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Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 125, 23 November 1932, Page 5

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HUTT VALLEY COURTS

SUGGESTED REMEDY

Those having much business at th.9 Magistrate's Courts at Lower Hutt and Petone have become accustomed to having to wait until 11 a.nu or midday before the Court sits in public, although the Magistrate starts work at 10 a;m. or, earlier. The cause, of the delay is the work taken in chambers-before tia open Court sitting. A remedy suggested is the.establishment of one central Court for the Valley. to. take the place of the present three Courts. This idea is enlarged upon by Mr. J." Stanhope Beid, a Lower Hutt solicitor. ;

'JFor a considerable time," said Mr.J Eeid in an interview, "there has.beea a serious delay of civil and criminal ; work at the Lower Hutt and Petone Courts, which has been accentuated over the past year by the- greaV volume of mortgagor, .relief and apprenticeship cases taken in chambers. Although the local Courts-open at 9.30 a.m. it is frequently near to midday before a start is made on ordinary criminal and civil business. Owing to'the varying nature of chambers business there is no means at all of estimating. the .time aueh business is likely ta. take and when the ordinary work will commence. The result invariably is that from 10 o'clock all solicitors, litigants, and witnesses are ready, and they wait for anything up to "two hours or more before even the undefended cases, are- reached. Those who are engaged in defended actions may >wait until 2.30 or 3 p.m. before they even know whether- their casea can be taken that day. "In these circumstance's,"-'Mr. Eeid continued, "there is; considerable loss to the business.men.and tradesman of ! the _ Valley, and a 1 delay in settling litigation. Solicitors hesitate to load their clients with the expense of bringing in. witnesses unless they are sure their cases will come on. These remarks are not to be taken, as a reflection on the Court staff, who are particularly' efficient and'courteous. The cause "lies in the fact that although the Magistrate sits once a week in the Valley- these sittings are held in. three Courts, at each of which all classes of litigation and chambers applications are dealt with.- _-.- : ...'-".

"The only remedy appears to be the constitution of a central Court which %ould hold separate sittings ..for chambers, civil, and criminal caSes for all the Valley in the same way. as the Wellington Court serves the metropolitan area. "Wherever such central Court were situated, there would "probably be a protest from the other parts of the Valley on»account of the imagined loss of prestige, but the great saving to the general public and the more efficient working of the Court will outweigh the local considerations. The change must come some time, and in. present conditions its necessity is all the more urgent. Bench, Ear, anS- Court officials are agreed on the • wisdom and economy of such a course, and the question of the site of a central Court should not be impossible of solution."