THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1910. THE NORTHERN JUDICIARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14284, 2 February 1910, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1910. THE NORTHERN JUDICIARY.

Mr. Justice Edwards has very properly drawn the attention '■':;of the Auckland Bar to {the impossibility of dealing with the judicial ; work of the Northern district unless an ' additional 1 judge is permanently commissioned. Although those entrusted with legal business ■; are primarily concerned in this: question, it is one of fundamental importance to the public at large. However painstaking ; and {persistent a judge may be it is manifestly impossible for him to deal satisfactorily with each and all of the innumerable delicate and ■ complex; problems ; constantly before him when he is strained to the utmost limits of physical endurance by continuous and unremitting?.overwork. The demands qf the: Northern judicial district—covering the great and expanding province of Auckland—have actually, the utmost powers of a most : indefatigable -■ arid systematic^judge. { Cases which ought to be promptly decided

'".'. )'"Z^[4'i- : :-• * ..■.• ■'. .. ;.•;.' '.';', -.'V |.- .',' v - ;-''■ ." -upon "have to wait month after month for a- hearing, and a most undesirable precedent of holding Court during the period absolutely.necessary ; or; rest, and ■ allotted j, for rest by ancient custom, i has been made under the remorseless pressure of B circumstances. .;; In Ij these utilitarian days it may be thought that the health of * judges and lof counsel may fbe ignored provided > the salary of a judge and the expense of an additional court-room are saved to the public purse. ; But the deliberation and equity which Are the aims of all sound judicial systems and are the especial glory of British ; jurisprudence cannot be attained in such a fashion. Any attempt to work judges to death, because they never cease to strive after the discharge of a duty made too heavy for them, cannot out recoil upon the community. Lawyers with the finest legal minds and with the most enviable reputations are asked by the Crown, on behalf of the people, to give to the public service the ripe fruit of their long experience. Tfiey must have passed those halcyon days when weariness is unknown 'and when mental and physical endurance responds without conscious effort to the spur of occasion. They are offered a salary which is only sufficient upon the assumption that they apply without undue strain the legal knowledge attained in more J strenuous years and the judicial in- ' stincts cultivated and developed by long and honourable practice. The Bench is where: recognised as the worthy goal of the great lawyer's I career, affording him opportunity to ! close his life's work by impartially \ and patiently exercising, -. for the j public well being, functions which fire' the most solemn and the most j sacred in civic organisation. To | think that we can profitably work such men both day and night, and | that we can maintain the dignity of the Law by taking advantage of the | loyalty of judges to make them toil J like galley-slaves, is sheer folly and stupidity. .' ■ Of course there has been no wilful and deliberate intention to impose ; upon the' loyalty' to duty, of any judge in the Dominion. But it has been said that evil is wrought by > want of thought /as well as by want of heart; and want of thought on the part of the responsible authorities is wholly responsible for the untenable situation in the Northern judicial district. There was a time when one judge could comfortably • deal with the judicial work of Auckland Province when he could try all persons accused of serious crime, review on challenge the decisions *j of magistrates, adjudicate between all litigants • and i fulfil all other requirements, in a manner satisfactory to himself, to : the Bar, arid to the public. ; That : time has gone by, ; not because the judge ,is less capable and energetic, : - nor ■■. because the Bar is less ready to assist,; nor because the people of; the .province, were of 'old less litigious, but because the population, the industry . i and 'the commerce of the province have grown apace. We have a hundred thousand people in the metropolitan area, and a quarter of a million in the Northern ' judicial district; Moreover, our 'business dealings are necessarily becoming .: more and more complicated, calling for judicial decision on countless points whereon it is no easy matter to balance nicely the scales of justice. ;; Some readjustments of judicial work have* been attempted, but Auckland Province is'still assigned to a solitary judge. At : present, the judicial . work. is -so• hopelessly beyond his powers that temporary relief is; to be afforded by an additional- judge from the South, but this cannot be regarded as a solution*-- We have no desire to compare the judicial position in 1 Auckland with that in other centres, because it is to our common interest, as citizens of the Dominion,; that Law should be administered as well in one centre aa in another, that justice should be {obtainable by the remotest settler as easily as by the resident in the nearest" street. *; But it is permissible to point out, as Mr. r Justice Edwards pointed out ' yesterday, that the Northern judicial district, from evident causes has good reason to claim immediate consideration from the responsible authorities. Southern judges are not overworked because their districts are ' comparatively stationary; and f Wellington judgesv are not overworked because its Bench has been ; especially well provided for. Auckland occupies the position of having had its growth ; disregarded {by : the ; Department of Justice and thus; places before its judge work which no single judge can possibly perform. An ; additional judge {is required at ' once, and we may hope that no delay will arise in granting a claim which is in no way sectional, but is made on -behalf of the Law and Order common to the-whole of the people of New Zealand. -,