The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1875.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 33, 25 February 1875, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1875.

The sitting of Judge Ward at Balclutha, in the bankruptcy case of Keid, and the appearance in our midst for the first time of our legal representatives in proper legal costume, is an occasion for making a notch in our historical tree as a sign of another step in the right direction. There is not of course much to boast of in the fact of Mr Reid getting bankrupt, and requiring to be sat upon, nor yet in the fact that lawyers and Judges, when they buckle down to the work by which they make their living, instead of divesting themselves of superfluous attire like other workers, are called upon by certain ancient and mysterious traditions of their profession to encumber themselves with wig and gown, thereby assuming a certain solemnity of aspect quite in contrast with their usually jolly appearance. However, if these paraphenalia of the Courts have any effect in striking terror and dismay into the hearts of delinquents generally, it cannot be said the means employed are at all extravagrnt in their nature. If this is the meaning of the habit, and if it has this effect, it were folly to find fault with it ; or wish the legal wig curtailed by a single hair. Sooner or la"ter, however, the march of events, ■• The steam-ship and the railways. And the thoughts that shake mankind," will overtake even this last relic of a byegone age, and we venture to say there are little boys (and girls too 1) now running about who will live to grace the bench and the bar, and administer justice to the best of their abilities with only such apologies in the way of wigs as nature (or Poole's cathartic} has supplied them with.

The thanks of the community are due to Judgr Ward for consenting to sit at Balclutha, and adjudicating on the case of Mr Reid, in the place where he carried on his operations, and among those who took a tender and pathetic interest in his career. To all of these we have no doubt the suspension of Mr Reid's certificate was a matter of considerable satisfaction, and, to not a few, we dare say the suspension of Mr Reid himself, as" well as his certificate, would not have been regarded otherwise than as a proof of the elevated position he occupied in their esteem. Judge Ward has already won for himself golden opinions among the trading community of New Zealand for the vigor with which he has, in different places — and particularly on the West Coast — stamped out and all but exterminated the evil practice of fraudulent insolvency. Since his appointment as District Judge in Otago, we notice a considerable diminution of the number of schedules filed in the country I districts, and particularly in and about Oarnaru, where failures were at one time of almost daily occurrence. Doubtless, those who have been in the habit of making a profession of insolvency, have found out that it does not pay any longer to " file." There is, however, considerable Scope for improvement in this respect in Otago, and anyone who has been in the habit of reading the Dunedin papers for the last ten years or so cannot have failed to notice the regularity with which certain old stagers in the schedule filing business have appeared before the Court in Dunedin, and the facility with which they have passed their final examination and obtained the much-valued certificate of discharge. The merchants and settlers of Balclutha, and the Clutha district have reason to be proud of the high character the district has hitherto maintained in this respect, and we trust that, however desirable it may be to have/ an occasional sitting of the Court in- our midst to settle any little delinquencies that may arise, its business in bankruptcy will be on a very limited scale. -A- .