A NEW DEPARTMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 28, 2 February 1907, Page 5

A NEW DEPARTMENT.

«*. * THE DRAFTING OF BILLS. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S PROPOSALS. [BT TSI.BGKAPH. — J*P.ESS ASSOCIATION. 1 CHRISTCHURCH, This Day,. Tho Attorney-General (the Hon. Dr., Findlay), in the cotntee of an interview : last evening, stated that ho proposed to, ■reorganise that branch of his department • ,that deals with the drafting of Parlia- 1 mentary Bille. A new department — the Parliamentary Drafting Department— is, to be created, and will be placed under tho control of Professor W. T. Salmond, Lecturer on Law at the Victoria College, Wellington. All Bills before they go to • the Legislature, and again before they arcsent on to the Governor for his final ascent, will pass through the hands df this department in order that technical ■flaws may be detected and necessary verbal amendments made, and the Minister hopes by these means to avoid tho litigation and -trouble that have been caused by faulty drafting in the past. FAVOURABLE OPINIONS. > The proposal of the Government, as o: -lined abov-3, is favourably viewed by leading members of the legal profesuion who were seen on the subject by a membor of the Post-staff to-d&y. There seemed to be a consensus of opinion that there j was room for improvement on the present methods. The creation of a "Parliamentary Drafting Department" under, that name is regarded as somewhat superfluous, but is taken to b> a means df. improving the status of the head of the ' now department. There has always been ' a Parliamentary draughtsman. According to one banister and solicitor, the,' unsatisfactory nature . of "the present methods is due/ more to the system than \ f o thoi-3 who have to carry it out. Ih ' Iris opinion, the "need for the appoint- > | ment just mado would not havo existed' 1 I had there been in the House a strong J i Statutes Revision , Committee, which . should flo a lot of the work. However, as things wefe now, there wae undoubtedly room for improvement. Mr. H. D . Bell, President of tho New Zealand" Law fSockty, preferred to cay nothing. on subject beyond approving of lire ic*ea, ds : he h a member of the Victoria 'College • Council, which has not yet 'considered Professor SnlmoEcTs resignation.' The Attorney-General describes Professor Snlmond as "probably the greatest jurist that we have erer hdd m Ntw Zealand. . .He is probably the moSt , learned lawyor in the cblony at the jpre- ' sent time outside rue Bench."