The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1884.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 2918, 30 January 1884, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1884.

pull the place about and mate obfinges. which might have to be undone after-•Vj-arfta. But. it equblj be qttite evident ito tbetn now' tnttt Booner or later there myst be ai 1 waiy o£ bonimamcation batween the and the tow^nsliip ;. anS that being so' jtbey might just as •well fall m with tbe wishes of the residents and the travelling public), and provide a level crossing before any worse results accrue from tbe present wretched state of things.

Judge Jljchmond is not so complimentary to juries as some of bin brethren. Judge Johnston has always strenuously withstood, as far as hi; could do; so with propriety from his place on the bench, the tendency to do away "with trial by jury. But he base:* his objection to the proposed change plutiip iind plain on the ground that trial . by jury is a better and a juster I system than trial by Judge. --He maintains that no man, however experienced or learned or right-inincled, is infallible ; and that it is too great a responsibility to place on a Judge to ask him to decide on his individual arbitrament, as to the innocence or guilt of persons charged with crime, or as to the merits of cans as involving questions of fact and of oharacter. The jury system, according to Judge Johnston, though seemingly clumsy and precarious, is not really so, for the reason that it securos that safety which is < proverbially ho be found among many counsellors. Nominally, the jury alone find the verdict. But m reality they are iniluoneoc. immensely, not only by the evidence, by counsel on both sides, by their foreman, and by interchange of opiniomi among themselves, but also, m the greatest degree of all, by the Jujdge. In trial by jury, it fs "the Conrt " that tries tb} case, and the Oourt consists of several parts and maiiy persons. In trial by Judge, the single, isolated, ' sdf, concentrated mind of one man, would settle tlui mutter. The 5 Judge is riiisiid above all influences, and sits, as Haas 'Brtitmuiin would say, "all mid himself alone." If he listens' to counsel, he pays very little attention to them ; and he is constantly subject, as the wisest and best Judges know best, to a tendency to make up his mind afc the outset — -often on very insufficient or very erroneous grounds. We ha.ye always admired the candou with •' ■which Judge Johnston acknowledged nil this, and the firmness with which he has resisted the propotial to abolish the jury m favor of the* Judge. Mr Jußtice Bichinozid takes . quite a different; view. : Ho also 13 m favor of retaining the jury; but only as a bnffer between the Jndge and the public. The truth can be got at, he says, better by the Judge than by the jury ; but the Judge's motived may be suspected, while the juryV cannot. The Judge's verdict, moreover, will be remembered and resented, while the jury's will be forgotten. Therefore he would have the jury retained. It is a low way of looking at it, we think ; and we donbt if it is a true way. We shall, perhaps, have something more to say about this presently. 'j ;+ . . " A TbaveiiLEß " made a very just complaint m our correspondence columns on Monday, as to the action of (he Government m fencing off the Hotel at Studiiolrae, Junction from the railway station, ab that travellers aro effectually debarred from obtaining refreshments except at the risk of losing their passage. But the public have iv complaint to make on wider grounds than that, of tho very . unsatisfactory arrangements, at the Studholme Junction station. As far as we can make oat, not only the hotel, bat the township, and tae surrounding neighborhood generally, are cut off from all communication with the railway station by.roß.d; There is nominally an approach to the station from the south; m tho angle of the tw6 lines of railway; bub thfcre is no road, and the ground is 60 low and so broken that m wet weather , the water lies there deep enough to put a atop to foot traffic., During I ' a heavy rain not long ngOj we are assured, that spot was completely flooded, and it was as much as a htiitiemon could do to reach the station safely. Yet this is the only mode of access provided or recognised by tho authorities. What is wanted is a level crossing leading into the streets of thd township to tho northward of tho railway station. The objection offered to this by I,be Department, wis understand, is that it would involve a certain amount of risk to the public, from trains coming from , one direction or another.. Tho obviouii remedy for that/however, i* to haVd'a 1 man stationed at the crossing, to give warning on the arrival of trains. The traffic is not bo . very frequent either on the main line or on tho Wuimato branoh line, as to render this, a, very onerous duty; and the residents m the locality being willing, as we aro informed, to defray the expense of acrosniug keopor, the EailwayDepartment ought not to stand put againßt the proposal. The station nt Studhollme Junction is very awkwardly situated, and we can easily see why the Dcpiirtmeat have hitherto been m no hurry io