Criminal lawyers and Police prosecutors yesterday welcomed plans to hire a fourth magistrate for the lower court.

One was desperately needed to ease a major backlog in cases stretching back half a year, they said.

However, the lawyers felt there was still much more that could be done to improve the operation of busy Magistrates' Court.

Some of its practices were "archaic'' and "ludicrous'', lawyer Mr.

Richard Hector charged.

Magistrates' Court administrative officer Mr. Tracey Kelly conceded the current backlog was "the longest it's ever been''.

The magistrate being hired would preside over the new family court on the ground floor of the Government Administration building. But he or she would also be required to deal with criminal cases across the road in the lower courts, he said.

"We need help in all areas,'' he said.

Police prosecutor Insp. Peter Duffy agreed, saying there was generally a four-month delay for trial dates, which often extended to eight months when adjournments were granted.

"That's where the nightmare is created,'' he said. "The longer the gap the more likelihood of having to change trial dates.'' He said his department had problems with complainants, particularly those paid hourly, dropping charges due to adjournments and long waiting periods for trials.

And trial dates often had to be changed because they conflicted with the investigating officers' holiday time, the defendant's lawyer found he or she had to be in Supreme Court, or witnesses could not get time off work.

"It's doubly unfair,'' Insp. Duffy said. "It's not fair on the defendant, but it's also not fair on the complainant because they are not getting their case heard (speedily).'' The new magistrate would presumably take over a quarter of the work currently being done by the existing three magistrates, he said.

Crown counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun said while most of his matters were dealt with in the Supreme Court, he sometimes had a hard time getting a date for long-form preliminary inquiries in the lower courts.

"About 95-percent of all cases in Magistrates' Court are dealt with by the Police prosecutors,'' he said.

"The five percent we deal with are mostly mentions and they are heard first thing at 10 a.m. every morning, so there is no real problem with delays on our side. But I imagine it must be a real horror show for Insp. Peter Duffy.'' Lawyers Mr. Hector and Mr. Philip Perinchief said it was a "nightmare'' for them and their clients too.

Mr. Perinchief was critical of the fact serious criminal cases involving stabbings and robberies had to compete with traffic and civil matters for trial dates.

"Civil and what I call quasi-criminal matters ought not to clash with the scheduling of serious criminal matters,'' he said.

Mr. Hector said the fact a recent traffic court sitting netted the Government a reported $50,000 in fines was an indication of the volume of cases Magistrates' Court was dealing with.

"A fourth court is definitely needed,'' he said. "Justice delayed is justice denied. We should be able to have cases heard within the month. And that hasn't been done in a long time.'' Updating certain Magistrates' Court practices would also help clear the backlog, he believed.

Small computers should be provided in the courts for magistrates so they did not have to go through the "ludicrous'' process of trying to locate their diary and then flicking through it to find an opening, he said.

And evidence in both the high and low courts should be recorded by court reporters so magistrates were not "wasting time and money'' by having to make longhand notes.

"(The practice) is unacceptable and ridiculous in this day and age,'' he said.

Mr. Kelly said the new family court was being purpose built to deal with family matters. It would look more like a board room than a court room.

He said it should start hearing cases in July concerning divorce, child support and custody, juvenile offences and domestic protection orders.

It would hear cases as demand requires. However, he was not sure if it would be set up to hear criminal cases.

Family court is currently held in a small room at the Wesley Methodist Church and only on Wednesdays. It hears as many as 25 cases in one sitting.

An advertisement for the $73,117-$79,272 magistrate's post was placed in the Official Gazette last week.

Applicants must be trained lawyers "with training and education wider than that encompassed in a basic professional qualification'', the ad said.

Mr. Kelly said the new judge was likely to be a local Bermudian lawyer.

"The six to seven-month backlog we are seeing is the longest it's ever been due to the increasing volume of cases,'' he said. "There has also been an increase in contested cases.''