Justices of the Peace

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 220, 13 June 1933, Page 11

Justices of the Peace

Sir, —Far be it from me to criticise the utterances of a Minister of the Crown; but the recent statement of the Minister of Justice that at Home a stipendiary magistrate is very seldom a lawyer, and usually a retired soldier, sounds so quaint to me that I am constrained to point out that the English Statutes require that a stipendiary for a city or borough must be a barrister of seven years’ standing, 'and for an urban district five. • It is, of course, not for me to suggest that New Zealand should follow English customs —they would probably not be found sufficiently grandiose or expensive for that unique experience known as “New Zealand conditions”; nor would minor police or traffic offences or small civil debts receive the consideration they deserve except at the hands • of a senior grade State official. Moreover, any suggestion that it might prove economical to reserve existing civil jurisdiction to the stipendiary magistrate alone, and require him to go on circuit as do the county court judges at Home, and thereby effect a further economy in personnel, would be hard to justify haring regard to the immense undeveloped resources of the Dominion.

It is true the saving might help toward payment of debts, but dreams of some undiscovered El Dorado naturally render such a course unnecessary. However, it would seem desirable that New Zealand should not be induced to adopt what it deems to be an English custom, and then, if it prove unsatisfactory, attribute the blame to effete English ways. —I am, etc., AN' ENGLISH SOLICITOR. Wanganui, June 9.