THE LEGAL PROFESSION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1442, 1 May 1905, Page 2

THE LEGAL PROFESSION.

INCREASE OP “ LEARNED FRIENDS.”

I (Per Press Association.); I Wellington, last night. | The annual report of the Wellington I Law Sooiety shows that there are now 187 I practitioners in the district, an increase of 126 on last year. The increase shown I throughout the colony is 49, the number I of solicitors practising this year being 710, las against 661 in 1904. Of this number I 412 are located in the North Island, and I 298 in the South. The following numbers I are resident in the various districtsl I Auckland district 136, Canterbury 109, Gisborne 17, Hawke’s Bay 32, Marlborough 7, Nelson 16, Otago 118, South- I land 29, Taranaki 40, Wellington 187, I | Westland 24. I The estimated population of the colony I at the beginning of the year was 900,676 I (including 43,143 Maris and 2829 Chinese). I The figures show there is one solicitor I to every 1268 of inhabitants, or one to 817 I of male adults. Last year the figures were one to 1324 and one to 331 respeo- I tively. I

Apropos of the salaries paid to Supreme Court Judges, the report of the society says that the inadequate salaries paid to Supreme Court Judges in Now Zealand has been the subject of representation to the Government on several occasions of late years, not by the Wellington Law Society alone, but by tbe Law Societies throughout the colony. Members are no j doubt aware that the Government has taken the mattor up by increasing the I salaries, though not to an extent com' monsurate with the importance of the position and duties to be performed. The secretary is taking Btepa to have'a set of New Zealand Law Reports supplied to Lincoln’s Inn, London, Mr Skerrett having reported on his return from England the difficulty experienced by solicitors ] working up New Zealand cases in London. It was resolved to lay the position before the Law Societies of Auckland, Canterbury, and Otago, and ask them to share in the expense of supplying a set of New Zealand Law Reports to Lincoln’s Inn Library for use in cases sent from New , Zealand to the Privy Council. Replies favoring the proposal have been received from Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland, The matter is to be dealt with by the council of the New Zealand Law Society at its next meeting,