2 NOVEMBER 1929, Page 2

Coroners' Inquests On Tuesday Mr. Clynes announced that after consulting

with the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney-General he had decided that it would be inadvisable to attempt to alter the law relating to Coroners' inquests. The law had been brought up to date only three years ago and he could not find that there was any sufficient reason for revising the revision. He admitted that there had been a few exceptional cases lately, but against them must be placed the many cases in which the value of a Coroner's inquiry had been plainly demonstrated. This seems to us, on the whole, to be a fair statement. Great weight must be attached to the opinion of Lord Sankey and of the Attorney-General. It is not surprising that the public is disturbed when the proceedings in a Coroner's Court (which is not subject to the ordinary rules of evidence) create a prejudice against a particular person- a prejudice which may tell strongly against him at the subsequent trial.