Sir John Trelawney, making a speech to his constituents of
East Cornwall ou Monday, offered a suggestion of which we hope to hear more. He proposed that all offences against the Game Laws, which he wishes to modify greatly in favour of the tenant, should be heard before the County Court, which would be impartial. That is sensible ; but we would go much further, and invest the County-Court Judge with jurisdiction over all kinds of criminal cases where the punishment is now usually a fine. He is twice as competent as the magistracy, does not live in the places where he administers justice, and would very speedily reduce the average of petty crimes. It would be far easier and wiser to give him more work than, as Mr. Otto Trevelyan recommends, to reduce his pay or increase the area of his civil jurisdiction. The notion of putting office up to sale by Dutch auction which prevails to such an extent just now will before long fill our Courts with men whom the people will not trust, and consequently create the most dangerous of all popular sentiments,—a contempt for visible law. You cannot buy brain-work at the price of handiwork even in an overcrowded profession.
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