THE LUXURY OF THE LAW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13050, 15 December 1905, Page 6

THE LUXURY OF THE LAW.

SOME GOOD ; ADVICE FROM THE ■ ;.. . BENCH. s '■ - [IIY TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.'] ..' -.. CiniiSTGHcacH, Thursday.. Tin: alleged obstruction of & water-course tunning from one section at Kaiapoi through another, .led to a Supreme Court action, the hearing of which was commenced yesterday, and promises to last for several days judging by the number of witnesses in attendance. . .-, , ... ~ ' , His Honor commented on the foolishness of settling the dispute involved by means of expensive litigation when a single referee chosen by the parties' could de,-ide thejnatter much better than a judge of the Supreme Court. He did not suppose the law- j yer would grumble,; but the*proper course would have been for the parties to obtain a competent and respectable engineer to inspect the locality and arrive at a settlement of the dispute. He mentioned a case ir. which the whole dispute could have been settled for £40 at the beginning, but which 1 had already cost the parties over £2000 in expenses alone, with the result that the water-course, when found, was not worth a farthing to the person who got it. < That, added His Honor, is an illustration of the luxury of the law. These wretched local squabbles could better be. settled by an engineer. : . ■'