The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1883. A Resident Magistrate for Ashburton.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 851, 25 January 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1883. A Resident Magistrate for Ashburton.

At the meeting of the City Council on Monday a letter was read from the Under-Secretary stating that the Government did not at present see its way to providing a separate Resident Magistrate for Ashburton. This is a question that has been a good deal agitated of late, not only in this town but also in other places in Canterbury. At present we have to be satisfied with the visits ot a peripatetic magistrate, who sits in Ashburton twice a week, while on other days he dispenses justice at Timaru, Temuka, and Geraldine. That this arrangement has caused much inconvenience and considerable expense to suitors there can be no question. Since Mr Wood was removed from this Province, Canterbury has had to be satisfied with one magistrate less, so that those who are moving in the direction of having an R.M. who shall reside in Ashburton, are simply asking that we shall be placed in the same position ; as formerly. It is no secret that Mr* Beswick’s recent illness was brought on by overwork, and indeed the distance he had to travel between the different places in the . district allotted to him, would be sufficient to try the health of the strongest man.

Then again we cannot be certain that even on the two days in the week 1 accorded to us the magistrate will ! be able to take his seat on the bench. Should he be detained at either Timaru or Temuka, or if he were called upon to preside at an inquest, there would be no sitting at our Court, and suitors would have to wait for at least another seven days before their cases could be brought up. Nor are we the only sufferers from this arrangement. The subject was mentioned at the Timaru Chamber of Commerce the other day, and some months agoa meeting was held at Temuka, at which resolutions were passed to the effect that an alteration should be made. If we had a Resident Magistrate living in Ashburton he could, as formerly, sit on certain days in the week at Rakaia, Geraldine and Temuka, while Mr Beswick could take Wairaate in conjunction with Timaru. The reason that the Government give for not interfering with the present arrangements is that they have not sufficient funds to warrant them in so doing. But it is open to question whether any appreciable saving has resulted from the re-distribution of districts. It must be remembered that a visiting Magistrate receives a certain amount of extra remuneration whenever he leaves his head-quarters, and this would in itself very nearly, if not quite, be sufficient to pay the salary of a Resident Magistrate for Ashburton, while the advantage it would be to the district is undoubted. The truth is, we suspect, that those who have agitated this question have gone the wrong way to work. Instead of simply asking the member for Ashburton to bring their grievance before the Government, they also wrote to the member for Wakanui. Experience should have taught them that the latter gentleman’s policy is to blindly promise everything that is asked of him, and his letter to the Borough Council stating that he would do his best to get a sum placed on the Estimates for the purpose required is simply the stereotyped answer he gives to all such appeals. Mr Ivess is to Mr E. G. Wright as a wren to an eagle, and the former’s advocacy of a cause is little likely to do it much good. The member for Ashburton, on the other hand, is a man of very considerable influence, and his letter is in marked contrast to that of the representative of the neighboring constituency. Instead of a blind promise, he says, in effect: Furnish me with evidence of the need for an alteration, and if your reasons convince me I will do my best to obtain for you what you want. That this evidence can be forthcoming we have not the slightest doubt, nor do we question that Mr Wright will be convinced were the case properly put before him. If this course is followed there will be no ■ necessity for our waiting till Parliament meets before what is a decided grievance is remedied.