Ashburton Guardian MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1907. DISTRICT COURTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7251, 9 August 1907, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRÆVALEBIT. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1907. DISTRICT COURTS.

The Attorney-General seems to be anxious to make radical changes in the judicial system of the colony; and the principal object in view, so far as it can be gathered from published reports, is the concentration of as much legal business as possible iii Wellington. No doubt this will meet with the approval of the Wellington members of the legal piofession; but we apprehend that the expediency of making any judicial changes, must be gauged, not.by their probable effect upon the fortunes of the legal practitioners in any particular city or cities, but by their probable benefit or otherwise to the public, for whose use the courts exist. The circumstances of New Zealand are peculiar. In New South Wales, Sydney is not only the political, but the commercial capital of the State, and its population greatly surpasses that of any other city in New South Wales, while there is easy land communication between it and all other parts of the country, so that the great bulk of the legal business of- the State can easily and conveniently be conducted_ in Sydney. The same thing can be said as regards Melbourne, and the legal business of Victoria. Wellington, however, although the political capital, is not the largest town in New Zealand, and it would be superfluous to point out in detail how troublesome, and costly ib is to gain access to it from many important parts oil the colony. Hence, our jiidieal system ought to be framed, as it is now, so as to meet our special circumstances. One of the most objectionable of Dr Findlay's proposals is the abolition of Iho District Courts. These courts have been in existence for nearly fifty years, the first District Court Act having been passed in 1858. The- have done a very large amount of useful work, and some of their judges have.proved themselves to be men of mature . ability. The courts exercise civil jurisdiction up to £500; also bankruptcy jurisdiction with all the powers of the Supreme Court; and they grant probates and letters of administration. In mining districts, they do a large amount of mining work. Their procedure is simple, and they are much cheaper in every way than the Supreme Court. When cases are tried in the locality ...where the parties reside,... witnesses'. expenses, which, always" constitute-a- heavy item of"the~co»ts of: fl, trial, are reduced to a minimum; while less time is lost than if the parties have to travel to a town (say) 50 miles off to have a case tried in the Supreme Court. The District Court is a great convenience in the extensive tract of country lying between Christchurch and Dunedin; and most of the bankruptcy and probate business arising in that tract is done in the District Court. It would bo most unfair to the very large, population which inhabits the . Ashburton, Timaru and Qamafii districts to compel them to transact all the business now done in the District Court in the Supreme Court at Christchurch and Dunedin. The cost to the Government of the District Court is but small, as the office staffs of the Magistrates' Courts are • utilised for the District Courts; and if the business were forced into the Supreme Court the expense of maintaining that court would be correspondingly increased. The proposed change, we may add, is entirely opposed to the principle which has guided the changes made in Great Britain in judicial procedure during the last quarter or a century; for there the powers of the County' Courts have been largely augmented," so as to enable them to perform much work which formerly devolved upon the High Court of Judicature.