NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 645, 12 January 1859, Page 4

NEW SOUTH WALES.

The Auckland papers give us news from Sydney five days later than we have received direct. The following is the only item for quotation.

EQUITY BUSINESS.

A long correspondence has taken place between the late Attorney-General and Mr. Cowper, which, pursuant to a motion of Mr. Blake, in the Legislative Council, has been just published. The Sydney ' Herald 'says .:—

It clearly discloses the fact that there are no present means in this colony of" providing for that vast and important portion of judicial business that is comprehended under the head of Equity Jurisprudence. It is a mere fiction, then, to say that Englishmen carry the laws of their country with them, in whatever country they plant themselves. No such thing. There is now no tribunal in Sydney for disposing of cases cognisable in a Court of. Equity. And that these cases comprise subjects of the utmost importance will be readily perceived when we state that Courts of Equity exclusively deal with the specific performance of agreements— the immediate prevention of waste or other irreparable injuries—the restraint, of endless litigation —the setting aside fraudulent deeds—decrees for sale of land—-the custody of lunatics —the guardianship of minors, &c, &c. Touching the last head of Equity we specified, the " guardianship of minors," quite an affecting case (one, however, of constant occurrence,) occurred on last Saturday. An application was made in Court to Mr. Justice Therry, asking him, as a matter of mercy, to appoint some -.3ay_this_week.tp hear a case in which three minors were interested."'-' 'TM"covS\SSr"C&Tif: Miifov^i). stated that if the case was not heard this week, the chif-* dren. must in the next seek refuge in the Destitute Asylum, They were utterly without means of support, although they were entitled to a clear income of £600 a-year, which could not be touched until a proper adjudication in their case was pronounced. The Judge said he would endeavour to provide for so urgent an exigency, but said it could only be done by neglecting one duty to attend to another; for Term began on Monday, and he was bound to sit daily in banco for the next three weeks. But it in not one case, or twenty cases, that are thus neglected, however urgent they may be. To speak plainly, the whole Equity business of the colony, to use a good American phrase, is brought "to a dead lock." True! we have a Master in Equity and Equity clerks, and we have a daiiy paragraph announcing the taxation of costs, and small matters of that kind in the Master's office; but it is like the acting of the play of Hamlet, with the omission of the principal part—Hamlet himself. We have no Judge in Sydney to do the work. It may be said we have a Primary Judge. It is so, but he resides at Moreton Bay, and the Chief Justice thus informs us, with admirable naivete", how he is employed. * "As to business," Sir Alfred writes, " for a Supreme Court at Brisbane, there is positively none worth one-eighth the expense now occasioned. , Few criminals—no causes; the whole district won't support even a second barrister; and if it were not for fishing, I believe everybody there would die of enmti I!"

This is indeed a pretty state of things. .Whilst the Chief Justice cau see nothing as to Equity in Sydney "but a melancholy state' of things for suitors," our Primary Judge is, playing about the waters of Moreton Bay, and hunting after turtle and flat-fish, and perhaps occasionally bagging a bustard. Occasionally, too, he has paid us a flying visit; but his visits have necessarily been of a' very doubtful benefit, He just stays long enough to half-hear half-a-dozen cases—leaving some other judge to wind them up as best he can. We invite Mr. Isaac's attentiou to this point. He has a motion on the paper for Wednesday in the Legislative Council. We hope he will press for a permanent, not a temporary Judgeship. The wants of the country in this respect cannot be otherwise supplied. Mr. Plunkett has taken up the subject in the House of Assembly, and we expect a persevering effort from him, Mr. Fawoett, and Mr. Owen, and all who really understand the subject, to provide a remedy for the great and growing evil the want of this.judicial tribunal creates, and rescue Equity from (what Sir Alfred in his letter to Mr. Cowper, terms) "its unavoidable fate," 'which fate is one of uniform neglect and utter inattention. - Our new Solicitor-General, in reply to Mr. Plun•kett, stated that the District Courts would draw off a large portion of business from the Supreme Court; but, surely, the learned gentleman knows—or at least ought to know—that the cases cognisable in Courts of Equity are not within the jurisdiction of these district courts. The large class of business we have specified, besides injunctions, the construction of wills, &c.,. are entertained exclusively by Courts of Equity, ami there is quite enough of business to occupy tho whole time of an Equity Judge m Sydney. Parliament ought not to separate without something decisive. being done in this matter. Though Mr. Cowper, in Lord Castloreagha old dogged style of diplomacy, declares that, ' under existing circumstances," nothiug can be done—Mr, Plunkott, and others, we trust, will assert their true position, and make the Ministry leelthat members have been sent to Parliament for better purposes and nobler uses than the mere voting of Estimates, and putting money into tho pu,rses of Messrs. Cowpor and Co