NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 68, 21 March 1931, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Cargo Service. It is possible that the intercolonial motor ship Port Waikato, of COS tons gross register, will shortly institute a new cargo service from the South Island and Wellington to Tauranga, Whangarei, and Auckland. Tho Port Waikato is due at Wellington on Tuesday from the South, and sails on Tuesday for Auckland. The cargo service at present in operation between Wellington and Auckland has allowed for the transhipment of cargo to Whangarei and Tauranga, but previously these ports have not been included in the itinerary of vessels trading from Wellington. Westport-Inangaliua Railway. On 20th January, 1906, the late Right Hon. Richard Seddou, Premier of New Zealand, turned tho first sod of the Westport-Inangahua railway at the Nine Mile Crossing, says the Westport "Times." In the course of a speech made on that occasion, Mr. Seddou said ho hoped to see the railway completed within, ton years, and he would then have the pleasure of riding in the train between Westport and Hokitika. The question is usked whether the line will bo completed by 1936, which will be thirty years from the commencement of work. Not Popular With Lawyers. ' Briefly referring to the Public. Trust Office in his remarks to Jaw students last evening, Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice) said.he knew, of course, that it could not .be popular with the legal profession, but it had to be recognised that the Public Trust Office served certain useful purposes. It had proved a good institution, but whether or not it should indulge in all tho activities in which it. did indulge, some of which competed with the legal profession, it would be quite improper for him to express an opinion, and he did not intend to do so. A Duty to Assist. As a preface to an address to law students last evening, Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice) said he hoped his listeners would not think he liked giving addresses of the kind. He did not. He intensely disliked them; but his view was that there was a duty east on the leaders of tho profession to assist tho younger members and those looking forward to entering the profession. That duty had boon recognised at all times by the leaders of the profession in Now Zealand. "Eye-wash" in Court Work. "Don't indulge in what is popularly willed, I believe, 'eye-wash,'" said Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice) in the course of an address to law students last evening. "I am compelled to say that, and I am glad to say it, because I saw a report of an address'given, not in Wellington, by a member of the profession to students, in which he told them that to be successful at the Bar it was necessary to indulge in, to use his own expression, a certain amount of 'eye-wash.' But if he thinks that that kind of stuff goes down nowadays ho is greatly mistaken. It does not go down with juries. It used to go down in tho old days, but not now, and it does not go down with judges. (Laughter.) Frankness and candour can be much more successfully used, in my opinion, than this quality which the lecturer advised his listeners to use in their Court work." Barristers and Solicitors. Referring to barristers and solicitors in his address to law students last evening, Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice) said that, as his listeners wore aware, in New Zealand the two branches wore amalgamated to a certain extent. In England the branches wero entirely separate. Thero had been a good deal of controversy in recent years in England as to whether the two professions should not be amalgamated. "I suppose it is not of very much use to prophesy," remarked Sir Michael, "but I venture to prophesy that the amalgamation in England is just as unlikely' as tho separation of the professions in New Zealand." He was not expressing any opinion as to whether separation in New Zealand would not be a good thing, but it was not feasible. In London most of the business of the Bar was centralised; in New Zealand there were not only four substantial cities, each of which would object to any centralisation in any of the others, but thero were a number oi' circuit towns, with the result that thero was a tendency all the time to decentralise. Separation in New Zealand was therefore impossible, except to tho extent that there was room for a, limited number of the leaders of the professions to practise at tho Bar alone. "I hope myself there will always bo a. limited number of men in New Zealand who will practise at tho Bar alone," added Sir Michael, "because I think it is a good thing for the Bar and the profession as well. It gives the profession a kind of leadership which otherwise it would not possess." No Boom for Specialisation. Ho had heard it said that there was room in New Zealand for specialisation, said Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice), addressing law students last evening. In London, which he would take as his example, there were a number of different branches of legal work, each of which afforded ample scope for a number of men to specialise. Some of them did immensely well in their particular branches. Could any member of his audience tell him a single one of those branches in which there was room in Now Zealand at the present time for one person, let alone several, to specialise? There was not a single one at present. Thero might be if the whole ■if the work were centralised in Wellington, but that would never be. Specialisation was out of tho question at t.lir present, time, and would be for a considerable time to come.