LEGAL AID.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 60

LEGAL AID.

SYDNEY, May 8. The Premier in his policy speech the other day hinted at some modification in the system established by the Poor Persons’- Legal Remedies Act, which has not been altogether satisfactory in its operations. Under the Act people who are too poor to pay for legal assistance are furnished with it free, but while it has been a very good thing in many cases there is a suspicion that some people, who have nothing to lose, institute proceedings under the Act in the earnest hope that the other party, rather than face the worry and expense of a law suit-, will compound with them. It is a practice difficult to check because a complaint may seem perfectly genuine, heard ex parte The Act is now confined to aid for poor persons in either the Supreme Court or the District Court, tut there is a strong feeling that it should be extended to include civil proceedings in a Small Debts Court, as well as in the two other jurisdictions. A full inquiry has been held by a Royal Commissioner on Law Reform, and an entirely new system is now under, the consideration of the judges and the legal profession. The Government, if returned to power, hope* to bring in a new law system which, while not facilitating the assertion of unfair claims, will give more adequate assistance to those who are too poor to pay for the legal redress of their grievances.