bound over is "irresponsible'' and should be stopped, a magistrate says.

Magistrate Edward King said yesterday The Royal Gazette's editorial policy means people guilty of relatively minor offences and who are bound over to keep a clean record for a year would still have the embarrassment following them forever.

" The Royal Gazette is an irresponsible newspaper,'' Mr. King said before starting yesterday morning's plea court session.

"A binding over should not follow a person for the rest of their lives,'' he continued. "When a person is bound over in these courts a reasonable Press would make no publication.'' Mr. King added: "That person is subject to be embarrassed in public unnecessarily.'' He was speaking moments after taking the bench and miffed at a story in yesterday's paper about the theft of $20 by a young female employee from a department store.

Mr. King said there was a reason he told the woman to check with Police after a year to ensure her record was clean, but publishing her name made the law's intent "null and void''.

"They're destroying people's lives,'' Mr. King said. "They can say what they like about me. But as long as day has night, they should report what they should report. No conviction was made against that woman.'' Lawyer Elizabeth Christopher agreed with Mr. King, and said: "It sort of defeats the purpose, Your Worship.'' Mr. King also complained about the quality of reporting coming from the court and suggested the newspaper had enough money to hire lawyers to cover court cases.

And he said it takes more than being able to "push a pen across the page'' to make a good reporter, but he stopped short of blaming anyone in particular.

"Lots of good lawyers -- for the right price -- can do good reporting from the courts,'' he said. "Ask yourself what the pay is for the ones who come here.

"This is not directed toward you, scribe, this is for the powers that be,'' Mr. King added. "A story for a binding over is just not necessary.'' Pointing at the bench, Mr. King said: "I say it all the time, Eddie King is here to take `the in' out of justice.'' But Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill said Mr. King's call could make the system more unjust, not less.

"If Mr. King is suggesting that people who receive minor convictions should not have the stigma follow them around, he would probably agree that people who are acquitted of crimes should not have to bear the stigma either,'' he said.

"But that would lead to a ridiculous and unfair situation in which an individual would be accused of a crime and the public would never know the outcome. The same holds true for cases where people are bound over or given conditional discharges.'' Mr. Zuill added: "Our job is to cover court cases fairly and accurately -- from start to finish.''