Hearing

(1) At the commencement of the hearing, the court shall state to the defendant the substance of the complaint and ask him whether he is guilty or not guilty. (2) If the defendant says that he is guilty and shows no cause, or no sufficient cause, why an order should not be made against him, the court shall make such order against him as the justice of the case requires. (3) If the defendant says that he is not guilty, the witnesses on both sides shall, unless the court in any instance otherwise expressly orders, be called and placed out of court and out of hearing under the charge of the proper officer of the court or of some other person appointed by the court for that purpose. (4) The court shall then proceed to hear the complainant and any witnesses he examines, and any other evidence he adduces in support of his complaint, and also to hear the defendant and any witnesses he examines, and any other evidence he adduces in his defence, and also, if the court thinks fit, to hear any witnesses the complainant examines in reply, if the defendant has examined any witnesses or given any evidence. (5) The magistrate shall in every case take notes in writing of the evidence, or of so much thereof as is material, in a book to be kept for that purpose, and the book shall be signed by the magistrate at the conclusion of each day’s proceeding, 29 Provided that, if the magistrate is from any cause unable to take the notes, they may be taken by the clerk under his direction. Cross