Expenses of Litigation.

Plea For Aeroplanes.

From Our Own Correspondent.

Thursday Is., Aug. 1.

A CHARGE against a native recently meant the absence of several towns people (from home for a period of three weeks, as the case had to be re manded to the higher Court at Cairns, to which witnesses had to travel by steamer. Apart from the inconveni ence caused to witnesses, a good deal of expense was incurred, unavoidable under the circumstances.

There have been instances previously where cases have been allowed to drop, because of the expense involved in travelling to Cairns or Townsville.

Now that aeroplane services are be coming more common in North Queens land —Cairns, for instance, is just open ing up a fine service linking up daily with several other towns and coming up to Cooktown at regular intervals —it would seem that the idea which the New Guinea Administration has hit upon (as reported in last issue of the “P.I.M.”) of taking the Court to the distant spots by ’plane instead of trans porting a crowd of people in the opposite direction by such methods as are available, might be extended to Thursday Island.

If a Circuit Court were established at Thursday Island, it might even be possible to make use of steamer trans port; but, in the fullest interests of economy of time, it ought not to be out of the way to convey the officials by ’plane. It seems as though some thing of the kind will have to be con sidered.