"HEARTY SUPPORT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 134, 9 June 1933, Page 8

"HEARTY SUPPORT."

leading justice emphatic

Mr. A. Rosser, president of the Auckland Justices' Association, and vicepresident of the New Zealand Federation, said the Minister's proposal would be hailed with great satisfaction by the members of the Auckland Association, who for years past had fought for the principle involved in the official pronouncement. "Year after year," he added, "the matter has been contained in remits put forward by the Auckland justices, and it has been adopted at the Dominion conference each time. I have been a justice for 27 years, and at the date, of my appointment we had one stipendiary magistrate for the city of Auckland, and he was assisted in the Court work by the local justices, who attended on a roster drawn up by the clerk of the Court. My turn came once every six weeks. Since then the stipendiary magistrates have increased in number, until we have reached three, and at times four. Consequently there was no Court work for the justices. For years the only Court work was on holidays. "It is quite true that the legal profession have always been against justices sitting on the Bench in Auckland— they say 6ecau6c of the Want of legal knowledge and experience on the part of justices. So long as the justices are kept off the Bench, so long will want of experience tell against them. The legal knowledge is not a sine qua non. It is merely a question of common sense. We heartily support the Minister's proposal. My association numbers nearly 600."