THE LAW PRACTITIONERS ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8663, 4 September 1891, Page 3

THE LAW PRACTITIONERS ACT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— reply to " Censor Morum " seems, as Gilbert says,_ to be like " a hitting of a galbut there is none so blind as he who will not see. He has followed the advice given in my last letter, and has boiled him

self down, and now hands us the fat. And what does it all amount to ? Take his four heads— B, C, D, and E ; knock out the tautological ideas, and there remains just this : A, an educated man may or may not be immoral; B ditto ditto •C, that it is unjust that a lawyer should know anything about a pupil teacher's department of knowledge ; I), that the unenacted proposition of Sir George Grey has nothing whatever to da with Atlantic slopers of the past; E, that a lawyer must know law ana ought to be an honest man. It seems to me that some friend of mine is poking a little fun. He cannot reasonably expect us to take that quadratic equation of his as an answer to Mr Hogg's letter. Mr. Hogg pointed out with great weight that from practical observation and experience it was necessary to have a lawyer with some considerable general knowledge. He showed that the tendency in-this little colony is at the present time precisely tho same tendency as developed in America twenty or thirty years ago. He showed that the result of following that tendency had been to reduce the honourable standing of the legal profession with most unsatisfactory results in the administration of justice. And he says to New Zealand " take warning by our older cousin and don't make the same mistake." And against all this sound pleading we have to set against it the quad ratio equation aforesaid together with an argument such as this. " liow is it that wo find this most accomplished scholar, i.e., Sir George Grey, seeking to remove this barrier of general knowledge ?" lam really sorry for Sir _ George Grey. _ I have watched his politics with great interest, and I have listened to the silvery tones of his splendid eloquence. I see him now a giant in intellect, a | veteran in experience, a philosopher in knowledge, towering above his surroundings, and I feel sick at heart that " Censor Morum," should, after complete defeat it* the main argument, fall back in a silly in. terrogatory about our grey-headed statesman. He has worked nobly in the past, he has done more than a life s work ; surely we can find for him now a place in our hearts if he lias, like a man, made one or two mistakes. That lie has failed in some matters, but shows us the greater difficulties he has overcome ; and raises him greater in our estimation by giving us the true measure of hia strength. What else is there to answer in his letter? Something I see about lawyers and general knowledge. Lawyers don't require general knowledge they are to be turned out like automaton figures. They are to have neither the fear of God, nor the respect of man. Why not make them machines straight away. "New patent special pleader protected in all parts of the inhabited globe, in England, Ireland, Scotland, and America, in Chili, South America, Zululand, and Hindostan. Walk up ! Walk up gentleman ! Put a penny in and the figure will move."—! am, &c., A. W. Horsbrumi.