MAGISTRATE’S ABSENCE

Southland Times, Issue 19501, 16 March 1925, Page 8

MAGISTRATE’S ABSENCE

COURT WORK DELAYED LEGAL PROFESSION ANNOYED SOME PLAIN SPEAKING. Dissatisfaction with the arrangements made for the continuation of the work of the Magistrate’s Court in Invercargill and the country districts during the temporary absence of Mr George Cruickshank, S.M., who is at present carrying out relieving work in Christchurch, was mentioned to a Times reporter on Saturday by a member of the local Bar.

“I do not know who is directly responsible for the position which has-been allowed to arise,” he said, “but to say the least of it the absence of a resident Magistrate is a very serious matter, not only to the police, but also to all members of the legal profession. Many people are not aware of the arrangements which are necessary in connection with the many classes of cases which require to be dealt with by the Court, and under present circumstances it is difficult to obtain any definite information as to when a case is likely to be dealt with by the Court. According to the meagre information which is available it is probable that a Magistrate will come down from Dunedin, perhaps on Monday, to take the Court sittings on Wednesday, but owing to the fact tha.t last week’s business was held over there is no telling when the cases which have arisen since that time will be brought on for hearing. You can therefore see that the matter is a serious one so far as our clients and ourselves are concerned, and while we do not wish to unduly hamper the work of the Court, yet we feel that in justice to this town some better arrangements should have been made for the carrying on of the Court work whilst Mr Cruickshank is absent in Christchurch. It may not be generally known that the amount of work dealt with by the Court here in some branches exceeds that done at Dunedin, and the opinion is held by many members of the profession that the authorities should have given more consideration to the needs of this district than is being done. It is only to be hoped that should a similar state of affairs arise again in the future the authorities will at least arrange for a whole-time Magistrate to be stationed here, and so avoid the vexatious delays and accumulation of work that are existent at the present time.” Another member of the legal profession when approached stated that it was true a great deal of dissatisfaction existed among the profession at the unsatisfactory arrangements made for carrying on the Court work. Another point w'hich he said had caused some criticism was the lack of notice that Mr Cruickshank was leaving for the north. “Why,” he said, “the first intimation that we received of his departure was a paragraph in the local newspapers, and even now we are more or less in the dark as to how the Court work is to be carried on. The authorities in justice to the district should have at least arranged for a full-time Magistrate, and if they were unable to do that they should have given some of the other centres a share of the inconvenience and disorganisation which Invercargill and the district generally has received through its Magistrate being sent north for relieving work.”