BALCLUTHA COURTHOUSE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 73, 20 March 1914, Page 5

BALCLUTHA COURTHOUSE.

BENCH AND BAR CONDEMN IT. At the sitting of the Balclutha Magisstrate's Court ou Wednesday Mr D. Stewart, on behalf of the Balclutha bar, welcomed Magistrate Young, who has just been placed in charge of this district. He referred to the harmony which had always existed between bench and bar, and was sure the same happy relations would continue, j Mr, Stewart, continuing, said he was sorry he was not able to welcome Mr Young to better conditions so far as the courthouse was concerned. Justice, he said, was sometimes supposed to be blind, and it would need to be so in the Balclutha Courthouse if it was not to be ashamed of the conditions prevailing. He hoped it would not be long till they secured reasonable convenience. Mr Young thanked the bar for their kindly welcome; he had been fortunate in his predecessor, Mr Bartholomew, and hoped the happy relations between bench, bar and public would continue. He had presided at a sitting in Balclutha about four years ago, and remembered the occasion well, owing to the cold and dismal courthouse. He had been in courthouses in various parts of thc world—in Zululand and Matabeleland and elsewhere, —but never before had he seen such a courthouse. The conditions were extraordinary in a town of Balclutha's importance.