22 JANUARY 1910, Page 2

The Bill for the reform of French judicial procedure was

published in Paris on Thursday week. The first object of the Bill, the Times correspondent says, is the suppression of the preliminary interrogatory by the Judge on the basis of the written indictment. This interrogatory has of course almost invariably involved the Judge in the manifestation of personal impressions before any evidence had been produced. It is not the intention of the', Bill, however, to make the Judge a mute spectator, and the old practice of the statement of the charge by the Public Prosecutor will be reintroduced.