would be unfortunate if they were abolished■ because they aro on© of the safeguards of the public liberty. His Honour thought grand jurymen would not begrudge a few hours if they looked at the matter in this light. Wo feel sure they would not if they were satisfied that there was any real necessity for this safeguard. But his Honour's own illustration showed that the grand jury is almost a superfluity, if not quite. He instanced a case in Auckland some years ago in which a modv-al man was committed for trial by an elderly experienced magistrate on a charge that a. patient’s death was due to an unnecessary operation. After reading the depositions his Honour directed the grand jury to throw out the bill, which it did. Exactly; that is the point wc have raised on two or three occasions when discussing the grand jury system. Tho case was not one that should have, gone to trial, but it was really his Honour tho judge who decided this point, not the grand jury, which was thus a superfluity. A judge of the Supreme Court of New- Zealand is not likely to give a direction to a grand jury unless ho is quite sure of his ground, and therefore is not likely to let off’ a. person committed for trial if there is any doubt as to whether there is a prima facio case. Should ho err in the opposite direction and send to trial a case which a grand jury might throw out, there is still the. common jury standing between a. person charged and a miscarriage of justice. If a grand jury could by any means prevent people being improperly committed for trial by justices of the peace or magistrates there would be good ground fdr their retention, but they cannot do this. All they can do is to decide whether there is n prima facie case to go before a common jury, after a person has been committed, and the judge might well be trusted to decide this, as in point of fact, he very frequently docs by his direction.

The news that the Germans aro to meet the Russian representatives in order to discuss an armistice is unpleasant because it shows that for the moment tho extremists, many of whom are in German pay, have, secured a victory over the saner elements in Russia.. More than a. month ago the German newspapers discussed all the

details of what they called the "peace offensive” hy which they hope to fool the enemy. The Frankfurter Zeitung published a.n article on the "purely psychological process” hy which Germany’s enemies arc to he brought ‘‘to see that violence will mot succeed and that negotiations must take place.” The writer admits that if the Gormans had a, decisive victory they could "do without the war aid of policy” and goes on as follows: "The precise object of our political method is to make the ‘bluffing’ of our enemies with Ministerial speeches and senseless breakthrough battles impossible through tho fact that wo open wide the doors to peace—so wide that one day, in spite of all agitation, the majority of tho Entente peoples will be disposed to march through tho open door with us, with or without their present leaders. A reasonable peace offer, which is accompanied by good military blows, and which cannot therefore seriously be misinterpreted—such a peace offer, and such a peace policy, has an enormous attractive strength, a magnetic energy which in the long run no people can resist, if at tho same time tho hope of final victory through physical force is terribly destroyed. This is the position in which the Entente stands to-day. It is true that we have not thrown them to the ground, but their own high-flying plans are as far from realisation as ever. Tho peoples arc beginning to doubt. The psychological process Ims begun. This is where our ponce policy intervenes. The offer *of a peace tolerable also to our enemies gnaws at their hearts, multiplies their doubts, and paves the way to understanding, 'i hey arc laced with tho decision and their own troubles and their own failures gradually force our enemies info the path of peace. It is a curious feature of the German mind that they carefully explain beforehand the trap into which they hope to lure us, believing that we shall in some wav be hypnotised into falling into it. The negotiations with Russia arc to be a kind of object-lesson to tho Allies, who, it is believed and hoped, will lie seized with a desire to follow the example set by the Bolsheviks. Fortunately we aro not quite so foolish as the Germans think and shall refuse to dance to the German piping, in fact wc firmly intend to make them dance to a tuno provided by us.