THE MAGISTRACY.

West Coast Times, Issue 1328, 24 December 1869, Page 2

THE MAGISTRACY.

To the Editor of the West Coast Times

mid Observer.

S,ik— lt may correct some o.f the im'sapjj're.riensions' shown by - yqur remarks, which- you have published 'to-day, relative njto/i'.therabsencei of magistrates irorhfthe rb.en.ch, in Hokitika yesterday, if I mention, - regarding, myself, that/I was; made a r Jtis- ; 4tice ct" -the Etiace so as to facilitate the per- ■ fonnance of ..some of the duties of the .Jiegig'trur of; the : Supreme Court in a'district where it was formerly not easy to i nthe.services of a ; magistrate when necessary; and it would be contrary to' 'the intension df 'such; an- appointment, as well .S'lOJOi^Ul'i ' -^

as inconvenient to a section of the public not present in the Magistrate's Court — and apparently forgotten by you in your remarks — if I went to that Court when I ought to he in my own office. The former liens ng meeting I was able to attend, because it was a* two in the afternoon, a time when I could attend. | As to tae emergency you think so much of, opinions may differ. In candor, I ought to say now that I was most unwilling to attend the fir.-.t licensing meeting; and on the last occasion — former impressions on the subject having meanwhile been confirmed—l went so far as to say, when warned to attend, that if I could attend, I did not think it desirali'e to do so. Possib'y the other Magistrates who were absent may have had good reasons for not attending It is hardly possible for any uniformity of practice to be attained when any three Magistrates may exercise their discretion under an Act which affords lur.'lly the lon^t g ound for -uch discretion to go on. The consequent inequality must b j unfair to the pecuniary interests of some applicants for licenses compared with other applicants. But since the Chairman of the County Council has powers equivalent to those of a:i the Mngisti ates, and the exercise of th m is not very laborious, my own opinion is fh.it for every good reason which I have been able to discover, he should be allowed to exercise them aKme, as the course most expedient for public interests. Yours tr'ilv.

ROBERT ABBOTT,

Registrar Supreme Court. Hokitika, December 23, 1869. •