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Inquiry. He has clearly indicated to Counsel that he is not
prepared to do this, however. There is a more worrying aspect to
the considerable time and expense being consumed by this
Inquiry and that is that once it has aroused the expectations of
the public the Commission might come under pressure to justify
the exercise by seeking to produce evidence or findings of
misconduct commensurate to the scale of the Inquiry.
Were this Inquiry to be directed to conduct all its hearings
in camera then it is likely that they would be conducted with
greater expedition. At present the Inquiry seems
pre-occupied with minor irregularities on the part of the
persons involved and with personality clashes amongst those
persons.
At present the statements of witnesses who are not required
to give evidence in person are read out in open hearing (as
distinct from being treated as having been read into the record)
so that the "ladies and gentlemen of the press can keep up with
all developments" (to quote Mr. Beveridge). Overall, a great
number of days have been lost in this way. This kind of
unnecessary formality would be dispensed with in camera.
Weeks have been used hearing the evidence of witnesses whose
sole function is to give evidence relevant to the credibility of
Senior Inspector Fulton. Usually a Judge would decide on his
credibility from his (Fulton's) evidence alone. Several weeks
were spent considering the evidence of the male prostitutes in
microscopic detail in order to determine whether MacLennan
was homosexual and whether the evidence gathered for his
prosecution was sound. The process could have been completed
in a week if Counsel were confined to relevant material.
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