The Recorder had travelled 200 miles to Exeter's Guildhall and on the last day of December 1894 the Grand Jury had been assembled for the Exeter Quarter Sessions but there were no prisoners to be tried. There was nothing to be done except for the Sheriff to present to the Recorder, T. T. ("Tommy") Bucknill, who was born in Exminster, the customary pair of white gloves and for them all to go home again. Mr. Bucknill made a speech to the Jury in which he said:
"....I am going to ask you to listen to me for a moment or two , because I think we have good reason to be proud of ourselves as citizens. There can be no greater sign of success, of good local government, and of those things of which we ought to be proud, than the absence of crime. Crime may be traced to many causes and may arise from various sources, bur we may take this as true and indisputable - that where a city is badly managed, where its local administration is carelessly managed, where its police force do not do their duty, where its Corporation is idle and careless, there you certainly will find crime, there you will find trouble, there you will find those things which you do not now happily possess in the City of Exeter.
"Therefore I say again, as an old Exonian, as an old Grammar school boy, as one who has the privilege - the high privilege - of presiding over a court where I held my first brief, I have reason to feel proud of the facr that I meet you here on the closing day of the year to congratulate you and Exeter that nothing is found for us to do in the shape of administering the criminal law."
Source The Western Times, 1st January 1895
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