RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURTS.

Evening Star, Issue 7362, 7 November 1887, Page 4

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE COURTS.

TO THE EDITOB. Sih, —I se» in the Star a correspondent Bigning himself "Lex," iu which he Criticises your figures re amounts obtained in the different Resident Magistrate Courts of New Zealand. I think the thanks of the public are due to you for bringing this matter forward. " Lex " says half the cases are settled after obtaining judgment ; but he doe 3 not say why they are disposed of. It is a well-known fact that it is almost impossible to got a judgment summons against a defendant. At the present a plaintiff has to prove that the defendant has more money or income than he requiries for his or his family's use, otherwise it is no use his taking a case into the Court. I have known solicitors in this town advise their clients not totake cases into Court, owing to the great difficulty in obtaining judgment. I have nothing to say against our worthy Resident Magistrate, but I do think that where a man is constantly earning from 10s to 14s a-day he should bo made to pay at least a trifle per week towards the settlement of his just debts. A storekeeper was telling me the other day that he had L2CO on his books, and his solicitor advised him not to sue for any of it. And, he added: "A number of those on my books have been engaged for years at the workshops, earning regular wages." There is evidently something wrong with the law, or else with the way in which it is administered, when such a condition of things can exist.—l am, etc., Peter. South Dunedin, November 3.