THE CROWN LAW OFFICE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13741, 24 May 1910, Page 6

THE CROWN LAW OFFICE.

Dr. Findlay's statements to a Wellington interviewer regarding the changes in tho Crown Law office fail to convince "s that tho sole object of the new policy is economy, and not centralisation. The Minister's estimate that the new arrangement will result in a saving of "many thousands

" a year"' carries little weight. \V C aro becoming used to Ministers' estimates of the financial effects of alterations in the Public •Service, and wo know how hopelessly inaccurate th-jy are The new system should reduce the cost of the Government's legal work in Wellington, but it is difficult to believe that it will dr« so by mx'iy thousands of pounds annually, especially as "it may pos"sibly happen" that during busy times in the session some work will have to be given to outside practitioners such work being '''distributed "among the legal profession ii. such "' manner as will beet meet the needs "ot each particular case." Tho system will undoubtedly put more patronage i/i the hands of the Government: whether it wili benefit tho public in any way has yet to be proved. As regards the Crown Law officers in other centres, Dr. Findlay says that they will continue to do Crown Law work, "properly local in character," but the Crown Law officers in Wellington will, Avhen it is expedient, "take "' part in the more important litigation wherever it may arise," in _>ur-sran-ce of public economy. Here again only results will show whether the public interests will be served by tbe change. But it is obvious that tho first effect of the scheme will bo to diminish the dignity and importance of the position held by the Crown Law officers outside "Wellington. They will b-j allowed to undertako tho trivial, uninteresting work, but the "causes

'"celebres" are to be reserved for the Attorney-General—when he can spare tho time —or for his colleagues in the Crown Law office in Wellington. For them the banquet, for the .local men the crumbs that fall from the Government's table. The scheme may spell economy and equal efficiency, but it certainly looks like a veiled attempt te concentrate the Government's law businesg in Wellington, .and the next step may conceivably bo in the direction of concentrating the judges thero also and of reducing tho other centres t-> tho level of circuit towns. This is tho method in force in New South Wales, where all the Crown's legal work is transacted by tho Crown Law offico in Sydney, and where the AttorneyGeneral is the acknowledged leader of the Bar, and his position as a stepping stono to the chair of ihe Chief Justice. The conditions aro, however, quite different in New ZeaInnd. Sydney, by reason of her siae and wealth, dominates the whole of "".he State of which she is the capital. Wei* lington, apart from the faot that* it is the centre of Government in tha Dominion and the seat of Parliament, is of no more importance ~in many matters than the other cities, arid of considerably less than they in soma. Geographical conditions, if no others, will forbid any ono city in New Zealand to dominate all. the others, and ' any attempt on the Government's part to make tho others subservient to Wellington, unless it is recognised as being in tho interests of all, will provoke general resentment.