10 EXAMINATION PAPERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2132, 25 April 1914, Page 5

10 EXAMINATION PAPERS.

■ (To the Editor,) Sir,- -I have read with much intorest tho account of your interview with Professor Picket), tho letter by .Mr. Von Ilaast in voitr issue of April i. ( awl tlio professor's spirited. reply in Friday's Domisios lam tho ijaoro interested in Mr. Yon Haast's letter, seeing that ho Js a. shining liiriit, in tho learned profession to which I hope sorao day to belong., and I have, unfovtui!fcr myself, had dealings wj-'th him iil Ms capacity ns a-ii exiiimiier. It seeins. to lite that it would be. better i-r. instead of airing his views on. mathematics and critiasing Professor Pieifen, Sir. Von Ilnast wmtid turn liis attentran to .what appears to mo to bo ■his own shortcomings as. ii law osamificr. I should like to say hero i'nai it seems to mo a, highly ■reprehc-ns-iblo practice for any memher of the Renal o ■to Allow himself to be- appointed an examiner.

• %• 0n Haast acted as an cxiiniiaef i.u Property I last year, and I ir.ny as well adar-it that he failed TtiOj although 1 had passed the' subject- *on two nro«ous occasions. Still, that is 110 criterion,. for few persons who have sat Tor out kw examinations over seem to regard them as any real test of icnewledge, The paper set by S.lr. Von Ilaast Wafe such tli.ni":- it evoked strong c.oi-n* 6n t- among tho candidates, -and in l!ic law. offices. hero, 011 account of its ■ -great lengths - * Putting ..-a-slrfo tlio remarks of tho Younger jaw clerks (<omo of which were too lured far pii.b'lkat&n') I givo only two out of -the many opinions I .heard from cTderiiien, practical lawyers who had 110 personal interest in this Matter.. I. showed tho .paper to tho managing _ clerk of orio 'of tho- largest coiiyoyaiicing firms in Auckland, a so- : ?. r j . twenty years' standing, and alter looking it over "h.e condemned -it m unmeasured terms, The ether -mtlonian, a laiv edaeh of. some years' experience, shook Ms head and wwl he had never seen anything Hko j.r < General-consensus of opinion ' 5 ,P W Auckland law offices Uiat : wiougli tlj.er paper was supposed to bft done. in l-lirno limirs, it was iinfiov?s-tb'!(? to do a.nvthinK like justico to it }-ii under six, mlulo several persons whoso exponent:* of law draftinc entitles their opinion to Tespnet, -saiid the.y tiionciiD !SK nows too little. Yet it jtiusi io : remembered-that tho majority' of the candidates wero probably very your;; and iiio.xiierie-ncied law clerks. ' I qii.oto■Question 6;— G- A.., who lives in London, and 8., ■who Jives in Rojjiej a.te iiiSftjugees -of land nnder tho. Land Transfer ict. Tho uiari-Ragfi has been ovcr.duo for a year. , Tho mortgagor' has paid interest tegti-, larly, but made deiault in payment of the principal. A. and B. desire to exercise their power of sale, and hisiruct y<iji_to act as their attorney. Drav. - abrief power of attorney, giving yuu th.o necessary ■powers for tho purpose, and full instructions as to tho mode of. execution and vcnfica'aon, UeK-ribo in detail tho various steps that yon would take to offect the sale of the laiid, and sketch all the documents r-fi-ouired to bo prepared by you for the purpose. Draw short conditions of sale. Draw a inemorandnm of transfer: (a) Where iho land is purchased by C . (b.) wheVo tho laud is bo.ugbt in. Stato the steps that you would take ill fiaah case to complete tho title. •Several competent- critics hold that this question would take, un nearly alt, if not at!, the t-iiiio allowed for tho wholo paticr, and several of tlio other piglit iraest'ions wero nearly as ion.c and intricate. To inakd matters worse, (his prodigiously long paper had the- following noro at tte top;— "To .obtain full marks all (jucsiioia must lio. answered.! C'sndidates lii.-uet gk.o rieascins ' for ti-ieir /."inss-efs, and must not expect t-ft -pass unless they Show by their discussion of the eases ■set that they understand and can apply the principles of tlio law," ' Now, sir, JVf-r. V'on Ilaast knows, of should know, if ho doesn't, that 1110 - candidates, after several months .of hard study—l prefer to caH it cramming—for their cxammMioivs, iilto the nolic«niau in "The I'ir.ne.son'enzniiee.'' "arc going to their fate, iu a liighiy fiervQJis state." To hang such a sword of'l)artocle.s over their teads as. is implied in tho note quoted is to pii.t/theiit in such a stato of nnnd as to seriously diminish Uiei;: chances cf satisfying an ■ exanrinor who knows nothi'ivg. more of them than is contained in their answci s to a; three hours' pajier. . . . Mr. Von 11aast- claims iliat the object of tho Notf Zealand University is to lay stress on good teaching, but I venture to think that whatever iho theory of tho Diiivcrsit.)- nwy Ik-,, the ©feet of its policy is to lay tho greatest possvbte st-reis on written, ©safliinatioasj" ■ and that being so, that it is the duty o:'f tho Senate to appoint competent examiners who kno-w'their job and -f.row <jx,porienco of teaching know the essential limitations of examining worlc. There is a touch of imnnmr in tho fact that Mr. Von ITaast, after setting such a paper as tho 0110 I havo quoted, moved at ihs last meeting of I he Senate that a sort of Court nf S'.sr Ciiamher slum Id ho set up to stl.perviso and examine prior w tho exannoations tlio papers set hv tl.lo law oxauiiners:. with a- view to moderating extreme tendencies. Satan reproving sin with a vengeance. One is tempito ask, by tlio way, if tho examiner's are not competent to set their papers, whether they aro eonipetent. to correct them, a livttcli more difficult Ihing to do. As lam only a student, it seeniß better to write under a ne.m-il.e-plmi.ie.. 1 hope, honover, that ifr. Von liaa'st will not treat this, letter .as bciiig cnonyr.ioiTs, and will give me the chastisement that my imtjudcnce deserves,— WWBWWt Auckland, April, 1914.