THE NEW JUDGE.

Evening Star, Issue 21623, 19 January 1934, Page 8

THE NEW JUDGE.

The selection of Mr Harold F. Johnston, K.C., of Wellington, to be the new judge in succession to Ml* Justice Adams, will cause no surprise, and by the well informed will be hailed as a sound appointment. Two northern lawyers had been unofficially named for the succession, and as it was generally understood that one of them had declined a judgeship before, it was not strange that the chances of the other, who has now been appointed, should have been particularly favoured. It may also have been thought that it would not be a disadvantage to Mr Johnston’s prospects that he has been closely associated with certain of the political powers that be, and a few years- ago contested a by-election in the interests of that party which seems sometimes to have the strongest say in the present National Government. It is no reflection on a man—it should be quite the opposite—to desire to take a part in public life, and as the son of a former Speaker of the Legislative Council and the grandson of a provincial superintendent heredity would have had small influence on Mr Harold Johnston if politics had possessed no interest for him. It would be absurd, however, to suggest that this was a political appointment in the face of Mr Johnston’s standing in his profession. He is a K.C., who has been known for many years as a sound lawyer, and we have been assured that, quite apart from political associations, if a vote had been taken any time during recent years among the members of his own calling, they would have placed him among the first half-dozen men deemed to be suited for a judgeship. His peers who know him have no doubt that he will fill the position alike with ability and dignity. The Government has been a long time in filling this vacancy. It is some months now since Mr Justice Adams retired, and before that he was on leave of absence for a year. The interx-egnum • provoked some protests from other judges owing to the congestion of work which it entailed, but, apart from other circumstances which may have prolonged it, the Government may have thought that, as a reduced Bench did not complain of overwork while Mr Justice Adams was on leave of absence, it could carry on without undue difficulties after his retirement. The deficiency may not even now be relieved if the expectation has been correctly based that Mr Justice Smith, who has been specially associated with Native affairs, is to be appointed as chairman of the important commission by which troubles of the Native Department are to be investigated. That commission will presumably be occupied for several months by its task, and in addition another member of the Bench, Mr Justice MacGregor, will be due to retire at the beginning of April next. Interest in new judgeships, therefore, may not be ended by the present appointment.