CORRUPT CLERKS.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19460, 27 December 1934, Page 11

CORRUPT CLERKS.

BTRIOTUREB IN BUVA. CHIEF JUSTICE’S COMMENT. STRONG ACTION MOOTED. Sir Maxwell Maxwell-Anderson, Chief Justice of Fiji in the Supreme Court made some oomment regarding the corrupt conduct of Indian lawclerks. He said the case he had been < hearing, that of a money-lender who was charged with perjury, had proved beyond doubt that the time' had come when the Court must take action in regard to me who are constantly asso-. dated in the routine working of law and justice. He felt certain that the-, solicitors’ clerks connected with the case were manufacturers of evidence. He had not the slightest hesitation in saying that corruption was rampant among them, and the type of clerk who was shown to exist would have to be stamped out. He was prepared to take drastic action to preserve* the high traditions of the profession. He proposed to oompile a list of clerks whom he deemed unworthy and they would be refused admission to any registry of the Court for any purpose. Further, they would be prohibited from acting as interpreters in connection with any legal document and if any commissioner of the Court attests an affidavit interpreted by any person whose name « is on the list, the certificate of suoh solicitor to aot as a commissioner would at once be cancelled. . “ Recent events have shown clearly that a purge is imperative," said His Honour, “and if I have to spend the last period of my ocoupancy of this Bench in cleaning an Augean stable, so be it.”