Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8583, 3 June 1891, Page 4

It seems to us that the proposed appeal to the Privy .Council"iii the case of Mr. Justice Ed\Vards is an " outrageous absurdity.r What would be the result ? Suppose the Privy Council were* to say that Mr. Edwards'' appointment was bad, there would still remain the facts that . lie had been appointed by the Government of the day, and under the ,of His Excellency.;; that !he had s%£ificed his .practice, ;. and Vtherefore tl-iv\;he hadf a good-' and substantial claim " gainst : the ; , colony for ; heavy damages: - The more delay, that there is about the settlement of this affair, the more costly it. will be for the colony in the long run. - An appeal to the Privy Council, might mean a delay for a couple of years, and the glorificationi of bir Robert Stout and Mr. Harry Yogelby sending them to England: to argue the case before the most august tribunal in the empire. " :We fancy that my' Lords of the Council would be appalled at any colony sending'such a case before them. But if Mr. . Edwards is completely defeated, in the end it will come to the same thing, namely, that the • colony will ■;have to ; pay: all j the costs. ; No doubt Sir Harry Atkinson did the first wrong, but what is his responsibility worth 1 It is an absolute scandal and disgrace to the colony ; that a : Chief Justice should • from , the 'Bench pronounce that a Judge of his Court, who has: decided on the gravest questions affecting liberty and property, is sitting there illegally and improperly. The present Government, sis soon as they got into office, should have dealt with this matter .in a spirit fair to Mr. Edwards, and should, have attempted some compromise. They ought not to have looked at it as a means of gaining a party triumph by throwing discredit on their predecessors,', nor : ought they to have .allowed the { colony:: to have been ', dragged into ;an interminable litigation by.Sir Eobert Stout: and Mr. Harry Yogel. Let Mr. Ballance and his colleagues take the advice of the country rather than of the lawyers who have got into the case, and if possible stop this litigation, which is a disgrace to the colony. y : This is a' case in which Parliament ought forcibly to intervene, if Ministers continue to allow • this wretched business to drift. The spectacle is ludicrous of several lawyers engaged in a contest which is pleasing to them as bringing wealth and fame, while the public, who have to pay the piper in the end, stand by looking on with a helpless imbecility. Let the Premier show sonic firmness. As the case stands at present, it has been declared by the, highest Court in the colony that Mr. Edwards' appointment is good and valid. ; .