Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9660, 14 June 1882, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1882.

The motion for the second reading of Sir George Grey's Bill to amend the Law Practitioners Act was carried on Eriday night, and, judging by appearances, it may be expected to :.;ine with comparative safety through • committee, and be read a third time and passed. Its fate in the Upper Chamber is considerably more doubtful, but even there the feeling in favo.ur of widening the doors of the profession is gaining strength, and the prospects of the Bill are not altogeth4r>.bad. It is rumoured in the lobbies, that the Lords, will not be obdurate, but, should the Bill reach them in its present state, we are satisfied they will make at least one important amendment. The Bill 'provides that " every male person of the full age of twenty-one years, and of whose good fame and reputation and of whose learning in law any one or more of the judges of the said court shall be satisfied, shall be entitled to be and be admitted as a barrister and solicitor of -the said court (that is, of the Supreme Court of the colony), and generally to the practice of the law, and to all the rights s and privileges " thereof , and shall be enrolled without fee as a barrister and solicitor of the, said court." The latter part of the same section provides for candidates for admission being examined in law. Thus far we agree with the principle .of .the Bill. If a candidate proves by undergoing examination that he has a competent knowledge of law, svo see no good reason why he should not be admitted. The Hon. Mr Rolleston announced his intention of opposing the Bill, and spoke strongly on the desirability of candidates for admission receiving regular legal training and passing examinations both in law and general knowledge, but he did not venture to suggest that the general knowledge should be cl necessity acquired in particular institutions, such as our colleges and schools, or by any special system of instruction. So far as regards that part of the business, he was content that the candidate's fitness should be tested by examination, without reference to the source whence the knowledge was obtained. We cannot see why the same rule Bhould not apply to the examination in law. Surely the judges could, by papers and by viva voce examination, ascertain whether the person presenting himself for admission had a competent knowledge of law and of legal procedure. If so, we contend that it would be of no importance whatever how the knowledge had been acquired — that is, whether it was the result of several years' training in a lawyer's office, or of a course of private study. But Sir George Grey's Bill dispenses altogether with the examination as to general knowledge. He argued, with very considerable force, that the young man who was able to pass a stiff examination in law and legal procedure must of necessity have acquired a large amount of general knowledge. The feeling of the House was that Sir George was right, and that the profession would suffer no deterioration by the admission of persons who might pass such an examination in law as was contemplated by his Bill. The members of the legal profession who have seats in the House were, we may say, as a matter of course, strongly opposed to the Bill, and Mr Weston, the representative of the Inangahua district, made a pathetic appeal to his brother legislators not to inflict on the public the terrible wrong of lowering the status of the profession by the indiscriminate admission of all persons of good fame who might be able to pass such an examination in law as tho judges iv their wisdom might see fit to impose. He drew a doleful picture of the evils which might be expected to follow such an innovation, but everybody knew that he was only doing battle for the brigade, and they valued his remarks accordingly. There is not the slightest ground for believing that the class of men who would come in under Sir George Grey's Bill would be worse educated or inferior in any way to recruits who are being coutiuually drawn from the various lawyers' office'; throughout the country. "We do not wish to malign a profession I which numbers- amongst its member*; ;

many men of great talent, sterling integrity, and really liberal education ; but we have yet to be convinced that aa a rule attorneys' clerks in New Zealand are distinguished ab,ove the' rest of the community for moral excellence or great erudition. One effect of' the passing of Sir George Grey's Bill would be that a considerable number of men of education far superior to that generally possessed by attorneys' clerks who now go up for examination would be enabled to enter the profession. These men are at present debarred from that privilege, not because they could not pass the required examination, but because they cannot afford to give up their means of livelihood and engage in the sole study of the law in a lawyers office for three or five years. In writing of the probability of Sir George Grey's Bill passing the Upper House, we expressed ' the opinion that the Lords would make at least one important amendment, if it had not already been done by the Commons. The last clause in the Bill is as follows : — " Every male person of good moral character may manage, prosecute, and defend any action, suit, or other proceeding in law whatsoever, civil or criminal, on- behalf of any party to Buch action, suit, or other proceeding aforesaid, it such person shall be so specially authorised by such party in writing, or by personal nomination openly in the court in which such proceeding may be j pending." To this provision we altogether object. We cannot believe that the public would derive any advantage from it whatever, and we fear that if it became law a very undesirable class of practitioners would be brought into existence. These men would make it their business to importune suitors and pri- 1 soners for a brief, and . with ithe ignorant and unthinking their brazen impudence would not unfrequeh'tly be, successful. Their ignorance ,of law and legal procedure would cause an enormous waste of public time, to say nothing of the damage which clients would suffer at their hands. "We cannot but think that Sir George Grey was imprudent in tacking this section on to the Bill. Nobody wants it, and its presence may with some persons create a dislike to the whole measure. If, however, the Lower House should pass the section, it would be almost certainly struck out in the Legislative Council.