NEW SOUTH WALES.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 24, 10 November 1841, Page 2

NEW SOUTH WALES.

On the opening of the Bathurst CIRCUIT COURTS, on the 27th Sept., His honor the Chief Justice delivered a charge, which, the Sydney papers say, was distinguished for beauty of language, eloquence and peculiar adaption to the introduction of Circuit Courts into that district. The following portion of the charge will be perused with interest by most of our readers : Scarcely twenty years [said His Honor] have elapsed since the spot on which we stand was first trodden by European feet. Isolated by an extensive range of lofty and rugged mountains, it then seemed destined to remain for ages in deserted solitude, contrasted with its present state, the transition awakens emotions of wonder and astonishment. The wilderness has yielded to the enterprise of civilised man, and in a region where limited relations of savage life were regulated by the simple laws of nature, havfi been established the artificial refinements—the complicated associations, and the diversity of ordinances incident to humanity in its highest cultivation. Institutions, the growth of ages in another hemisphere, have been transplanted, and taken root, in emulation of other branches of the British family—in seeking the benefits of constitutional British rights, the inhabitants of this district have now the appointment of an institution, for what may be regarded as the consummation of all political government —the due administration of justice; the property of men !" Without affecting to trace the progress of the Bathurst settlement, from a single bark hut, to its present condition, the central point of an extensive district, provided with sufficient accommodation for the comfort and convenience of civilised man, adorned with edifices dedicated to the worship of Almighty God,and indicating elements of wealth and prosperity, I cannot forbear reiterating the gratifications of the honorable and learned person who preceded me on the institution of this Circuit Court. To the inhabitants of this district justice is now brought to their doors, and the administration of the law for the assertion of right, and the redress of wrong, has now all the appliances adequate to the present wants of your community andall the social, moral, and fiscal advantages, arising from the establishment of such a Court. It must occur to every one, that the effect of periodically bringing together, in contact, the population of a widely extended rural district, must be most salutary in cementing social relations and sympathies, and,,.awakens attention to interests which are apt to slumber from a too sequestered and detached state of existence. Community of feeling and of knowledge, and the devotion to the great bond of civilized li:e are, some of the jmost obvious advantages resulting from these meetings. Prominent as these advantages are, however, the moral effect of having justice communicated in the very bosom of your community, is of paramount consideration and importance, and needs no elucidation. Added to these, it cannot but be a subject of deep congratulation, that the Circuit Court, thus instituted has the virtue of promising the pure, the prompt, and the cheap, distribution of justice. No longer is it necessary for suitors, prosecutors, and witnesses to be separated from their homes, to traverse rugged roads —to be exposed to the discomfort, loss and injury arising from absence, or to incur the expense of time and money incident to the pursuit of justice in a scene of great remoteness. In a fiscal point of view -the effects are at least commensurate with the social and moral advantages. All these are gained by the itinerant visits of Her Majesty's Judges, and I persuada myself that the community upon whom these have a deep sense of their