Untitled

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 10, Issue 632, 1 August 1866, Page 3

T,he Ariglicati Bishop : of Christchurch, the Right Rev. Dr. Harper, has been for some'.weeks past on a vis it; to Westland,, to promote the erection, of an Episcopal Church and parsonage,, arid to make the necessary preparations for the Venerable Archdeacon Harper, who is expected shortly to arrive in Westland, accompanied, by one or more clergymen from home. A late Melbourne ‘ Age,’ says : —“ At the present moment an important experiment is being made in South Australia. A gentleman named Sterhriale, who was formerly an Australian colonist, and who has latterly been a tea-planter in India, has just delivered "a small quantity of tea seed’to the Government at Adelaide —one cwt.—and they have determined to sow ohe-lialf of this quantity in the Botanic Gardens at that city, and to distribute the remaining half amongst persons who will undertake the experiment of tea-cultivation in various other parts of the colony. In this /colony of Victoria we have riumeroua localities—notably;" the ’" mbuntairiou s - ridiiri'try /near Bee6h#orth, ? ‘ rind rilsri' Moririt ’-Mridedori I —- ; where It is admitted both by 'pe'rsoria-of Chinese and Tndiriri experience, that the tea-piaut would flourish luxuriantly: j Howis it, then, that some practicM'efforfc. iß|riot made to turn these natural advantages Of the country to good account iri this important matter? If we mistake not,-Dri' Mueller lias been successful in raising a goodly number of young tea-plants inthe experimental ground of the Botanic Gardens at South Yarra.

CHIEF JUSTICE ARNEY. On the 30th May, Sir George Arriey, the Chief Justice of this colony, left our shores on a visit to Europe, for the purpose of regaining his 1 health, which had of late been m.uchimpan'ed. V: :Amongst the- number - af wise, and able, and good public'servants Whom NewZealarid, has at different times possessed,/ Sir George has'.borne -rib ignoble'part.- ' For the " stihco of iri'preithan-8 years ;he lias occupied the p.<ssU of--Chief’“Justice, and has fulfilled .the duties of it ably ami- .worthily, to the safisfactiofiJ ..bar,. and the hdmiration:. of ihe publicq?Snd yet. the bare performance of the routine duties only of that high station would have"been to some men a task embarrassing enough. Not always can a nian ber obtained to fill -thp; judicial- pflice ; : in England at onge patiprit and acute j firm ’ 'yet temperate, v'ersedm all'tha ways of this -wicked worM,, and.yet pf .ft rugged, pretbity that shall, like Cmsariß-;. wife, defy suspicion. Ev'riii" at homey: for an- Eriglislfe juclgeship, thri". Government. carinot alwayfe; lay its hands upon a man:wlh?. shall have a. profdri’ftd-knowledge of the. law of the land arid yetr beriO'mere lawyer, only,' but also-a-scholar acquainted .with; the isciences; arid, arts, and having a mastery of the language and literature of liis. own and other countries. But the New Zealand colonists were fortunate in having in Sir George Amey a judge endowed with auch qualities, ntid also blessed with: such- rare accomplishments of mind. Of a graceful and dignified presence he was a perfect gentleman in thought, srid word, and deddy—an ornament to society, no less ; tllaii iin adornment to.tlie Bench ; arid especially to' the junior rnrimbers'of it j firm in reproof where a counsel appeared grossly negligent, or indiscreetly pressing ; swift to depress the presumptuous, but ever ready to give grace to the mode3t;l always patient and considerate, even to the trembling wretch iri the dock before him, fo r he" never forgot Bacon’s maxim, that a judge should “ cast a severe eye upon the person.” Such was Sir George Arney : a most just and merciful judge, indeed. As ours is not a legal publication, it would be at once indecorous and indiscreet were;we to attempt;to criticise the elaborate judgments which Sir Georg© Arriey has from time to lime delivered, or the careful and minute summings-up wherewith he wa4 wont to aSsirtthe jury, whether in ’civil Or criminal casl's. 1 . . Brit this much" We may Say ,rthat. elicited '"the", ’inarked /appxdyal of of the legal plofessibn, rit least ; artd/we are of the number of-those who think that the question -Of the i'egil 6apacjfy Of ri judge is. a matter - -which luaf ;deterjnipedj; not by the; ■-opinion Of. 'the" community' ' gOri'eriSHjq ’ but by the the, only public by whom it is conduct Or qualifications in tliat chn be duly efetiiiiated-T-th© bar of his own, court. . ’ ' ' ; It is .scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of the judicial office in England ; it is impossible, to oyer-estihiate the .importance of it here. _ln new countries, where democracy is bo. apt to ride rampant, where nien are continually striving, each in his own fashion, to burst the bonds of that law to which alone (though they are blind enough not to see it) they owe (he safety of their persons, and preservation :of their lives and property, and liberty .;—wber,e states of things exist, and combinations; of . circumstances are found, for which no precedents can be discovered in the law books -it becomes truly . a ' inoment, by what manner of "and how," the judgment, seat "is r "ir;-.".; "-rYet, from ;t|ie, earliest times of the history of this cplony, the-. General and Provincial Governments alike have not merely studiously ignored the rights and .dignities appertaining. .to the judicial office itself; but also Jmve. contemptuously disregarded some of the fundamental principles of the law relating/;,to it.,. Far from seeking to exalt the jud|es of the Supreme Court and their functions, no pains seem to have been spared by succeeding Governments to do-, grade the . judges, .and fo embarrass them : in the performance onerous, duties,:. "11l the/Chief; Jristice!4'caj§e • "'Corisistentjiy.,/carried until matters reached ; theii;, climax.,wh.en Mr. _ Weld, tat the instigation of a colleague as spjtefqj and ! mnprinpipled. as he yyaj*iighQranJj.;.and -.incoin::"peteiit, penned "Wat unworthy Enswer to Sir George ArneyX requesting Jeave of absericejjjyh'ieK miigf still be fresh in the recollectioiuoYour. read,er»- v , ; u 'Nevertheless in spite ofo MI hindraEiwea, iri" spite qf over work, iri spite .of ill health effeated iri the first instance, arid then made increasingly precarious, by-the filthy barri iri which hewas condemned, by tliq apathy 'of the Government, to isdirj on his labours ' for more than-Bi-x years'; in spite of the intricacy arid diftictiUy "of many of the points of law to b’e decided by him, involving, as they dften did, niee constitutional problems for - the solution of which no precedents were available,' Sir George Arney bore up, and did hisiduty faithfully and well. The labour he-underwent was enormous. For the last three years he has been the hardest Worked official in the country. Most men rest and enjoy themselves on their return from their offices ; but his work, be lt remembered, did not cease when he left his chambers in the Supreme Courthouse. Those hours of retirement, which officials usually devote to pleasing and interesting pursuits, he often consumed in the , wearisbrne consideration of common..place- as*|lg contradictory factß—foots which perplex^aj^,.weary; the mind, without eyer affording 1 it-any pleasure or information worth remeuforance. Ha never suffered himself to ;be hurried into error ; and this care,, by '?.some unjustly called delay, was a blessing , and'lfi saving to the suitors and the ! country ; for no decision of his has been - ever reyersed or even, appealed against. .. . . _ . , . Moreover, to him it is, and to the ■ high tone he always maintained in tfie Supreme Court, that the legal profession fo Auckland owes that measure of respectability which; it at prespqt possesses. That the * * prof es r : sion” should, have done nothing to honour such a man on his departure from among therri is a reproach; to its members- We,. at least, are resolved nqt to be equally apathy tic, and therefore we take the present opportunity of expressing the regret of the inhabitants of the Northern Judicial District at ,the loss, temporary though it be, "qf..’Sir.’jG? o^' ’Aniey, and their earnest hope sojourn in Europe may .be to, his .health, whlph ; has,. been, their .__seryice.— -Southern' Grp^s. j : •/. ...