Supreme Court Bench

Press, Volume C, Issue 29467, 20 March 1961, Page 14

Supreme Court Bench

The appointment of Mr W E Leicester to the Supreme Court Bench is welcome both because it adds a distinguished lawyer to the bench and because it strengthens the bench numerically. The appointment is made under a provision that allows additional judges to be appointed to meet exceptional circumstances. The AttorneyGeneral (Mr Hanan) says the appointment will be made permanent by legislation in the forthcoming session of Parliament It appears to be Mr Hanan’s intention to legislate to increase the number of permanent judges by one. Before he does this he would be wise to inquire whether the statutory permanent strength of the Supreme Court Bench should not be further augmented The public (and successive Governments) have frequently had their attention drawn to the difficulties under which the Judiciary works and to the consequent delays in the administration of justice —delays which at times have amounted to a denial

of justice. The establishment of the Court of Appeal has not helped much, because, though Supreme Court judges were relieved of regular Appeal Court work, two of their number were taken from the Supreme Court bench to serve on the Court of Appeal and were not replaced. It is surely an undignified way of strengthening the Supreme Court to appoint “ tempor- “ ary ” or “ additional ” judges. In fairness to the Judiciary and to litigants, the Supreme Court bench should be strong enough to cope without strain, not only with ordinary business but with reasonably foreseeable contingencies. The cost of. say. three additional iudges would be a relatively small addition to the bill the nation pays for the administration of justice. It would be more than repaid by expeditious justice.

700 Students

Included m the 700 students at the Christchurch Teachers’ College this vear 'who now fill the college hall at weekly assemblies) are seven Colombo Plan students from Borneo and Malaya Two more Malayans have still to arrive.