The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 64, 9 December 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1863.

The " glorious uncertainty of the law" has long passed into a proverb, and we think but few will gainsay its justness. The law is necessarily uncertain, for, unless we assume one party to an action to be assured of the illegality or untenability of his claim, each is pretty confident of success, whereas only one can attain it. But though the issue of a suit is uncertain when the jury are fully acquainted with the facts of a case, and are competent to judge; yet the uncertainty is increased indefinitely when they lack in some degree these qualifications. The necessity, therefore of an impartial, and above all, a competent jury is obvious for the proper and satisfactory adjustment of rival claims. We are led into these remarks in consequence of the practice common on the Otago fields, though comparatively unknown on the older gold producing colonies—of employing other than miners on the Warden's cases. In Queenstown, especially, this is the rule rather than the exception; and it is rare indeed when a practical miner—one acquainted with his profession in every branch, and possessing some knowledge of the ground in dispute—is seen on the assessors' benches. Storekeepers and other business men are commonly selected for this task ; and whatever confidence we may place in them on the score of impartiality and fairness—which we have never heard denied to them—still these qualities are scarcely equivalent to a thorough knowledge of what they are cited to decide upon. The peculiarities of mining on the Otago fields are great, and call for careful weighing when any dispute arises ; and this wc submit, is scarcely possible when men unaccustomed to mining are employed to judge. It may be remarked that there are few on a goldfieid who do not know more or less about mining matters, from their being constantly brought into contact with those

engaged in digging, besides having everything appertaining thereto constantly unt der their notice; but it is not, in our opinion, sufficient for a fair and satisfactory decision that a man should be acquainted with merely the rudiments of a profession, a knotty point of which he is eal<ed on to decide* * A little knowledge is

a dangerous thingand when in addition to what we have above urged, it is remembered that their decision is final, except enormous expense is incurred in taking a disputed case to Dunedin, the necessity of obtaining a competent jury is made still more manifest.

An 4 again, it is unfair to the storekeeper himself that he should be taken away from his business at any moment to decide a point in which he has no direct concern, in addition to his liability to serve on juries more closely touching on his own interests. Besides the annoyance naturally consequent on the loss of time and neglect of his affairs, he has the

consciousness of knowing that he is but imperfectly acquainted with the subject under discussion, and therefore liable to be led away by any insinuation or (perhaps) hollow and insidious arguments of either counsel. The lawyer's traditional toast—' 4 The man who makes his own will," may surely be parodied —"The storekeeper who undertakes to decide Warden's cases," for the lawyer with a bad case may then have almost as good a chance of obtaining a verdict as his opponent. We therefore object to the practice on double grounds—as an injury to the miner and an injury to the business man; and for both reasons we think the course should henceforward be adopted of employing as a jury ouly those men who are competent to decide, and whose practical experience would ' give additional weight to their opinions on cases exclusively touching their own interests. While giving every credit to the business men of the district for impartiality, clearheadedness and justness, it must be obvious to them that every man should know his own business best; and though hitherto their decisions may have been, on the whole, satisfactory, yet we should not be astonished at hearing a verdict, under the present regime similar to that of the J.P. who, on the occasion of a trial for arson expressed it as his opinion that the prisoner should be fined £SO and made to marry the girl