THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY, 17, 1896.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10570, 17 January 1896, Page 2

THE OTOGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, JANUARY, 17, 1896.

The waste and" cost which has been the characteristic of the administration of the English law has been the theme of novelists • and critics for many a long year. . .Since Dickers immortalised Chancery proceedings in Jakxbyce v. .Tabndyce there has been enormous improvement iii the tedious proceedings of that court, which is still regarded, however, as' cumbersomely ineffective. Other evils have associated themselves round the administration of different branches bf law, until at list we find from our English iiles that the mercantile world are beginning to avenge themselves in the only way in which vengeance is really felt—viz., by leaving the law courts severely alone. It appears from returns that, there has been a marked diminution in the volume of cases heard in the High Court of Justice, and a still further diminution in the amounts of money contested. As a matter of fact, the liritish public, and especially the mercantile British public, and still more that part of ifc which finds itself mixed up with commercial quarrels, now very largely declines to submit its disagreements .to the arbitrament of a British law court. In a word, the British merchant, who is nothing if not practical; finds it more economical, and safer in the long run, to sit down patiently under a wrong than tb trust himself to the tender mercies and the delays of the law of the land. Several causes are assigned to account for this singular . indisposition on the part of : mercantile .men,, to iiiust. the settlement of their affairs in any way to a tribunal which has several welllcriowh qualifications which might be supposed to invite confidence. The decisions of the tribunals which the mercantile world avoids are absolutely impartial, and, when they can be obtained, almost "invariably correct. It is "complained, however, of them, that they offer such opportunities for delay that, the busy world of commerce cannot afford 'to wait for a conclusion. It is also complained of them that the cost of obtaining a,decision is out of all proportion to its intrinsic value. The most singular complaint of all, however —the one which has most effectually prevented the mercantile world from making full use of the courts of law---is the extreme difficulty which any litigant finds in obtaining the services of 'the counsel whom he desires. To," the colonial litigant this evil is so wholly unknown as to be worth explaining. Although there.is an enormous crowd of briefless' barristers, a few score members of the profession alone obtain • all the work—that is. they receive a

brief marked wifch a certain fee, but so occupied is their time that, even after accepting the fee and pocketing the money, the chances are very much against their being able to give any time at all to any one case. Rushing from one court to another throughout the whole day, a favoured Q.C. may perhaps (md time to put in an appearance and consult with his junior for perhaps five minutes or a quarter of an hour during a case lasting a whole day. Now this condition of things seems to have aroused the British merchant to a position of mind bordering upon fury; for he says, and very naturally, " I pay my 50 or 500 guineas, as the case may be, to secure the services of a certain eminent barrister on my behalf, and he ought either to do my work or return me my money." There is, no doubt, a good deal of the nonsense of fashion aboufc the whole arrangement since there are probably a thousand men quite as "Well able to do the work as the comparatively small number to whom all the briefs go. The solicitors, however, who distribute the* hriefs, continually endeavour to obtain one of the most, eminent men, both from the desire to secure his services on their side as well as to prevent his appearing against their client. There has been a voluminous correspondence from outraged clients ■ complaining of what they term the gross dishonesty of taking a fee for work that is not done. It appears, then, that by a mutual consensus of opinion the commercial litigants are resolving to stay away from tribunals which can only be successfully approached by means so utterly opposed to all sound business principles. The position is a curious one, anil worthy of close attention, more especially since it seems impossible to suggest a remedy, except the exercise of that rarest of all senses known as "csmmon sense." The other reason which is assigned for the wholesale avoidance of legal tribunals by commercial men is the length of time which it takes to obtain a final decision. In New Zealand the judges have no great amount of leisure on their hands, but there can be little doubt that in England, the difficulty of overtaking the, immense mass of work is vastly intensified. The difference between the two is this, that while a judge of the Supreme Court in New Zealand overtakes, or nearly overtakes, his work within the year, the Master of the Rolls and the other judges do not even pretend to overtake the work set down. At the Commencement of a long vacation there are in many departments of the law several hundred cases which, have not been reached.

Just now in Wellington, after all the delay which took place in appointing a successor to the late Mr Justice RicuHOKD, we understand that a hundred or so of matters of all kinds have been set down for hearing, and have not got reached.' The lightness of such a list would appear phenomenal in an English court, in which an important commercial case is often not heard for a year or two after it has been set down. The necessity for the appointment of fresh judges in England haß been again and again urged on successive Governments, but little or nothing has been done. One other cause of delay is the extreme care which the English law takes to give its very best to every litigant who enters the arena. Every stop is so carefully guarded bj the opportunities of appeal, that it is possible to take a very simple matter indeed from one tribunal to another, from one court to another, until the triumph of j.. the richest or the most dogged litigant is almost

assured. We do not like to say anything against the opportunities for appeal, but it is a moot point whether they have not been carried too far at Home. The "New Zealand litigant is sometimes apt to grumble at the delay and expense attendant upon obtaining justice here. While we cannot say that our system is absolutely perfect we do not think it admits of very much improvement. The abolition of the District Courts, the enlargements of the sphere of the Magistrate's Court, and possibly the creation of one or two peripatetic Supreme Court judges, have been suggested as improvements upon a system which, upon the whole, must be said to give reasonable satisfaction to the public at the present time.

We are reliably iiiformed that some eases of extreme hardship have occurred in connection with the cariyirg out of the Government order to disinisi 50 per cent, of the married men employed en the Otago Central line. Those men slopped work for the Christmas holidays on Decemby 23, aud commenced again about a week ago: they are now thrown out of employment in the beginning of a new month, with no pay to draw and without the means to tska their wives and families elsewhere. Altogether the parents of about 4-0 children, who' have their families located there, are thrown out of work. Owing to the extremely severe winter and the cost of fuel, &s., these people hay? simply been living "from hind to mouth." This state of things was intensified by the iiiitint'on of the 20-days-a-month system, whereby they were confined to 20 days in esch taonth, and less if the weather was bad. Our informant says it is no exaggeration to say that starvation stares some of those families in the face. The storekeeper has bf en forced to refuse to supply tbem, as he has no prospect of ever being paid, and what is to be done is a mystery. Several oE the men declare their intention of wiring to the Premier asking to be supplied with food. Matters would not have been so bad had they got another pay, with notice to prepare for dismissal, as by thab time harvest would be on. Representations will ba made to Government respecting the state of things we have described, and it is to be hoped that the most deserving and needful cases will receive further consideration. If they do not, the spectacle of people starving in Central Otago will be witnessed for the first time. Mr Farnie's task is not one to be envied, and in carrying but his orders he must have had to steel himself against the urgent entreaties for further work which have been made to him. The number of men with families is not so very great, and it seems a pity that he had no power to give these cases special consideration. The Government had also established a school at Capburn, and a new malo teacher was placed there last wesk. This school will be almost shut up if the families located there are forced to remove; and if they are so forced, their only present alternative is to seek charitable aid.

, Mr Paulin telephoned last night •—" Strong to squally N.W. to S.W. winds ; heavy raiu showers; barometer unsteady."

Messrs O. R. Boasence and O. R. D. R;chardaon were at yesterday's meetiDg of the Education Board appointed to the positions of assistant-inspectors. Mr- Bossence, after 18 years' service iv Victoria, came to this colony, and for thive years conducted the Model Scbool at Chribtchurch. He then received the position of first assistant at the Ppit Chalmers District High .School. Mr Richardson is well known throughout the district, having held the position of relieving teacher for about 11 years, He was then appointed to the rectorship of the Balclutha District High School, whioh he has held for about 12 months. Oh the death of Inspector Tajlor he wss temporarily appointed as ihsnp.ctae.

Window gardening in cities is about the mo3t unselfish pursuit to whioh psrsons can devote their spare time. It tends to'beautify the city, while the regular passers-by, derive as much benefit and pleasure from fche plants and flowers as the • owner whose spare time is devoted to their cultivation. This is generally recognised, and ib is rare indeed, even in London, that any person is fouud contemptible enough to steal a plant. There are exceptions, however, as will be seen from the following' communication from a resident in Howe street: —"Will you permit me through your columns to invite fche persons who stole a pelargonium from my window garden last night (the 15th) to call upon me, in order that I may present them: with, the remaining plants in the window. My window garden gives pleasure to dozens of people who pft3B each day ; its existence is a proof of how dearly I love flowers myself; yet I would gladly share my flowers with anyone too poor to buy, and too ignorant to. rear them, sooner than they should be the temptation to oo mean a theft.—l am,. &c, The OvrNun."

The consideration of the question of alteriug the time for holding scholarship examinations, a3 proposed in Mr Cohen's notice of motion, was yesterday postponed by the Education Board until the nest meeting of the board.

In connection with an application whioh has been made for the establishment of a new school in fcho Kaikorai Valley, which Dr Stenhouse supported at yesterday's mesting on the ground that it seemed absurd to at!: children to climb up fche hill to the present Kaikorai School in bad weather, Mr Mackenzie maintained that the consideration for children walk? ing a few hundred yards up a hill was really becoming maudlin. In the early days, the hon. member for Clutha' declared—and he is entitled to be regarded as au authority on the subject—"something like hills" hud to be climbed. His brother, before he wts eight y.-eara of age, used to walk from the Halfway Bush to Livingston's SchGol in Dunedin and back in a day through fearful roads, and he himself used to walk from Forbury over the bills to Greeu Inland School aud back before he was eight years of age, and he made no complaint about it/ The times had changed so much, Mr Mackenzie thought, that the board would really reqnire soon to form fciamways to convey children to and from school.

Mr T. Mackenzie, M.H.R., intends to continue this season his explorations on the West Coast. Ifc is his intention to fix a camp near tbe place where Professor Maimvaring Brown was loefc, aud examine the. passes discovered to the sounds, i He will also ondeavour to trace the course of the Seaforth river, up which ifc will be remembered Mr Henry, new on Resolution Island, paddled for some three miles, and at the Banie time Mr Mackenzie hopes to find a practicable route for tourists between Lake Manapcuri and Dusky Sound. The"Government will assist fco'the extent of sending thres m«n to assist Mr Msckeuzia.' ■

At Kaitangata yeaterday.(bsf ore Mr Hawkins, S.M.J, Arthur Hislop, farmer, of Benhar, near StirliDg, and George Corruthere, a boy in hiß employ, were charged, on the information of Mr R. T. Aitken (inspector for the Society for the Prevention.of Cruelty to Animals), with cruelly ill-treating a howe by working it harneßted to a'spring cirfc when it hid threo large open sor;s. Both fche accac-ed pleaded guilty, and, after Mr D. Stewart, solicitor for the society, explained tha facts of the caso, Hislop was fined £1 and costs (£1 4s 6d), Carrnthers being convicted and discharged with a ciution. . - ,

A Wellington eiegram states that fche Wellington Harbour Board have resolved to increase tbe salary oi Mr W. Ferguson, secretary and engineer, to £1000 per annum.

The Education Board has instructed its architect on all future visits to schools in the district to see that the earth is kept clear from the bases of the buildings, and tbat sufficient ventilation io allowed between the ground and the bottom of the buildings. Most of t'ae applications for repairs which are made to the board are said to he-necessitated by the heaping up of soil around the bases of the buildings, and ifc is reported by the officers thafc hundreds oE pounds have been wasted annually through this pracfcice.'whicli has resulted in the routing of the plates and bottom work of the schools.

The box of jewellery valued afc £500, which supposed to have gone astray during the removal of the owner's luggage from the Tainui to the Takapuna about a fortnight ago, has beeu found in the goods shed on the New Plymouth breakwater.

Mr James Payn'has just been telling that at Ottford, in Kent, there was formerly a palace of the Archbishops of Canterbury ia which Wolsey is said to have held his court. "It was but a small place, and is now a farmhouse, picturesque enough, but exhibiting no speoial signs of prosperity. Tie other day, howover, this little incideut happened: The farmer sent for a carpenter to do some odd jobs aboub the house, and among other .things to mend the knocker. The man took it off snd said, after a close examination of it, 'Do you kuow what this knocker is 'made of ?' ' Why, brass, I suppose.' 'No; it is pure gold.' And it was. Think of the years that that rich prize has hung at the mercy of every tramp:"

How fortunate some novelists are ! Mr dv Maurier is reported to have sold the copyright of his next novel to Messrs Harper for £10,000.As compared with the royalty of 2-i a copy which Mr Hall Came.is said to ba receiviug, this offer seems to the "Bookman" exceedingly moderate. A sale of 60,000 copips in England would bring Mr Hall Caine's receipts up to £6000. In addition to this he would havo the serial rights in "England and America, not much less thau £3000, ths whole of the American baok rights, which, in the ease of Mr clv Maurier'a work, would bo at least equal to those of Eoglaud, besidus colonial and continental rights. In addition, it must be remembered thit Mr dv Maiirier*"contributes the pictures. The mystery to our contemporary is why Mr dv Maurier should have sold the copyright of his book at all.

The Royal Burlesque and Giiety Company, after a successful season at Inveroargill, proceed north ou Monday, but will give a farewell performance at the Princ3BS Theatre ou Saturday evening at popular prices. Au attractive programme has been prepared, aud as this is the last opportunity of witnessing the performance of the company a bump?r houre may be anticipated.