MR JUSTICE OWEN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume L, Issue 8918, 6 November 1905, Page 3

MR JUSTICE OWEN.

o THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE SYDNEY LANDS OFFICE CASES.

Even as it is the Judge who is the court and not the house in wlucu he site, so is it the person holding the Crown's instructions in an affair of the kind going on in Sydney who is "The Royal Commission.'* Mr Justice Owen, who fills this role in regard to the most important national enquiry ever held in Australasia, is naturally the subject of much public observation everywhere, but he will loom a good deal larger when his report has been presented to the Governor of the State. For the great enquiry, which has gone into so many days, has been -one of developing sensations, and naturally no one knows just how much more there is for investigation or chance to reveal. Already it has led to a charge of conspiracy, to extradition proceedings to ensure the return of a principal witness, to an exMinister of the Crown being charged with an offence against his Ministerial oath of allegiance, and to the Premier of the, State, who is a lawyer, announcing hie intention of abandoning the practice of hia profession for as long as he holds a portfolio. Day by day the Commission has eat, and the end is still a matter of speculation, as is the likelihood of furtheT sensational so-called disclosures. When the end does come the great Judge who is the Royal Commission will first consider and then, present his report, and if between the two points there is a considerable lapse it will be due to magnitude of the task, and no doubt to a keen appreciation of the many great issues involved.