SALARIES OF NATIVE LAND COURT JUDGES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 45, 21 August 1913, Page 2

SALARIES OF NATIVE LAND COURT JUDGES

m TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—As one who has had considerable practice in the Native Land Court, I wish to endorse the statements made by Mr. M'Grath in his letter to you, appearing in Saturday's issue. It is there pointed out that the Native Land Court Judge has often to decide questions of great importance without the assistance of counsel, and he has many other difficulties to contend with. He is frequently called upon to settle abstruse legal points at a distance from any Law Library. He must have, in addition to a legal training, a knowledge of Native custom and of Native Appellate decisions thereon. These are Mot to be found in any Law Reports, but must be collected by the Judge himself from the different minute books of the Appellate Court. The hearing in Court is protracted owing to the necessity for interpretation, and the Judge must understand the working of the Native mind if he is to draw correct conclusions therefrom. Nearly every case of importance entails the heavy labour of reading lengthy minutes of evidence given at earlier hearings of cases affecting the same land. These minutes aften comprise hundreds of pag», eno much midnight oil is burnt frflm this cause alone. I also agree that the Court should be made absolutely independent of the Government, for the latter is always a purchaser of Native land, and Government Departments are frequently parties in the cases tried before this Court. Quite recently the NAtive Land Court decided the amount of compensation to be paid for certain land taken by the Crown from the owners. The difference between the amount claimed and that offered by the Crown was nearly £10,000, and no right of appeal is allowed in Biicft cases. If a Magistrate, with his limited jurisdiction, requires protection, how much more should the Native Land Court Judge have it when such cases as this are before him? He is, beyond all doubt, in a very unfair position, and the fact that there have been no suggestions of undue leaning towards the Government merely proves that the Bench is composed of men strong enough to do Iheir duty without fear or favour. Judges doing such work should be placed on a proper footihg, both as regards salary and status. —I am, etc., HUGH F. AYSON. Wellington,, 18th August, 1913.