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Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5300, 22 September 1885, Page 2

Mr Tole's bill for the employment of shorthand writers in taking the proceedings of the Supreme Court has been virtually shelved. This is what might have been expected. The idea is new here, and has not been adopted in the "Home country. I' is only the Japs who adopt a thing at once after examining it and finding it worthy of adoption. Whoever h,eard of English people taking up a good ideaon sight ? It is nothing to them that its practicability has been proved elsewhere. Breaking away from old established customs and precedents is to them as difficult as shaking off a nightmaie. But another 'attempt, and, if necessary, still another, will be m de, to in*ake the work of shorthand writers a feature in the proceedings of the more important courts. In the meantime the public will take the trouble to observe for themselves the amount of time regularly wasted in courts, mainly through the unavoidable delay in taking down evidence. Everybody must wait upon His Honor the Judge, whose manual dexterity, even with the help of contractions quite unintelligitye to any one else, may be of the paralytic order. Counsel, witnesses, clients, and public must wait until every answer is laboriously taken down. Where only a few cases occur it may be open to question whether it would be justifiable to go to the expense of employing a salaried short hand writer ; but in tlm larger courts, where the calenders are usually well filled, the question of making use of such a time-saving medium as the shorthand writer affords is well worthy of serious consideration. As bearing on the matter, the question naturally arises as to what would be done with such writers in the intervals between the holding of one court and another. It seems to us that there ought to be no difficulty in utilising their services in some clerical capacity connected with the courts. Time would be apt to hang heavily on their hands if they had nothing to do except when the court sat. It would not be at all a bad idea if Government were to offer a premium, or some other inducement equivalent to it, to clerks of the various Resident Magistrates' Courts upon qualifying themselves to take evidence in shorthand. It cou'd afterwards be written out at leisure if deemed necessary It is needless to say that a great saving of time would result to litigants, counsel, and witnesses. The question is certain to crop up again next session.