2 NOVEMBER 1929, Page 2

On the other hand, it must be remembered that the

practice by which Coroners pursue their inquiries up to the point of enabling the jury to find a person guilty of murder or manslaughter does embody the Common Law of England. A Coroner's inquest is held as soon as possible after death, and the facts which inquests have disclosed when witnesses were not in the tendentious frame of mind which is often created by a trial, have frequently been of the utmost value. The free-and- easy methods of the Coroner thus have their uses. And if the best legal advice which the Government can obtain is that the uses are on the whole greater than the abuses, we do not feel justified in disputing it.