STEWART ISLAND

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20531, 24 September 1936, Page 13

STEWART ISLAND

“LAND OF FORGOTTEN MEN ” UNUSUAL POSITION By Telegraph—Press Association INVERCARGILL, September 23. For the last few years Stewart Island has been in the unusual position of possessing a courthouse and lockup, for neither of which is there any legal use. Until a few years ago. court sittings could be held at a special building in Hr. If Moon Bay by Justices of the Peace, but the present position is that all cases, even the most trivial, must be tried on the mainland, either at Bluff or Invercargill. This procedure the island people claim makes even the smallest litigation expensive and beyond the financial ability of most island residents, they say that it is another reason why the Island can be called “the place of forgotten men.” If a Stewart Island man is sued for a small amount, and wishes to defend the case, the expense of going to Bluff and staying there during the hearing of the case, or until he can get a passage back to the Island, would be at least £5, and possibly £lO. Cases might thus be allowed to go by default, which could be strongly defended, and Island residents claim that they are denied the rights given every other part of the Dominion because uf their isolation from the mainland. Opinion is that the present system should be amended to give Justices of the Peace jurisdiction in the Stewart Island Court, and it is also suggested that it would be advisable for a magistrate to visit the Lsland on occasions, even if only to inspect the court records. Such magisterial visits had been made in the past, and only in recent years had they been stopped. The reason given for the abolition of all court sittings had been concerned with the position of Justices of the Peace on the Island. At one time two of the three Justices of Stewart Island had been members of the County Council, and because of that there would have been no quorum of Justices available to deal with any cases brought bv the council. That position has now been remedied, and there appears to oe no reason why, in the cause of justice, permission should be withheld for the holding of court sittings on Stewart Island.